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The MAC game of the year is a only week away.
Ball State rolled Central Michigan on Wednesday blasting the Chippewas for 549 yards on offense en route to a 44-24 victory. Cardinals' quarterback Keith Wenning completed 20 of 29 passes for 299 yards and 4 touchdowns. Ball State All-World receiver Willie Snead caught 9 of those passes for 118 yards and Horactio Banks carried the ball for 143 yards on 11 carries. Suffice it to say there was enough offense to go around.
"We are very happy to get a win tonight, to be 9-1 at this point and to continue to be in the hunt for a championship," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said.
Ball State got out in front early against Central Michigan, with Wenning throwing 2 touchdowns in the first quarter, providing the Cardinals with an early cushion.
"We liked the way our guys came out of the gate," Lembo said. "They were focused, and it looked like the couple extra days between games paid off. We really kept our foot on the gas in the second quarter and built a nice lead going into the intermission."
Central Michigan was not as fortunate. While Chippewas quarterback Cooper Rush completed 20 of 32 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown, the Chips were unable to get anything going on the ground. CMU carried the ball 27 times for just 113 yards, numbers inflated for garbage time. Central struggled holding onto the ball. Ball State led the turnover battle, neglecting to turnover the ball while CMU coughed it up three times.
"They were very good, but we didn't help," said head coach Dan Enos. "We played very tentatively to start the game, they did a good job, but we helped them."
Central Michigan struggled against against the BSU offense. Wenning treated the Chippewa defense as he has all teams this year, torching CMU for 299 yards through the air.
"(Wenning) has played three years against us and I've seen him get better every year," Enos said. "He does a good job of taking care of the football. He doesn't make a lot of bad throws, he's very accurate and I think he'll have an opportunity to continue to play."
Ball State's next opponent is a Wednesday matchup with BCS darling Northern Illinois. Central Michigan will continue MAC play with Western Michigan on November 16th.