The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Ball State Cardinals 2024 Edition

Miami destroys an outmatched, out-classed Ball State team en route to 3-0. Let’s relive

Domination. Man, that felt good!

Miami demolished Ball State 62-0 on Saturday afternoon evening following nearly 2 and a half hours of lightning delays.

In any event, Mike Schiffman is here with your 3 stars from the game.

And now, time to dive into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The Good

• A win! Winning is hard, and Miami hasn’t done much of it recently, so I’m gonna savor every one of these.
• Pure dominance. 62-0 is the kind of thing that we SHOULD be seeing from this Canes team versus the likes of Ball State. I LOVE TO SEE IT!!!!!!
• This was Miami’s first shutout of the year. I love it.
• 159 points thru 3 games is the most in school HISTORY.
• 750 yards of total offense. Another school record all-time.
• 62 pt shutout is largest vs an FBS opponent in program history.
• QB Cam Ward. The Heisman contender had another great game for the Canes. 19/28 passing (68% completions) for 346 yards and 5 TDs with no INTs.
• For the year, Ward’s stat line is impeccable. 65 for 89 (73% completions), for 1,035 yards, with 11 TD’s and 1 INT. I mean. Just look at the numbers. LOOK AT THEM!!!!
• No. Seriously. Bask in the greatness of Cam Ward. This is rare air and you better thank your lucky stars he’s our QB.
• Cam Ward hit Xavier Restrepo for the first TD of the day, on a nicely called, run, and thrown corner route. Just gorgeous.

• Last week, Mario Cristobal and OC Shannon Dawson sang the praises of Chris Johnson Jr. They both said the redshirt freshman RB was electric and they were working to get him more opportunities. Johnson Jr. paid off their faith with a 37 yard TD catch midway through the 2nd quarter.

• DE Tyler Baron and DT Simeon Barrow. Another great game from this duo. They combined for 6 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 TFLs on the day and were generally menaces for Ball State to try and handle (they couldn’t).
• LB Wesley Bissainthe. Truly stepping into a new level of greatness as a true junior. 6 tackles and some physical play today.
• LB Kiko Mauigoa. 6 tackles, a TFL, and 2 QB hurries
• WR Jacolby George. 6 catches for 109 yards and a TD. He’s good.
• WR Xavier Restrepo. 3 catches for 47 yards and 2 TDs. Call him 7-11. He’s always open.
• RB Ajay Allen! 4th string because Miami’s RB room is loaded, but he made the most of his chances. He was the entirety of a 2 play, 90 yard TD drive, scoring on a 56 yard run to close it out.
• Allen ended the day with 104 yards and a TD on 7 carries
• Getting a bunch more game experience for young players. Live game reps are the most impactful teaching tool for growth and development. Even if it was only a handful of snaps, this experience is invaluable.
• Speaking of which, QB Emory Williams, who will redshirt this year per Cristobal and Dawson, in his first game (of 4 possible appearances) and dropped a DIME to true freshman TE Elija Lofton for a touchdown.

• Also, Emory Williams went 11/12 passing (92% completions) for 161 yards and a TD. I know he’s redshirting this year, but he’s making a case for QB1 in 2025 with performances like that.
• 750 yards of offense — 507 passing, 243 rushing
• 22 chunk plays — 17 passes (15+), 5 runs (10+)
• 544 of Miami’s program-record 750 yards of offense came on those 22 chunk plays
• 32:59 time of possession
• 31 first downs
• 7/11 on 3rd down
• 1/1 on 4th down
• 12 receivers had a catch
• 5 running backs had a carry
• 10.6 yards per play
• 16.2 yards per completion
• 7.8 yards per rush — though, admittedly, this came late in the game after Cam Ward was already chillin’ on the bench
• 4/5 in the red zone
• 9 TFL
• 4 sacks
• 6 QB hurries
• 5 PBUs
• 1 interception
• P Dylan Joyce with a single punt, good for 46 yards.
• K Andres Borregales made all his kicks.
• K Abram Murray (the future) made both of his PATs and had great kickoffs.
• Held Ball State to 115 yards of offense — 109 passing, 6 rushing
• Let me say that again: HELD BALL STATE TO 6 YARDS RUSHING
• Even if you remove sacks from the rushing total, Ball State only had 31 yards on the ground. Dominance.
• Held Ball State to 2.2 yards per play
• Held Ball State to 1/12 on 3rd down
• Held Ball State to 9 first downs
• Forced 10 Ball State punts
• The advanced stats tell the story of the game. Pure, unadulterated dominance from Miami from the first play to the last.

The Bad

• A consistent trend these last 2 weeks: Miami’s redzone success rate (the only lavender cell in the stats listed above) has been in the 30th percentile. That needs to improve.
• Jacolby George dropped pass on the 1st drive. It would have been a 1st down, if not a touchdown on the far sideline, but the drop made Miami settle for a FG instead. Those 4 extra points lost because of the drop could matter later in the season.
• Sam Brown with a bad drop again today. That’s one in each game so far. Gotta tighten up and raise the level of performance every game, kid.
• Not finishing drives. The first redzone drive resulted in a FG. We need 7’s, not 3’s. Those hidden points dropped could cost games (not today, but down the line).
• There was another stalled drive after Cam Ward called it a day. I’m less upset about this one, but if the standard is the standard, this has to be better. Period.

The Ugly

• Weather delays. This game, planned and scheduled for 3:30pm, didn’t kick off until 5:55pm due to multiple lightning delays. Hate it.
• This roughing the passer penalty called on Wesley Bissainthe. Absolute fucking bullshit.

• DB Damari Brown was seen (by me, personally, before you ask “by who?????”) in the press box with a walking boot on his left foot and moving around on a mobility scooter. Seems like he might still be out a while longer, unfortunately.
• Even more penalties. Oh, so many penalties!!!! 8 for 85 yards, after 8 for 59 yards last week. And one of them took a touchdown off the board for the 2nd week in a row. (Sorry, Isaiah Horton). Unacceptable. There needs to be HARSH discipline in the aftermath of that. This MUST be corrected. NOW.

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Team Grades

Offense: A

A program-record for total yardage. A record blowout of an FBS opponent. Were there things that could be better? Yes, absolutely. (looking at you, run game). But this performance deserves an A, so it gets one.

Defense: A+

Miami’s defense was DOMINANT today…as it should have been vs an overmatched team such as this. Even when the backups got in the game, the performance stayed top notch.

Special Teams: B+

Kickers made every kick. Punter had one (1) great punt. Some nice returns by Ray Ray Joseph and Chris Johnson Jr. But there were multiple penalties on special teams. So that drops the grade significantly, IMO.

Coaching: A+ (x whatever they’re paying the coaches)

Look. I’ve been critical of Mario Cristobal and staff. I’ve wanted to see more. I’ve wanted to see better. And, along the way, I’ve been unwavering in my desire to have the standard be the standard.

But today? The standard was met, and exceeded. And that delights me GREATLY!!!!!! All the records listed above. All the growth and development. I’m going to give credit where it’s due to the coaches. I challenged them, and they responded, just like the team responded to the coaches challenging them. THIS is what I want to see (even allowing for the fact that there are areas for growth and performance areas that can get even better).

Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.

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That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Share your thoughts, grades, and commentary in the comments section below.

GO CANES