Quarterback A-

One’s young. The other’s old. Both have been nothing short of terrific.

True, freshman Nate Davis and fifth-year senior Joey Lynch have been splitting time through the first four games.

But don’t think Ball State doesn’t have two solid quarterbacks — it just has one with experience and one who will be a star.

Lynch has been starting so far and will probably continue to with the numbers he has been putting up. Lynch has thrown for 823 yards and six touchdowns. Or 130 yards and three touchdowns more than NIU’s Phil Horvath.

But with Davis behind him, Lynch has had to share time. The Bellaire, Ohio, native has a higher completion percentage, only one less touchdown pass and no picks.

In other words, the future looks very bright in Muncie.

Receivers B+

How do you spell mismatch? How about NIU linebacker Keenan Blalark (5’10”, 228 lbs.) against BSU tight end Darius Hill (6’6″, 230 lbs.).

No matter how athletic a player is, when he’s giving up eight inches, problems will occur.

And that is exactly what the Cardinals have been doing with Hill all season: creating problems.

The red-shirt sophomore leads the Cardinals with 341 yards and four touchdowns. He burned Indiana for 50 yards and a score, and then followed it up with 119 yards and another TD against Purdue.

But Hill isn’t the only threat BSU has against a Huskie defense that has shown weakness to the pass.

Terry Moss has shown his speed this season with 207 yards and two touchdowns on only six catches.

Offensive line D

When a team returns four of its starters, they are supposed to be a solid group.

Problem is, BSU’s line has been about as solid as Jell-O.

The running game has sputtered and the Cardinal quarterbacks have been sacked 10 times already. The sad thing is that they are ahead of last year’s pace, where the line allowed 43 sacks in 11 games.

Senior left guard Justin Schneider is the most experienced of the bunch, being that he is a four-year starter.

But with the line being in the state it is, Schneider has had to be as versatile as he is a leader.

The Hilbert, Wis., native has started at every position on the offensive line except center.

Andre Ramsey, Dan Gerberry and Robert Brewster are the three other returning starters.

Running backs D+

How bad is the BSU running game? Maybe a better question is, “Do they even have one?”

Freshman McQuale Lewis and senior Larry Bostic have been manning the Cardinal backfield this season, but from the stats, one may wonder if they ever get out of it.

Lewis is the team’s leading rusher — with a grand total of 102 yards. And Bostic is right behind him with 100 yards.

And to add a little more insult to injury, neither has scored a touchdown.

The lone bright spot for the backs is that Bostic and Dante Love lead the team with 19 and 18 catches, respectively.

Story by Ben Gross and Sean Ostruszka