Poor execution Disappoints Ball State Coach, Player & Fans

[Harry]

Pete Lembo is his own worst enemy.

In wake of Ball State’s stunning 34-27 loss at North Texas on Saturday, the third-year Cardinal coach has no one to blame but himself for how the Cardinal faithful felt all day Sunday.

“It was a disappointing loss,” Lembo said on Monday. “We had four turnovers in the first half, which is just incredible. It’s something that we are embarrassed about, quite frankly.”

Therein lays the rub. It wasn’t that Ball State (2-1) lost to the Mean Green (2-1) in a scorching Texas heat, North Texas was at home and they are a very solid program. But it was how Ball State lost, which was often a bungled mess of mistakes over the course of the afternoon. What happened during the game simply wasn’t

indicative of a Pete Lembo-coached team.

Ball State got outscored 25-0 over the final 33:26. In their final seven possessions, the Cardinals had a couple of interceptions, missed a pair of field goals (though in kicker Scott Secor’s defense, the kicks were from 54 and 51 yards), turned the ball over on downs, and punted twice.

That is incomprehensible given the ability that this offense has shown over the past two-plus seasons.

The aforementioned turnovers (four fumbles, three of which were lost, plus a pair of interceptions) were “incredible,” to use Lembo’s description. To put that occurrence into perspective, this is how Lembo addresses discipline on the field when it comes to turnovers.

Read more: http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130917/SPORTS/130919676/1002

[LongJim]

You know, I realize that Lembo didn't make excuses for the loss, nor did most of the BSU players, but the facts are that they got out-hit, out-hustled, and physically beaten for most of the game, and the entire second half. Those are the facts. UNT dominated them physically, and went out and made plays and took the game away from them. It is as simple as that.

[MeanGreenTexan]

He shouldn't be embarrassed when his guys fumble because they were getting knocked out. It's not like his guys were dropping the ball or something. Needs to give credit to the Mean Green D.

[SHOSS]

not only does the mean green d deserve credit for creating turnovers... his assessment of the "scorching heat" is a little overblown. the 91 degrees could be looked at as a cold front here in texas. While I'm sure it is much hotter than they are used to, mother nature took it easy on them last saturday. Can you imagine how much worse it would have been for them if it were 103 like in the idaho game? Especially if it were 100+ and a 3:00 kickoff?

I bet they would have needed IV's for every member of the team and the coaching staff. I guess in their defense, the sun beat down on their sideline until well into the 4th quarter. I'm sure that RV built that into the stadium design!!!!

So, our strategy should be to schedule schools from up north for day games in early september from now on....we just need to come up with a shade solution for the student section stands.... Any ideas?

[DT 90]

From my sources, BSU O-line was extremely gassed by the 4th.

Edited September 18, 2013 by DT 90

[forevereagle]

From my sources, BSU O-line was extremely gassed by the 4th.

I think I trust your sources.

[TIgreen01]

"Ball State rarely beats itself. On Saturday, it did."

Wah, wah, wah. I'd love to be reading articles like this every week. That defense of ours is gonna be fun to watch this year.

[Christopher Walker]

From my sources, BSU O-line was extremely gassed by the 4th.

Like puking all over themselves on the sideline gassed.

[GrandGreen]

Read on their board, true or not, that the heat index was actually higher in their Army game. I did look up the highs for those days, it was 87 for the Army/BS game, and 92 for NT/BS. I think getting outplayed and the BS defense having to on the field most of the second half had a lot more to do with it than the temperature.

[greenminer]

Read on their board, true or not, that the heat index was actually higher in their Army game. I did look up the highs for those days, it was 87 for the Army/BS game, and 92 for NT/BS. I think getting outplayed and the BS defense having to on the field most of the second half had a lot more to do with it than the temperature.

If you go by the BSU game notes, temps for NT and Army game were 90/82 respectively.

Just guessing, I think humidity/dewpoints are pretty different between Denton and Muncie. A few notes regarding TOP:

BSU had 9 1st half possessions; only 4 of them lasted longer than a minute. They were either scoring so quickly or turning it over...their defense may have played lights out but TOP caught up with them. Especially in 2nd half when we started capitalizing on long, sustained drives. BSU only had 5 2nd half possessions.

1st half we already amassed a 5 minute TOP advantage. That's huge and when you couple that with a 20 to 10 minute 2nd half advantage....I don't know many defenses in the country who could weather that.

I still haven't seen the game and would love to watch it knowing this. Unfortunately, FSN doesn't have online replays.