Fun Facts: Ball State-Iowa

Shouldn't a school called 'Ball State' be excellent in sports? That's not a Fun Fact, that's a Fun Question. Here are the Fun Facts:

1. Ball State has a two-game winning streak against the Big Ten. It claimed a 27-20 win over Indiana in Indianapolis three years ago and a 41-39 win at Indianapolis in 2012. Last year, the Cardinals made it three straight years with a win over a Power Five (formerly BCS) conference with a 48-27 win at Virginia.

2. This ends Iowa's streak of 11.a.m. regular-season games at six.

3. Ball State is 0-7 in bowl games. It lost last season's GoDaddy.com Bowl to Arkansas State. The year before, it lost to Central Florida in the Beef O'Brady's Bowl. Its other bowl appearances were in the California Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl (twice), International Bowl and GMAC Bowl.

4. Hawkeye quarterback Jake Rudock's two highest passing-yardage games have come in season-openers. He had 256 yards against Northern Illinois last year, 250 against Northern Iowa last week.

5. Iowa and Ball State both have players from 19 different states.

6. Mabin on Mabon? Hawkeye cornerback Greg Mabin could have to cover Cardinal wide receiver KaVonn Mabon. Mabin had an interception to end UNI's final drive last week. Mabon had 11 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in Ball State's 30-10 win over Colgate.

7. No MAC team got a vote in this week's Associated Press Top 25 rankings. FCS team North Dakota State got two votes.

8. Ball State Coach Pete Lemko was the head coach at Lehigh from 2001 to 2005. Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery was the head basketball coach at Lehigh from 1985 to 1988.

9. Iowa City's 2010 population was 71,591. Muncie, Ind., the home of Ball State, had a 2010 population of 70,085.

10. Ball State was named for George A. Ball, Lucius L. Ball, Frank C. Ball, Edmund B. Ball, and William C. Ball. They founded the Ball Corporation, a glass company. They made Ball jars, which you can still buy today.

11. It's well-known that David Letterman is a Ball State alumni. The BSU campus features the David Letterman Communications and Media Building. Letterman talked up the 'Fighting Cardinals' on his television show back in 2000. The team was 1-10 in 1998 and 0-11 in 1999. When the Cardinals snapped their 21-game losing streak in '00 with a 15-10 win over Miami (Ohio), Letterman was given the game ball.

In 2012, Letterman moderated a 90-minute discussion with Oprah Winfrey at the school.