Ball State Cardinals football

Last updated
Ball State Cardinals
AmericanFootball current event.svg 2024 Ball State Cardinals football team
Ball State Athletics wordmark.png
First season1924
Athletic directorJeff Mitchell
Head coach Mike Neu
7th season, 37–56 (.398)
Stadium Scheumann Stadium
(capacity: 22,500)
Year built1967
Field surfaceSprinTurf
Location Muncie, Indiana
NCAA division Division I FBS
Conference Mid-American Conference
DivisionWest
Past conferences IIC (1934–1947)
ICC (1951–1967)
All-time record47645532 (.511)
Bowl record18 (.111)
Conference titles11
Division titles4
Rivalries Indiana State (rivalry)
Northern Illinois (rivalry)
Miami (rivalry)
Current uniform
Ball state football unif.png
ColorsCardinal and white [1]
   
Fight song Ball State Fight Song
MascotCharlie Cardinal
Marching band The Pride of Mid-America Marching Band
Website BallStateSports.com

The Ball State Cardinals football team is a college football program representing Ball State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football. Mike Neu is the head coach. Ball State plays its home games at Scheumann Stadium on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals compete in the Mid-American Conference as a member of the West Division.

Contents

The Cardinals have a 47645532 record, which ranks below the top 50 most victories among NCAA FBS programs. [2] Ball State was originally classified as a teacher's college, participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) from 1937 until 1956. In 1957, they were classified as a Small College school until 1972. Ball State received Division II classification in 1973, before becoming a Division I-AA program in 1975 and a Division I-A (now FBS) program in 1981, dropping to Division I-AA for a single season (1982) before returning to Division I-A. [3]

Conference affiliations

Ball State has been an independent and affiliated with multiple conferences. [4]

Championships

Conference championships

YearConferenceCoachRecord
1942 Indiana Intercollegiate Conference John Magnabosco 6–2
1964 Heartland Collegiate Conference Ray Louthen 5–3
1965Heartland Collegiate ConferenceRay Louthen9–0–1
1966Heartland Collegiate ConferenceRay Louthen7–1–1
1967Heartland Collegiate ConferenceRay Louthen7–3
1976 Mid-American Conference Dave McClain 8–3
1978Mid-American Conference Dwight Wallace 10–1
1989Mid-American Conference Paul Schudel 7–3–2
1993Mid-American ConferencePaul Schudel8–3–1
1996Mid-American Conference Bill Lynch 8–4
2020Mid-American Conference Mike Neu 6–1

Division championships

YearDivisionCoachOpponentCG result
2001 MAC West Bill Lynch N/A lost tiebreaker to Toledo
2007 MAC West Brady Hoke N/A lost tiebreaker to Central Michigan
2008 MAC WestBrady Hoke Buffalo L 24–42
2020 MAC West Mike Neu Buffalo W 38–28

Bowl games

Ball State has appeared in nine NCAA Division I postseason bowl games, in which they have compiled a 1–8 record. [5] Within all FBS teams, Ball State was one of eight that had never won a sanctioned bowl game, until the 2020 Arizona Bowl. [6]

SeasonDateBowlOpponentResult
1989December 9, 1989 California Bowl Fresno State L 6–27
1993December 17, 1993 Las Vegas Bowl Utah State L 33–42
1996December 18, 1996 Las Vegas Bowl Nevada L 15–18
2007 January 5, 2008 International Bowl Rutgers L 30–52
2008 January 6, 2009 GMAC Bowl Tulsa L 13–45
2012 December 21, 2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl UCF L 17–38
2013 January 5, 2014 GoDaddy Bowl Arkansas State L 20–23
2020 December 31, 2020 Arizona Bowl San Jose State W 34–13
2021 December 25, 2021 Camellia Bowl Georgia State L 20–51

Ball State also appeared in two NCAA College Division postseason bowl games, where they compiled a record of 0–1–1.

SeasonDateBowlOpponentResult
1965December 11, 1965 Grantland Rice Bowl Tennessee State T 14–14
1967December 9, 1967 Grantland Rice Bowl Eastern Kentucky L 13–27

Head coaches

The Ball State Cardinals have had 17 head coaches throughout the program's history. With 68 victories, John Magnabosco has the most victories in the program's history, followed by Paul Schudel (60 wins) and Dave McClain (46). [7]

Rivalries

Indiana State

Ball State leads the series with Indiana State 39–24–1 with the last game played in 2023. [8] [9]

Miami (OH)

Ball State and Miami were granted rivalry status by the MAC in 2017. The cross-division foes play each year for the Red Bird Rivalry trophy. BSU has been known as the Cardinals since 1927, while Miami adopted the RedHawks moniker in 1997. The series dates back to 1931 but really heated up in the 1970s when BSU joined the MAC. [10]

Northern Illinois

The Cardinals have played Northern Illinois six times in football since the launch of the Bronze Stalk Trophy. The trophy depicts several cornstalks in tribute to the prevalence of maize around the respective home states of the rivals. [11] Northern Illinois holds a 24–21–2 lead in the series through the 2019 season. [12]

Cardinals in professional football

Quarterback Nate Davis Nate Davis at 49ers Family Day 2009 2.JPG
Quarterback Nate Davis

Ball State has produced a total of 29 NFL draft selections. [13] The following "Active" and "All-Star" lists account for past and present Ball State University football players that have participated in the National Football League, Canadian Football League, Arena Football League, XFL, United States Football League, European Football League, Austrian Football League, German Football League and IFL.

Active

As of February 2023, there are a total of thirteen Cardinals listed on team rosters in the NFL, [14] CFL, [15] AFL, [16] XFL, IFL, and USFL.

All-stars

Among the numerous Cardinals who have participated in the NFL, CFL, and AFL, three have received all-star recognition by their respective leagues.

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 27, 2019. [20]

20232024202520262027202820302031
at Kentucky Army at Purdue at Ohio State at Iowa at Western Kentucky at Liberty Liberty
at Georgia Missouri State at Auburn at Indiana Western Kentucky
Indiana State at Miami (FL) New Hampshire Stony Brook Kentucky
Georgia Southern at James Madison at UConn at Liberty

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References

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  4. "Reference at www.arcadiapublishing.com".
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  8. "15therecordbook (PDF)" (PDF). Indiana State University Athletics.
  9. Tribune-Star, Todd Golden. "ISU football defeats Ball State 27-20 to win Victory Bell". Terre Haute Tribune-Star.
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  11. Doug Zaleski (November 23, 2007). "BSU-Northern Illinois winner will collect Bronze Stalk trophy". www.thestarpress.com. Gannett. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  12. "Winsipedia - Ball State Cardinals vs. Northern Illinois Huskies football series history". Winsipedia. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
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