Dead giveaway
Too many penalties, turnovers leads to 32-29 loss to Ball State
They handed the Cardinals free yards. They handed them the ball early and often. And from there until the end of the game, nothing else mattered.
The Chippewas won the yardage battle Saturday against Ball State 426-287, but lost the game 32-29, falling to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Mid-American Conference play.
“We didn’t make enough plays today,” said head Coach Dan Enos. “(We) turned the ball over too many times, too many penalties. It cost us the game.”
Central Michigan University football came into Saturday 12th best in the nation committing 4.43 penalties per game for an average of 38 yards per game.
On Saturday, the team had 45 penalty yards in the first three minutes of the game, leading to a Ball State touchdown on the Cardinals opening drive.
CMU finished the game with 10 penalties for 91 yards, 63 of which came in the first quarter.
Five turnovers for CMU were the most they’ve had in any game this season. The Chippewas had only 11 turnovers through their first seven games of 2014.
All of the Chippewas final five drives began promising as they were within one score of Ball State, but four of those drives ended in a turnover or failed fourth-down conversions.
Down by eight points for much of the third quarter, the Chippewas coughed up the football on the Cardinal 12-yard line on back-to-back drives.
The first turnover was a fumble by senior running back Thomas Rawls, the second was a turnover on downs when Rawls couldn’t convert on fourth-and-one.
“There’s two drives,” Enos said. “That’s 14 points we left out there.”
With 4:04 to play, CMU got the ball back after forcing Ball State to go three-and-out.
“Despite the turnovers and us beating ourselves offensively. We came out and put emphasis on it to score. We wanted to score and we were going to score," said senior wide receiver Titus Davis
A 37-yard Rawls run, an eight-yard Davis touchdown and a Rush-to-Jesse Kroll two-point conversion tied the game 29-29 with 2:22 to play.
A reenergized yet sparsely attended Kelly/Shorts Stadium eyed overtime, especially since the Cardinals had gained a total of eight yards in the fourth quarter before their final drive.
Nine plays and 29 yards later, Ball State senior kicker Scott Secor faced a 55-yard field goal, with his previous high being from 49 yards. His extra-point attempt in the first quarter was blocked.
His line-drive kick squeaked through the uprights with 17 seconds to play.
“I’m speechless,” said sophomore defensive end Joe Ostman about the miraculous field goal.
Enos said a tailwind played a role in the kick.
“I just thought the kicker, man he pounded that ball, it was a great kick.”
Davis’ two touchdowns in the game tie him for most receiving touchdowns all-time with wide receiver Bryan Anderson in CMU history with 28 career touchdown catches. Still, it didn’t ease the pain for Davis.
