Toledo Rockets come up short against Ball State, 31-24

MUNCIE, Ind. — Boneheaded penalties, untimely miscues and some questionable officiating all played in a role in the University of Toledo football team suffering a 31-24 setback to Ball State Saturday.

The Rockets committed 10 penalties amounting to 97 yards, many of them coming at critical points in the ball game. They also turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter in Cardinals territory on potential game-tying drives.

“You just can’t have some of the mistakes we had in the game and expect to win that way,” said UT head coach Matt Campbell.

Ball State marched right down the field on its first series and running back Jahwan Edwards punched it in the end zone from seven yards out to put BSU up 7-0.

UT appeared to be on its way to responding after senior quarterback Terrance Owens found sophomore receiver Alonzo Russell down the seam for 38 yards.

A couple plays later, senior WR Bernard Reedy made a catch inside Cardinal territory, hit a defender hard as he went out of bounds, stared him down and made some gestures with his hands that garnered a 15-yard personal foul that killed the drive.

“I don’t know exactly what he did to deserve a penalty in that situation, but he’s an emotional football player,” Campbell said. “It was costly, certainly.”

In the second quarter with the score tied 10-10, the Rockets forced an incompletion from Cardinals QB Keith Wenning on third-and-9 at the UT 24-yard line. However, freshman cornerback Jordan Martin was called for defensive holding and gave BSU a new set of downs.

They capitalized when Edwards scampered 14 yards right up the middle for a touchdown to put Toledo in a 17-10 hole with 2:38 to go in the first half.

The Rockets had multiple chances to seize momentum in the second half, but squandered two golden opportunities.

On second-and-10 from the BSU 41, Owens was flushed left out of the pocket and tried to throw the ball away, but instead found the hands of a diving Kenneth Lee for an interception.

“I was trying to throw it away, but there was a guy on my back so it was tough to throw it away like that,” Owens said.

Lee appeared to have stepped out of bounds before coming back into the field of play to make the pick. By rule, he can’t be the first player to touch the ball upon reentry to the field.

“That’s what I saw,” Campbell said. “I’m not quite sure [what happened] exactly on that deal. I’ll have to check [the film] to see if I’m right or wrong on that, but it certainly looked that way.”

The play was reviewed, but not changed.

UT’s defense made a key stand to keep it a touchdown game and forced BSU to punt.

The Rockets drove even deeper on the ensuing possession, moving their way down to the Ball State 3 where they had a first-and-goal. The play, however, was whistled for illegal formation as Toledo didn’t have enough men lined up on the line of scrimmage.

The next play resulted in an even bigger disaster when the handoff from Owens to senior RB David Fluellen was botched. Fluellen never secured it and the ball popped right up into the air and was eventually smothered by BSU’s Zack Ryan.

“It was [just a bad] exchange,” Owens said. “He dropped the ball when he got it. We need to correct those things.”

After another stand by the UT defense, Toledo finally tied the game at 17 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Owens hooked up with Russell on a 10-yard slant.

The Cards came right back with a TD of their own when Wenning faked the handoff and took it himself to go up 24-17 with 12:11 to play.

Just moments after failing to convert on a fourth-and-4 at the Ball State 37, UT’s Junior Sylvestre tipped a pass that ended up in the arms of senior safety Ross Madison, who returned it to the Cardinals 34.

That set up another game-tying touchdown, this time from Fluellen who scored out of the wildcat from a yard out to tie it 24-24 with 6:20 left.

But Wenning didn’t back down, leading to Cardinals on another impressive drive (eight plays, 71 yards in just 3:13) to go back up by seven with just 3:01 to play.

Just before that and facing second-and-6 from the UT 22, junior CB Cheatham Norrils was called for a questionable pass interference penalty. He appeared to be jostling equally with the intended receiver and tried to make a play on the ball.

The Rockets were not as fortunate to get a call on a fourth down play with just over a minute remaining.

Russell came across the middle on a slant pattern, but couldn’t get his hands on the ball. There looked to be contact between him and the defender, safety Dae’Shaun Hurley.

Russell immediately jumped up and down in disbelief and UT’s players and coaches went ballistic on the sideline.

“It certainly looked like there was a penalty there,” Campbell said. “But again, we’ll have to look at the videotape to see if I’m correct on that one.”

Owens echoed those sentiments.

“I felt like it was a penalty, but the refs didn’t see it that way.”

Owens completed 34-of-46 passes for 274 yards, one touchdown and one pick.

Russell hauled in nine catches for 147 yards and a score.

The loss puts the Rocket behind the 8-ball in the Mid-American Conference West, likely needing to run the table in league play and have Northern Illinois knock off Ball State in November to win the division.

However, Campbell believes this team will learn from experiences like these.

“We’ll regroup, it’s a long season,” he said. “It’s only the end of September and we’ve got a lot of football left to play. I know our kids will be back.”