The Indiana Hoosiers will take on the Ball State Cardinals on neutral turf Saturday at noon.
When the two teams clash in the home of the Indianapolis Colts, it’ll be the first time Kalen DeBoer and Kane Wommack do so as coordinators for the Indiana’s football program.
DeBoer spent three years as the offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan University. With his time spent with the team, he developed a familiarity of the Mid-American Conference and its teams, including Ball State.
“I have a gauge of who they are and what they do,” DeBoer said on Monday. “I know they’re going to come after us aggressively. Not just as a defense, but as a full team. They historically have played very well early in the season.”
The Cardinals are 8-1 in season openers since 2010, including a 27-20 victory over the Hoosiers on Sept. 3, 2011. A game that also took place in Lucas Oil Stadium. However, IU holds the all-time series lead and has won in back-to-back games.
Despite the success of IU’s program against non-conference opponents, in which it has won 14 of its last 15 games, head coach Tom Allen knows to take this season one game at a time.
“All you gotta do is put the film on them and see how hard they play against us,” Allen said on Monday. “And see how they started their seasons out. They went up to Notre Dame last year and darn near beat them, you know, and played extremely well.”
Ball State is returning 20 starters, including eight on offense, nine of defense and three on special teams. The team will be led by redshirt junior and starting quarterback Drew Plitt. The Cardinals’ signal caller started the last three games of last season.
Plitt appeared in a total of eight games and posted 1,008 passing yards and six touchdowns for a Ball State team that averaged 252.9 passing yards per game. Head coach Mike Neu plays a critical role for the offense’s success.
Neu was the New Orleans Saints’ quarterbacks coach before taking the head coaching position for the Cardinals. He brings a professional-style offense that Wommack and the Indiana defense will have to overcome. That will start with putting pressure on the quarterback.
“It’s our job as a staff to come up with a good mix of four, five, six-man pressures that we can attack them in different ways,” Wommack said. “What I always look for, what do they struggle with? Do they struggle with vertical penetration pressures? Do they struggle with sideline, lateral movement pressures? Maybe it’s a combination of both those things, but you kind of have to see what they are.”
For Allen and the Hoosiers, there will be excitement for the start of a new season and for the chance to play at an NFL venue, but that excitement extends both ways. Ball State will have every opportunity as Indiana on Saturday.
“I'm telling you, whatever their very best shot is, we're going to get it,” Allen said. “There is no doubt in my mind.”
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