Saturday December 12 -- Noon
Schuemann Stadium – Muncie, IN
ESPN+
The Mid-American Conference Western Division title and a trip to Detroit for the 2020 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game will be decided Saturday at Scheumann Stadium when Ball State hosts Western Michigan.
The Broncos won their first four games but were upset last week by Eastern Michigan. Conversely, Ball State, dropped its first game at Miami and has won each outing since then.
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WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS (4-1)
>> The Broncos had a chance to clinch the Western Division title last Saturday at home. However, Eastern Michigan surprised the home team with a 53-42 victory. It was a game that saw 95 total points and 1,045 yards of total offense.
EMU took the lead late in the first half and WMU closed the gap to eight points with 5:42 remaining. However, the visitors scored a field goal on the last possession to put the game out of reach.
>> Junior RB La’Darius Jefferson had 130 yards on 21 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Sophomore QB Kaleb Eleby completed 18-of-26 passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns. Junior WR Jaylen Hall recorded four catches for 119 yards and a pair of scores.
>> The defense was led by senior LB Treshaun Hayward, who 14 total tackles.
>> WMU opened the season with a win at Akron then defeated Toledo in the closing seconds of the game, scoring a touchdown on a fake spike and pass into the end zone. The Broncos followed with a road win at Central Michigan and home victory over Northern Illinois.
>> Head coach Tim Lester is completing his fourth season in Kalamazoo, compiling a 24-18 record at his alma mater
>> In their five games of 2020, the Broncos have averaged 44.6 points and 447.4 yards of total offense.
>> Kaleb Eleby is at the controls of the offense completing 62-of-99 passes for 1,134 yards with 13 touchdowns and only one interception. He is also among the MAC leaders in total offense (294.4 ypg).
>> La’Darius Jefferson leads the ground attack with 465 yards and four touchdowns.
>> Senior WR D’Wayne Eskridge leads the receivers with 24 catches for 644 yards and seven touchdowns. In addition, Eskridge leads the MAC in kick returns averaging 28.8 yards per return.
>> The WMU defense has allowed 35 points and 409.2 yards. The Broncos have registered a MAC-best 17 sacks.
>> Treshaun Hayward leads the defense with 49 total tackles (25 solo).
>> A victory would send the Broncos to the MAC Championship game for the fourth time in their history and first since 2016 when they defeated Ohio to complete a 13-0 season and subsequently played Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl.
BALL STATE CARDINALS (4-1):
>> For the second consecutive Saturday, the Cardinals went on the road and came up with a victory knocking off the Central Michigan Chippewas 45-20 improving their record to 4-1. That ended CMU’s hopes of defending their Western Division title.
>> In last week's contest, BSU opened a 10-0 first quarter lead and never looked back while rolling up 519 yards of total offense.
>> The offensive leader was senior QB Drew Plitt, who completed 26-of-43 passes for 366 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore RB Taye Evans led the ground attack with 64 yards, while senior WR Jaylen Hall had seven catches for 66 yards.
>> The defense was led by junior LB Brandon Martin who had nine total tackles (eight solo) and a sack.
>> The Cards opened the season with a loss at Miami but have now rattled off four straight wins (over Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, and CMU).
>> Nine of BSU’s last 13 games dating back to last season have been decided by a touchdown or less.
>> Head Coach Mike Neu is completing his fifth season as head coach of his alma mater. The former star quarterback has a 21-35 overall record.
>> Offensively the Cardinals are averaging 34.4 Points and 479 yards of total offense in their five games.
>> Drew Plitt has completed 110-of-167 passes for 1,425 yards with 10 touchdowns and four intereptions.
>> Senior RB Caleb Huntley leads the Cards in rushing with 437 yards despite missing the last two games with an injury.
>> Jaylen Hall leads the receivers with 34 catches for 445 yards and is also third in kick returns averaging 25.6 yards per return.
>> Brandon Martin is second in the MAC in total tackles with 49 stops (26 solo).
>> DE Anthony Epke a graduate transfer from Rice tied for the MAC lead in sacks with four.
>> Redshirt freshman PK Jack Knight is second in scoring among place kickers with 30 points (29-for-29 PAT).
>> Senior P Nathan Snyder is second in the conference averaging 44.8 yarde per kick.
>> Caleb Huntley has 2902 career rushing yards second to Buffalo’s Jaret Patterson among current MAC rushers.
>> A win over the Broncos sends BSU to their first MAC Championship game since 2013.