Looking to get right after a demoralizing loss to the University of Toledo on Homecoming, NIU prepares to make a trip to the Hoosier State to square off with archrival Ball State University.
Like its cardinal and black Mid-American Conference brethren, Ball State sits in the loss column after falling to Vanderbilt University on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Before the Huskies travel to Muncie, Indiana, for the 17th Battle for the Bronze Stalk, Kyle Smedley, a football beat reporter for the Ball State Daily News, Ball State’s student newspaper, gave the Northern Star a behind-the-scenes look at the other side of NIU’s most intense rivalry game.
Northern Star: How is the Bronze Stalk rivalry viewed by the fans and the team at Ball State?
Kyle Smedley: From a team perspective, it’s very important. I’ve covered this team for the past two seasons extensively, and then a little bit in 2022 as well, and I just remember in 2022 and ‘23, when Ball State won this game, those were both contests that were very highly contested, and the players do hold a lot of pride in it. I know that there are other trophy games, but it seems like this one’s a little different, and I don’t really know what makes it so much different than rivalry games against Miami (Ohio), Indiana State, et cetera. I think that the players just play with chips on their shoulders, both sides. Ball State’s just came out on top the past couple of years. Whenever we ask players or even (head coach) Mike (Neu) about this game, they don’t shy away from the fact that they view it a little bit differently than even other conference games.
NS: Ball State is one of the country’s most efficient offenses in the red zone, scoring on 18 or their 19 red zone trips this season. What makes the Cardinals so lethal in the red zone?
KS: Ball State is an offense that tries a lot of different things. Sometimes, they try a little bit too hard. I think they mix it up a little bit too much, but that’s why I’m not calling plays, that’s why I’m not on the sideline, because obviously it ends up working. I think the reason it works so well in the red zone in particular is because you have guys like I mean, Tanner Koziol is the No. 1 target on this offense. He’s a tight end, he’s about 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7, and that makes him a great red zone threat. It also means that you can rely on a running back like (senior) Braedon Sloan, or even some of your backups like (redshirt junior) Vaughn Pemberton, to really just take up time. They can power through for short yardage, and they can do that in the middle of the field and they can definitely do it in the red zone. I don’t know in particular what makes them particularly effective there as opposed to other parts of the field, but what I do know is that this offense is very reliant on a script. They like to script out their drives and, obviously, during those scripted drives, they’re still going to call some audibles. But I think that if you have a long drive and it gets you down to the red zone and that part’s already scripted out, then it’s going to work out well for the team.
NS: NIU is arguably the toughest defense Ball State will face all season. How do you expect the Cardinals to perform on offense, and what role will players like Tanner Koziol and Braedon Sloan have in that?
KS: Just to be blunt, this is kind of a nightmare matchup for Ball State. Not only is Northern Illinois just the best defense in the MAC statistically, they stop the exact areas that Ball State’s offense excels in. You look at Ball State, and it’s one of the best pass offenses in the MAC. However, Northern Illinois is the best pass defense in the MAC. They’ve only allowed 157 yards per game passing. That’s not good for Ball State. Additionally, the Ball State offense has not looked as good as you might expect, given the fact that Braedon Sloan is one of the best individual rushers in the conference. As a team, Ball State doesn’t rush particularly well, and that just makes it all even harder for Ball State to rush against a team like Northern Illinois that just excels on all facets of defense. But in particular, they’re going to shut down Ball State’s pass-first offense.
NS: All three of Ball State’s conference games so far have been decided by a field goal or less. What makes these MACtion games so competitive?
KS: Yeah, they’ve been crazy. I’ve covered all of them so far – two of them in-person. A MAC game to me, it’s never over. Like the Kent State game, I remember I was watching it from home. I couldn’t cover that one in-person, but I was watching it from home, and Ball State was in a pretty commanding lead at the start of the fourth quarter, and Kent State’s the worst team in the MAC. We were already spitballing ideas for how we’re going to write our postgame story and what questions we’re going to ask. Then Kent State just goes on a run, and it looks like, for a little bit, that Kent State was going to end up winning. It just sneaks it up on you. I think that you cannot get complacent in this conference. It doesn’t matter if you’re winning by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. It is certainly possible for your opponent to catch up with you. I think it’s because the type of athlete in the MAC, I think every school is similar in that no school really has an advantage in terms of athletes. Every school has kind of those people who, maybe, were not quite at the level of play out of high school that would put them in a Power Five school, but they’re certainly top-level college athletes who, if they have a good season in the MAC, they can prove that they are capable of playing in the Power Five, and they’re also capable of playing in the NFL. And so I think that there’s not much separation in terms of the worst team in the MAC and the best team in the MAC in terms of athlete. It really does come down to coaching at the end of the day.
NS: How do you see this game playing out, and what’s your score prediction?
KS: Northern Illinois is currently an 11.5-point favorite against Ball State, and that might be a little much, just because it is a MAC game. I think that Northern Illinois is the better team. However, it is in Muncie. I won’t act like Ball State has incredible home field advantage, but that does mean something. I will say that Ball State will cover the spread, but I’m going to go with Northern Illinois winning by 6 points. I don’t know the exact score, but I’ve got Northern Illinois winning by six.
