Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan football: Is the Cardinals' 'recipe' sustainable? 5 things to watch

MUNCIE, Ind. — For the last time this regular season, Ball State football (4-3, 2-1 MAC) will play on a Saturday when it hosts Eastern Michigan (4-3, 1-2 MAC) at Scheumann Stadium for homecoming.

Both of these teams come into this game with plenty of question marks. Ball State has rattled off three straight comeback wins while Eastern Michigan beat Arizona State a month ago, dominated Western Michigan two weeks ago and was throttled by Northern Illinois last week. Ball State fell to Western Michigan but beat Northern Illinois this season.

Sitting second in the Mid-American Conference West Division, Ball State controls its own destiny from this moment on. Eastern Michigan is looking to bounce back after a bad game last week. By Saturday night, one of these two teams will be within one game of bowl eligibility heading into November weeknight #MACtion.

Here are five things to watch:

Takeaways from UConn game: Ball State football mounts yet another comeback

Is Ball State's 'recipe' sustainable?

No.

Currently, Ball State is ranked as the 20th "luckiest" team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, according to teamrankings.com. During its 2020 MAC Championship run, it ended the season as the fifth-luckiest team. Then again, last year's MAC Champion Northern Illinois was the third-luckiest team in the FBS.

The team which has won the MAC the past two seasons has been the one who could win the most one-possession games. Ball State has won three of four. If it didn't blow a lead against Western Michigan, it could be sitting atop the MAC West alongside Toledo. Either way, the Cardinals can't rely on being a second half team if they want to sustain success.

"We can't keep coming out slow because one time it's going to come back and bite us and we don't want that to happen," cornerback Amechi Uzodinma II said. "So, we really just want to get going from the jump and see what we really can do that way going from the jump. I feel like, as a team, if we do that, it's going to be hard to stop us."

If you're wondering why Ball State has been so much better in the second half than the first, you're not the only one. It's been a conundrum head coach Mike Neu, his staff and his players have been trying to figure out.

"We're hard at work trying to get that solved," Neu said. "I've had lengthy discussions with the coaching staff. What can we do to make sure the guys get settled into the game faster? ... I had meetings with our leadership council yesterday just to make sure is there anything they see from their standpoint. Do they feel fresh when the ball's kicked off? Do they feel mentally ready to go?"

While the last three weeks have left Ball State smiling and singing the school's fight song, there needs to be an urgency to figure out how the team can get going from the opening kick.

Will Jayshon Jackson, Yo'Heinz Tyler play?

Ball State's top-two leading receivers, Jayshon Jackson and Yo'Heinz Tyler, left the UConn game early with injuries.

Tyler was seen heading to the locker room early in the fourth quarter while Jackson took a big hit late in the game, which left him motionless on the field for several minutes before he walked off under his own power.

For the most part, Ball State has avoided the injury bug which seemed to have plagued it last year. During Monday's press conference, Neu said both Jackson and Tyler were considered "day-to-day."

"They're working hard with our training staff," Neu said. "They're doing a great job of making sure that they do their part to get recovered the best they can."

This season, Jackson and Tyler have combined for 88 catches, 923 yards — 51% of Ball State's receiving yards — and three touchdowns. If one or both of them were to miss Saturday, tight ends Brady Hunt (22 catches, 241 yards, three TDs) and Tanner Koziol (21 catches, 227 yards, five TDs) along with receiver Amir Abdur-Rahman (20 catches, 206 yards, one TD) will have to step up.

After two weeks with no catches against NIU and Central Michigan, Abdur-Rahman caught three catches for 24 yards against UConn. Hunt and Koziol have combined for eight catches and 45 receiving yards in the past two games.

Ball State needs to keep creating pressure

In the past three weeks, Ball State's defense has risen to the occasion.

Making big plays when it needs to, Ball State has recorded 10 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, six turnovers and 18 pass breakups over their current winning streak. It's defense has gone jumped up 30 spots in the Football Bowl Subdivision rankings in each of those categories. It has limited its opponents to 33% on third down (17-for-51) and 40% on fourth down (4-for-10).

"What we've been talking about (it) with coach (Tyler) Stockton is the expectation is domination," Uzodinma II said, "and that's how we go out every play ... just go out there and do what we can to help this team win."

Last week, Northern Illinois' pressure proved to be too much to handle for Eastern Michigan as the Huskies defeated the Eagles 39-10. Northern Illinois limited Eastern Michigan to 10 first downs, just 29 net rushing yards (recording five sacks for 49 yards) and 2-for-13 on third down.

If Ball State can limit Eastern Michigan's running game, the Eagles have proven to be less effective through the air. Eastern Michigan averages 220.9 passing yards per game, the fifth-worst mark in the conference this season.

Can Ball State fix its passing game?

Through the first five weeks of the season, Ball State was averaging 307.6 passing yards and 2.2 touchdowns per game. In the past two weeks combined, Ball State has had 269 passing yards and one touchdown.

John Paddock went from top-10 in the country in terms of passing yards following the Northern Illinois game to No. 26. While respectable, the Cardinals have had plenty of issues through the air the past two weeks.

"There's nothing major," Neu said when asked what needed to be fixed in the passing game. "I think more than anything, we've got to get John settled down, get him playing the way he's capable of playing. I think it's only natural sometimes when you're a competitor the way he's a competitor, you try to force a few throws or maybe you hang on a route a little too long and not work through the progression."

In the past two weeks, Paddock has been sacked for times (he was only sacked twice in the first five weeks), hurried three times and has had 19 passes broken up. Whether it's his play, the protection, the receivers, the play-calling or some combination of the four, Ball State's passing game has been an area of concern the past two weeks.

When in doubt, feed Carson Steele

There's not much else to say.

Running back Carson Steele, a sophomore, is currently seventh in the nation with 789 rushing yards. He's averaging 4.7 yards per rush and has eight touchdowns on the year after his three-touchdown performance last week.

In a season of inconsistencies, Steele has been the most consistent weapon Ball State's had. With the way the passing game has struggled, Ball State has relied on Steele more, as he's averaged 30 rushing attempts in the past two weeks.

He's been a great weapon to have and Eastern Michigan has given up an average of 172.4 rushing yards to its opponents this season, including 287 to Northern Illinois last week.

Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school sports for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com or on Twitter @rgeneraljr.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan football preview, what to watch in MAC game