‘It was unreal:’ Ball State football defeats NIU on last-second field goal

Walking out to kick, Ball State sophomore Jackson Courville is straight-faced, just as he always is. Worried? No. He just wants to do his job.

He’s hit the distance in practice and knows he can make the kick. 52 yards stand in between him and the uprights.

He pictures what he wants to happen, and if he can see it in his head, he knows he can make it. If he makes it, Ball State rallies back with seconds left to beat Northern Illinois University on homecoming, and he has a new career high. If he misses, the Cardinals lose the Bronze Stalk.

He nails it.

Just as he saw it play in his head, the ball parts the uprights for a Ball State field goal. 25-23, the Cardinals win over their Mid-American Conference (MAC) rival.

“I knew it was good as soon as we snapped the ball,” senior linebacker Keionte Newson said. “If you watch me, you’ll know I knew it was good.”

Teammates (and a few fans) stormed the field in celebration.

“It was unreal,” graduate student defensive end Riley Tolsma said. “I do not even have words for it. It was the best feeling ever.”

Although two seconds were added on, Ball State snuffed out any NIU attempt and sealed the win.

Seeing his kick go through the uprights was nothing short of amazing for Courville. He said none of it could be possible with his special teams crew coordinating the operation.

“Those are the opportunities you live for,” Courville said. “…It is up to you and your preparation to go execute.”

Head coach Mike Neu said retaining the Bronze Stalk for the third season in a row sweetens the victory even more.

“[Courville had to] trust the operation. Trust the guys are going to do a great job up front,” Neu told The Daily News. “Trust the snapper is going to do a great job. Trust the holder is going to do a great job. That’s why we love Jackson.”

Neu joked he would need heart treatment after the homecoming win and celebration. The post-game celebration for Neu made him feel like a kid in the locker room, “acting like a clown, being silly.”

“I ran in there and jumped. My vertical stinks, but I got up on top of somebody’s pads,” Neu told The Daily News. “I appreciate them lifting me up after that because it’s certainly not because I had a vertical. There’s nothing better. It’s hard to describe.”

“I was hoping that the roof would pop off.”

Courville’s field goal attempt before his game-winning kick was blocked. Regardless of the block, he said he could not let the past waiver his confidence. The most important kick is the next one.

“They got us when they blocked it and all that, but it don’t matter, because they didn’t block the one that counts,” Newson said.

Newson aided the defense in forcing the Huskies to turn it over three times. Neu said the defense is proving they are getting better every week, and that is apparent in the three turnovers the Cardinals forced.

“Guys are just continuing to grow and make sure that the guy next to him knows that I believe in you and I trust that you’re going to get your job done,” Neu said. “It really comes down to that at the end of the day.”

Tolsma was able to tip a pass that led to one of the three Cardinal turnovers. His tipped pass landed in redshirt junior linebacker Joey Stemler’s hands for an interception.

Tolsma also forced a fumble, a fumble that Newson picked up.

Newson said he played offense in high school so he was trying to “relive the glory days.” Newson said if he avoided the final tackle, he would still be running.

Newson said the overarching change for the defense is confidence due to a lack of game experience. Regardless of morale, Newson said the Cardinals never lost hope in each other to make a play.

“Early on in the season, people got to panicking and the emotions started flying,” Newson said. “Now, that is all dead. Everybody is ready to play.”

Neu talked about that “dead’ mentality the defense had by how the Cardinals dealt with NIU senior running back Antario Brown. Neu said he expected Brown to have big plays at times but saw the Cardinals move past it each time. Forgetting the big gain, and moving on to the next play.

The Cardinals held NIU to 142 yards on the ground. That is not a small number by any means but is under the 205 average for the Huskies.

Newson said the whole defense gets together to watch film where the Cardinals got gashed by the run game. Those meetings resulted in an overall mentality that those runs were not acceptable.

“We took pride in stopping the run,” Newson said.

Neu said being physical up front was a pinpoint heading into the game, with that being a deciding factor for the Cardinals coach.

“I know my D-line brothers are going to battle it out every play until the final whistle with me,” Tolsma said. “It is a great feeling to know that they have your back like that.”

On the other side of the ball, Ball State was 10-for-18 on third down. Neu said the offense and offensive staff did an incredible job in scheming up run-pass options to ensure the Cardinals were picking up crucial downs.

The offense was also able to get into field goal range with only 15 seconds left on the clock. A drive that led to the eventual game-winning kick.

Newson said the homecoming win in his senior season means everything to him.

“You get one homecoming a year, there is nothing better than beating NIU, keeping the Bronze Stalk, and winning,” Newson said.

The Cardinals move to 3-5 on the season and 2-2 in the MAC. At one point Ball State was 1-4.

Personally, Neu said he loves to see the Cardinals fight no matter their record, no matter the score or no matter the opponent.

“[I] wouldn’t want to go to war with anybody else,” Neu said. “You’re never out of the fight. Pain is temporary. Turn your pain into triumph. We’ve been through some pain. We’ve been through some tough moments this year, but hopefully our team’s drawing from that, and we’re trying to turn that pain into triumph right now. For tonight, we were able to do that.”

Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.