2017 Week 10 Preview: Ball State at Eastern Michigan

The Eastern Michigan Eagles return to Rynearson Stadium after they nearly beat the Huskies of Northern Illinois. The Ball State Cardinals make the trek up I-69 to I-94 in order to avenge their loss against the Toledo Rockets. Both teams have identical records at 2-6, but are they identical? Let’s find out. Ball State has won the last six visits to Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan hopes to reverse that.

Kenneth Bailey

When Ball State has the ball.

Based on the recap from last week, it looks like Drew Plitt will be lining up at center. He made his debut against the Rockets last week. He was 15/34 for 94 yards. He is also the fourth quarterback to play for Ball State this season. His main target will probably be Justin Hall who averages 66.1 yards per game. Their main rusher appears to be Caleb Huntley with 66 yards per game after filling in for injured James Gilbert. On average, they score 19.1 points per game.

Kenneth Bailey

They are facing one of the better defenses in the MAC, if not the nation. The Eagles defense is holding their opponents to 21.1 points per game. In the tackle department, they are led by Vince Calhoun but I feel I should mention Maxx Crosby and Jeremiah Harris who have a combined 9 sacks. Eastern Michigan has forced 11 turnovers. Once again, I have a feeling they are going to carry the game.

Kenneth Bailey

When Eastern Michigan Has the Ball.

I’ll start with the passing game because that has been pretty impressive. Brogan Roback is having a pretty decent year with 260.5 yards per game at a 60.1% completion rate. He has a wide number of targets to throw to but his main target is Sergio Bailey. The running game still appears to be lethargic by averaging 94 yards per game. It seems that they are having success running outside the tackles but for some reason the staff is forcing them to run a power game. I think they have speedy enough backs that they should be attacking at the tackles.

They are facing a defense that has given up 37.6 points per game. They have made 19 sacks but half of them are by Anthony Winbush. The rest are spread out amongst the defense. By yielding an average of 228.9 yards per game, I expect Roback to have a good game.

What Can We Expect

I expect to see a game where Eastern Michigan runs away with it. They have tools on offense and they are facing an inexperienced quarterback. I don’t like to predict scores, so I wont.

Kenneth Bailey

According to the Eastern Michigan Schedule, the game starts at 6:00P.M. It will be televised on CBS Sports Network.