Ball State football squeaks past Kent State for first MAC win

There was blood shed during Ball State’s (2-5, 1-2 MAC) locker room celebration after defeating Kent State (0-6, 0-2 MAC) Saturday. Linebacker Brandon Berger said the Cardinals broke a “victory chair” while basking in the revelry of a win they hadn’t felt in more than a month.

In those brief moments immediately following the final horn, no one on Ball State football’s roster or staff cared how they won. All that mattered was that they did.

Head coach Mike Neu has talked for weeks about a lack of confidence holding the Cardinals back during their four-game losing streak. He believes that confidence was finally regained Saturday.

Berger may have displayed that confidence boost most with a three-sack performance against the Golden Flashes.

“We needed a win. Bad. A win is a win,” Berger said.

After leading 20-7 at halftime against a Kent State team that was averaging 14.8 points per game heading into Saturday, it looked like Ball State was going to run away with a win. In fact, the Cardinals’ defense played its best half of football against a Football Bowl Subdivison (FBS) team all season in the first 30 minutes.

The Golden Flashes scored just once with only four first downs in the entire first half, complimenting a putrid 30 rush yards and 113 passing yards with one interception.

Especially when redshirt freshman quarterback Kadin Semonza found junior wide receiver Qian Magwood for a 13-yard touchdown to start the third quarter, the odds were drastically in the Cardinals’ favor.

Once Ball State took a 27-7 lead with 9:27 remaining in the third quarter, Kent State finished the game on a 28-10 run, compiling 318 yards and four touchdowns in the second half.

“You want to be able to play 60 minutes, not 30,” Neu said. “You’ve got to be able to finish that.”

The Golden Flashes scored a touchdown with less than 90 seconds remaining, putting them within two points of Ball State. Kent State did still have all three timeouts, but all the Cardinals needed was a first down to ice the game after they recovered the attempted onside kick.

However, on the second play of the drive, redshirt junior running back Vaughn Pemberton rushed for a 41-yard touchdown. His score and the following extra point put Ball State ahead by nine points, but the Golden Flashes still had 1:13 to pull off the comeback win.

“I need to educate Vaughn Pemberton, or any running back in that situation, to go down inside the five,” Neu said. “ … I got to be better at making sure our guys, in those critical situations, know the rules of the game, know the time and know the timeouts.”

Pemberton admitted after the game that he let the chance of scoring his first touchdown of the season get the best of his emotions, impacting his football intelligence.

“In the moment, I see green and I see the end zone right in front of me,” he said.

It was just the fifth rush of the game for Pemberton, and it was his fifth rush attempt since he rolled his ankle against Central Michigan Sept. 21. Pemberton also missed seven games last season after he sustained a knee injury in Week 1.

With that in mind, Pemberton immediately made his way over to Neu on the sidelines after scoring to apologize.

“Once I got in the open field I was like, ‘Man, I need this,’” Pemberton said. “ … I definitely should have went down. It would have made the game a little bit shorter, and I would have relieved the defense if I did and relieved Coach Neu’s stress.”

Kent State didn’t make it any easier on Ball State after Pemberton’s touchdown, scoring a 57-yard touchdown with 30 seconds remaining to keep the Golden Flashes within two points of their Mid-American Conference (MAC) foe. While the Cardinals were able to secure the next onside kick and kneel out the remaining time, Berger admitted that the Ball State defense failed once again in the second half.

Despite collecting seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss and forcing a first quarter interception, the Cardinals defense still kept Ball State’s winning chances in doubt until the final buzzer sounded.

“We were just getting a little complacent,” Berger said. “We thought we had the game won a few times, and at the end of the day, we just got to get guys down.”

Neu sounded a mix of relieved and stressed moments after the contest ended. While he admitted Ball State can’t win many MAC games in which it allows 461 total yards and 35 points, he is happy with the victory regardless.

“Winning is the name of the game,” Neu said. “Every winning formula is just a little bit different with the way the game unfolds.”

It may not have been the prettiest afternoon from the Cardinals’ offense, but their 406 total yards with four touchdowns scored were enough to scrape by with a 37-35 win. Senior running back Braedon Sloan picked up 76 yards and two touchdowns while Semonza finished with 221 total yards and a touchdown after completing passes to seven different targets.

What matters to those in the Ball State locker room is the fact that the Cardinals won, regardless of how it happened. That’s how Berger felt, that’s how Pemberton felt and that’s how Neu felt.

The importance of a win for Ball State was made clear as day when Berger described the raucous joy the Cardinals celebrated with, bloody or not.

“Our fight song sounds louder than it ever has before,” Berger said. “ … It definitely hit a little different than it does normally. Whenever we’re out in the field or anything like that, knowing we got the job done for the day and we can proudly sing that song, it’s a great feeling.”

Ball State stays on the road for its next contest, a 7 p.m. kickoff Saturday, Oct. 19 against Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1 SEC).

Contact Kyle Smedley via email at kmsmedley213@gmail.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.