2024 Miami Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 3: Ball State
In 2019, it was announced that the Ball State Cardinals would face the University of Miami in football for 1.5 million dollars. This is normal for top colleges in the football world who tend to pay and play lesser opponents to bolster their record while also allowing other programs to get a feel of what a. top collegiate-level team plays like. For both teams, this is the first in program history to face each other and many expect how things will play out. For the Mid-American Conference team, this will be another game to see if they can stand with a larger program but after the Cardinals finished last season 4-8, many questions could be asked.
Lets take a look at the MAC team and see how they compare to the the Hurricanes in this early season match up.
Offense
Finishing the season 4-8 is not ideal especially when there is a team with a 1000-yard rusher in the backfield. With this, the team only averaged 18.5 points a game and was one of the lowest numbers in the MAC.
That is what the season came down to for the Cardinals who struggle to put the ball in the air with their rotation of quarterbacks. The three quarterbacks for the team each had around 500 yards in the air on the year and combined, they only accumulated 1,639 yards on the year. This is with nine total touchdowns between the three along with nine interceptions. Only one of those quarterbacks is returning to the team and that is redshirt freshman Kadin Semonza. With the lack of air presence in the offense, this also left many receivers in no-man land. A change could be on the way under center with the Marshall transfer Chase Harrison possibly being the starter for the season.
The running game was the only positive for the offense during the 2023 season. However, the departure of Marquez Cooper could be significant as his 1000 yards of rushing will be missing. The redshirt junior Vaughn Pemberton, will take over RB 1 duties this season after only getting 23 touches last season. He averaged six yards a carry with those oppurtunies but because of how ball dominte Copper was, there was not a chance for him to expand his game. This will be a great opportunity to see if he will take his game to the next level behind a solid offensive line.
Defense
The defensive side of the ball was similar to the offense. They were able to generate a lot of tackles from Keionté Newson (80), Cole Pearce (78), and Jordan Riley (61). Newson is the only player out of the three that will return for his senior season at the linebacker position but it will be a lot of new faces for the production of the defense.
Another key thing that should be noted is the lack of interception in the secondary for the Cardinals. They only generated five and they were attacked heavily in the passing game during the their season. Tyler Potts led the team with two but he has graduated and now it is up to Cincinnati graduate transfer George Udo who will likely be starting in his role as well as sophomore Jordan Coleman who will increase his role.
Schedule
This is the third game of the season for the Hurricanes who will look to be 3-0 by this point. This will also be the game before a step up in competition when they face the University of South Florida the following week.
At this point of the schedule, the Hurricanes should have a feel of what they want their identity for the season. You can expect a lot of RPO in this offense with the ability of Cameron Ward and the addition of Damien Martinez in the backfield. They will be able to get things flowing as the season progresses and before the first bye week in their schedule.
Outlook
This game has a similar feel to the Florida A&M game in which Canes should win and in a dominant fashion. This game could get out of hand so this will also be a great opportunity to look at some of the younger talent for the Hurricanes. This is not looking past the Cardinals, this is expecting what is expected.
Expect big offensive and defensive numbers at this point in the season as well as many possible monster games between Ward, Martinez, and Xavier Restrepo, and some big performances from the defensive line.
The Game
Date: September 14
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: ACCN
Location: Hard Rock Stadium
Series: First matchup between the two teams.
Miami Hurricanes 2024 Football Schedule
August 31 at Florida
September 7 Florida A&M
September 14 Ball State
September 21 at USF
September 27 Virginia Tech
October 5 at California
October 12 Bye Week
October 19 at Louisville
October 26 Florida State
November 2 Duke
November 9 at Georgia Tech
November 16 Bye Week
November 23 Wake Forest
November 30 at Syracuse
JUSTICE SANDLE