It was a banger start to the MAC slate in Mt. Pleasant, as the Chips steal away a win over Ball State.
With 78 seconds and counting left in the game, down 30-27, the Ball State Cardinals (1-2, 0-1 MAC) saw an opening.
From his own 39-yard line, quarterback Kadin Semonza sat in the pocket, evaded pressure and fired a bullet to his right in the direction of receiver Qian Magwood. Magwood caught it at the BSU 46-yard line, then broke a tackle and ran all the way to the CMU 16-yard line for a 45-yard reception.
Semonza came up clutch once again after going up-tempo, this time targeting tight end Tanner Koziol, who polished off the drive with a diving 16-yard touchdown play to give the Cardinals the 34-30 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the contest.
The Central Michigan Chippewas (2-2, 1-0 MAC) however, remained undaunted.
Running back BJ Harris broke off for a 25-yard gainer to add to an already impressive tally to start the drive and put the Chips at thier own 48-yard line. Three plays later, on third-and-14, starting quarterback Joe Labas found receiver Evan Boyd on a crossing pattern for a 34-yard gain to get into Ball State territory at the 20-yard line.
With the clock running, Central hurried back to the line and Labas tossed the ball to receiver Chris Parker, who hauled in the pass in the middle of the endzone to put the Chips up 37-34 with 18 seconds to go.
Ball State would have one last-gasp drive, but it was fumbled backwards and away on a lateral play as triple-zeros sprang on the clock, making CMU the victory in the first conference clash of the 2024 campaign.
It was a heavyweight boxing match from start to finish, with both teams combining for 958 yards and 64 points offensively. (Prior to the lateral play fumble, the game was 23 yards away from going over 1,000 combined yards.)
Ball State landed the first punches of this particular bout, with backup kicker Carson Holmer (in for the injured Jackson Courville) sinking a 31-yard field goal on their opening possession. A CMU turnover-on-downs gave BSU decent starting position, which they paid off with a seven-play, 63-yard drive resulting in a Semonza-to-Magwood connection from six yards out to go up 10-0 before the end of the first quarter.
The Chippewas found themselves in further danger on the next possession, as a three-and-out forced a punt— which was blocked and recovered by the visiting Cardinals at the CMU 47-yard line.
The CMU defense bowed up, forcing a key four-and-out after Jaion Jackson stopped Qian Magwood a yard short of the sticks.
The Chippewas offense made BSU pay for their greed on the next drive, with Bert Emanuel Jr.— who made his season debut Saturday— waltzing in for a 20-yard read-option touchdown run to get CMU on the scoreboard at 10-7 with 10 minutes to go in the second quarter.
CMU’s defense would force two punts on two consecutive BSU drives, with the offense successfully scoring off both ensuing drives.
Emanuel Jr. would play to the moment once again in the redzone after the first of those punts, rolling to his left and finding Chris Parker for a seven-yard scoring strike and give the hosts their first lead of the day at 14-10 with 5:41 to go in the first half.
After the second forced punt, Marion Lukes would set up his own touchdown drive with a 23-yard scamper ending in a two-yard score two plays later to push the margin up to 20-10 CMU with 1:45 to go. Crucially, BSU’s Darin Conley would get his hands on the extra-point attempt to keep the margin at 10.
The Cards stopped the bleeding near the end of the half, with Semonza taking advantage of a matchup to find Malcolm Gillie for an unbelievable contested catch to get the Cardinals within three points with 24 seconds remaining— but allowed CMU back BJ Harris to collect a 71-yard run up the middle to set up another Tristan Mattson field goal and put the halftime score at 23-17 in favor of CMU.
The third quarter slowed to a crawl, as Ball State sat on the ball, holding possession for an impressive 12:52 of game clock over two possessions while forcing a Central three-and-out. Ball State were only able to score once, however, on a Braedon Sloan rushing score from 22 yards out with just over nine minutes to go in the third quarter to go up 24-23 after the earlier XPA block. BSU’s other third-quarter drive went 11 plays and 26 yards, ending in a punt to start the fourth quarter.
That’s when the fireworks started.
The Cardinals forced a quick three-and-out, then found themselves in a similar situation— until Elijah Rikard was called for defensive pass interference on third-and-15, gifting the Cards a new set of downs inside Chippewa territory. They’d get a 40-yard field goal out of it, extending their lead to 24-23 with 8:43 remaining.
Central responded with an efficient nine-play, 75-yard drive, ending it in style on a funky 16-yard touchdown run by Emanuel Jr. to take the 30-27 lead back with 5:07 remaining— but it almost wasn’t meant to be. On second-and-eight from the CMU 48, a Joe Labas pass was tipped at the line by L’Cier Luter and seemingly intercepted by a linebacker, but after referees confered, it was reversed to an incomplete pass, allowing the drive to continue.
Labas would find a streakign Evan Boyd for 17 yards on third-and-eight on the next play, BJ Harris would pick up 19 yards two plays later, and Emanuel would finish it off from there.
The teams would trade three-and-out punts on the next two drives— with Ball State coughing it up after a five-yard sack and CMU having to evade pressure on a broken play— before the sequence of events which came to define the rest of the contest.
Both Joe Labas and Bert Emanuel Jr. saw time at QB for Central, with generally positive results. Labas saw all action outside the redzone, finishing 14-of-20 for 185 yards and a touchdown. Emanuel had the seven-yard passing score on his only toss of the day and added 33 yards and two scores on seven carries.
BJ Harris had a breakout game for Central, finishing with 151 net yards on just eight carries to lead all rushers. Marion Lukes had 13 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown, while Nahree Biggins stepped up due to an injury to Myles Bailey, collecting a 76-yard run early in the contest.
Chris Parker, the Saginaw native, was the hero for CMU, catching both passing scores and finishing with 79 yards and five catches. Evan Boyd was also crucial, with 78 yards and two important third-down conversions on three catches.
Jordan Kwiatkowski led all defenders with 15 tackles (including nine solo stops) with 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Dakota Cochran (seven tackles) picked up 1.5 sacks for the Chippewas on blitzing looks, with Caleb Spann assisting the other sack an dpicking up the lone pass break-up.
Kadin Semonza finished 30-of-40 for 285 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions on the day in what was an admirable performance. Tanner Koziol was the highlight player, with 112 yards on nine catches, scoring once. Qian Magwood was jsut short of the century mark, with 98 yards and a score on six catches. Malcolm Gillie (52 yards) nabbed the other touchdown toss.
Braedon Sloan continued his performance streak, with 94 yards on 19 carries, scoring once on the ground, while also picking up 18 yards on three receptions. Kiael Kelly, last year’s starting QB , had 10 carries for 28 yards running his own package.
Elijah Davis led the team with five tackles and a forced fumble, while Jordan Coleman recovered the loose ball. Three other Cardinals also had five stops on the day, with two of them (George Udo and Keionte Newsom) collecting a TFL. Brandon Berger led the penetration efforts with two TFLs and Ball State’s lone sack.
CMU will stay to home next week, hosting San Diego State for their last non-conference game. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, with broadcast provided by CBS Sports Network.
Ball State travels next week to face a James Madison team fresh off a romping of North Carolina. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, with the game streamed exclusively on ESPN+.