Rallying behind the rushing of all-time career leader Jahwan Edwards, the Ball State Cardinals tallied a 41-24 win over Bowling Green Friday in their season finale.
With the win, Ball State improved to 5-7 overall and evened its Mid-American Conference record at 4-4.
Bowling Green fell to 7-5, 6-3 MAC. The Falcons, who will represent the MAC East in Friday’s MAC Championship game in Detroit, swept all five conference games against MAC East foes. However, they lost all three outings against West Division opponents.
With the win, Ball State improved to 5-7 overall and evened its Mid-American Conference record at 4-4.
Bowling Green fell to 7-5, 6-3 MAC. The Falcons, who will represent the MAC East in Friday’s MAC Championship game in Detroit, swept all five conference games against MAC East foes. However, they lost all three outings against West Division opponents.
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Edwards rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns to help the Cardinals go on a 34-3 run after falling behind 21-7 in the first 5:20 of the game. His final touchdown of the game topped off a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock and gave Ball State a 41-24 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
The 165 yards was a season high for Edwards, who completed his Ball State career as the all-time leader in rushing yards with 4,558. The total yards ranks fifth in MAC history, while his 51 career touchdowns is the Ball State school standard and ranks fifth in league history.
Ball State quarterback Ozzie Mann completed 20-of-29 passes for 286 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first appearance since the Cardinals' sixth game of the season. In his sixth start of 2014, Mann's 286 yards marked a career high as did his three scoring strikes.
Bowling Green opened up the game's scoring on the first play from scrimmage when the Falcons scored on a 75-yard run. After Ball State evened the score less than two minutes later on a Mann to KeVonn Mabon 62-yard scoring strike, BG returned the ensuing kick 96 yards to take a 14-7 lead. At the 9:40 mark of the first quarter, the Falcons scored again and led 21-7 with the game barely five minutes old.
But from that point on, it was all Ball State as the Cardinals racked up 199 yards on the ground and 286 through the air.
Bowling Green would not see the scoreboard again until just under a minute remained in the third quarter to pull within 34-24 before Edwards' final career TD put the game away for the Cardinals.
Mabon ended the game with a career high 119 receiving yards on six catches, whileJordan Williams manged his 16th career TD to move him into sole possession of seventh place on Ball State's all-time list.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak in the all-time series against the Falcons as the Cardinals defeated Bowling Green for the first time since 1996 in the first meeting between the two schools since 2008.
Ball State won its final two games of the season and four of the final six contests and finished the 2014 season with 332 total points, the sixth most in program history.
(Courtesy BSU Athletics/MRO Edit)
The 165 yards was a season high for Edwards, who completed his Ball State career as the all-time leader in rushing yards with 4,558. The total yards ranks fifth in MAC history, while his 51 career touchdowns is the Ball State school standard and ranks fifth in league history.
Ball State quarterback Ozzie Mann completed 20-of-29 passes for 286 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first appearance since the Cardinals' sixth game of the season. In his sixth start of 2014, Mann's 286 yards marked a career high as did his three scoring strikes.
Bowling Green opened up the game's scoring on the first play from scrimmage when the Falcons scored on a 75-yard run. After Ball State evened the score less than two minutes later on a Mann to KeVonn Mabon 62-yard scoring strike, BG returned the ensuing kick 96 yards to take a 14-7 lead. At the 9:40 mark of the first quarter, the Falcons scored again and led 21-7 with the game barely five minutes old.
But from that point on, it was all Ball State as the Cardinals racked up 199 yards on the ground and 286 through the air.
Bowling Green would not see the scoreboard again until just under a minute remained in the third quarter to pull within 34-24 before Edwards' final career TD put the game away for the Cardinals.
Mabon ended the game with a career high 119 receiving yards on six catches, whileJordan Williams manged his 16th career TD to move him into sole possession of seventh place on Ball State's all-time list.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak in the all-time series against the Falcons as the Cardinals defeated Bowling Green for the first time since 1996 in the first meeting between the two schools since 2008.
Ball State won its final two games of the season and four of the final six contests and finished the 2014 season with 332 total points, the sixth most in program history.
(Courtesy BSU Athletics/MRO Edit)
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