Ball State Cardinals:
Mike Neu is in his ninth season in Muncie and has one winning season, which was the COVID season during 2020 where the Cardinals went 7-1 and finished No. 23 in the national rankings. Ball State elected to bring him back through at least this 2024 season (contract expires in 2025) largely because the buyout will decrease substantially, so Neu does not exactly have the ‘vote of confidence’ per se.
Neu also has new coordinators/play callers — Jared Elliott (offense) and Jeff Knowles (defense) — on both sides of the ball. There are clearly more questions than answers for Ball State heading into the 2024 campaign.
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Offense
The Cardinals struggled to score points last season, averaging a meager 10.8 points per game in five contests vs. FBS opponents and rated just 122nd in scoring offense.
Ball State started three quarterbacks last season and its most effective of the three was Kiael Kelly, who went 3-3 in his starts, but now moves to cornerback. Redshirt freshman Kadin Semonza started two games last year and appears to have the inside track for the job. Kelly was more of a runner (724 rush yards vs. 577 pass yards), so the Cardinals likely will go back to a more traditional passing attack.
Receiver Ty Robinson was hurt two games into the season and will be expected to be the leading pass catcher for a team that loses three of its top four. 1000-yard rusher Marquez Cooper transferred to San Diego State and we’ll now see a running back by committee for the Cardinals.
Defense
Jeff Knowles comes up I-69 from FCS Butler University to rebuild a defense that held its final six opponents to only 16.7 PPG. Only one starter, leading tackler LB Keionte Newson, returns from last year’s group.
To try and combat the lack of proven options, the Cardinals bring in several transfers including George Udo (44 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, and three sacks at BYU from 2019-22) and Myles Norwood (Iowa State via New Mexico), while also converting Kelly from QB to cornerback.
With essentially the entire defensive line and secondary groups either graduating or hitting the portal, this unit is clearly taking a step back from a group that ranked 14th in the nation (112 YPG) last year at stopping the run.
Outlook
Ball State has non-conference road trips to Miami (FL), Vanderbilt, and James Madison. However, they do avoid Toledo and get conference favorite Miami (OH) at home. Even with some attrition, the offense is likely to be improved and more dynamic, but the defense has a great deal of unproven personnel. Neu might win one or two more games this season, but it may not be enough to earn him a 10th season in Muncie.
Pick: Over 4 Wins
