The Ball State Cardinals football team are headed for a pivotal season in 2018. Coach Mike Neu has probably done a much better job than his 6-18 record would indicate. Last season’s injury woes could prove to be beneficial in this crucial season. I don’t believe coach Neu needs to win a ton of games, but I do believe he needs to give the Muncie faithful a reason to believe good times are ahead.

Ball State Coaches

• Head coach: Mike Neu
• Offensive Coordinator: Joey Lynch
• Defensive Coordinator: Dave Elson

Schedule

• Aug. 30th Central Connecticut
• Sept. 8th @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• Sept. 15th @ Indiana Hoosiers
• Sept. 22nd Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
• Sept. 29th Kent State Golden Flashes
• Oct. 6th Northern Illinois Huskies
• Oct, 13th @ Central Michigan Chippewas
• Oct. 20th Eastern Michigan Eagles
• Oct. 25th @ Ohio Bobcats
• Oct. 31st @ Toledo Rockets
• Nov. 13th Western Michigan Broncos
• Nov. 20th @ Miami RedHawks

2017 Record and Team Stats

2-10 overall, 0-8 in the MAC

Offensive Stats

17.9 PPG, 335.2 YPG, 177.2 Passing YPG, 158 Rushing YPG

Defensive Stats

40.7 PPG, 444.1 YPG, 210.5 Rushing YPG, 233.6 Passing YPG

Key Players

Riley Neal, Jr. QB: The Cardinals were looking pretty solid offensively to start the year before injuries killed them. Neal’s injury was probably the biggest.

James Gilbert, Jr. RB: I say probably because Gilbert also went down with injury early, and he is a fantastic back that can do a lot of things well.

Generally I would throw out 2 or 3 more names here, but with all the injuries from last season, and the completely piss poor performance of the defense, I am not really sure whom else to include.

2018 Season Outlook

Last season was a train wreck. Train wreck is a cliche’ applied when teams play piss poorly, but in this particular case, it was like a real train wreck, with a lot of injuries. I was a big believer of this team going into the 2017 season, and nothing I saw when they were healthy made me think otherwise. The saying is, “What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger” and that will apply to this team. Another thing that will help this team is the schedule. It’s not an ideal schedule for winning the MAC, but it does look to help a team trying to make 6 FBS wins and a potential bowl game. After a probable curb stomping by Notre Dame, they get an Indiana team that I believe they can compete with. Then they get WKU and Kent at home, a good chance for a win and a probable win. I could easily see them at 5 wins, 4 FBS, going into the final 4 games. While they will probably drop road games back to back against Toledo and Ohio, nothing is certain with a battle scared team that has the potential for a high scoring offense. I don’t think they make a bowl game, but I do believe it will be close enough that the Ball State faithful will be excited going into 2019 with Neal and Gilbert returning.