Temple versus Ball State Preview

Offensive Key Players:

Temple

• Bernard Pierce, RB, Jr.—Pierce is the key cog in a rushing attack that gets 209.8 yards per game so far in the 2011 season. When Pierce is over 100 yards rushing, Temple is 3-0. When he does not get to 100, the Owls are 0-2. He has an astonishing 12 touchdowns on the season highlighted by a 5 touchdown performance in the dismantling of ACC foe Maryland. When he is successful, Temple is successful. 
• Evan Rodriguez, TE, Sr.—Rodriguez is the leading receiver for a Temple offense that has struggled for the most part to get a lot going in the air (only one game with 200+ yards passing, Villanova). His 18 catches on the season are 3 short of his 2010 total and his total receiving yards has already surpassed last season. He has become a vital part of the offense and must be utilized even more considering the lack of production from the wide receivers so far.

Ball State:

• Keith Wenning, QB, So.—Wenning had played solid football in the opening 4 weeks of the season before running into a very athletic Oklahoma defense that held him to 84 yards and 3 interceptions. In the other 4 games, he has averaged just over 215 yards passing with a total of 7 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The Oklahoma game was just a blip for the talented sophomore who could work himself into NFL consideration before his time at Ball State is done.
• Jahwan Edwards, RB, Fr.—Edwards has had an up and down season as is expected by any true freshman starting running back. Although he only has one 100+ yard rushing game on the season, Edwards was putting up 5.5 yards per carry before the Oklahoma game. He has also been good for 6 catches out of the backfield for 26 yards.

Defensive Key Players:

Temple:

• Stephen Johnson, LB, Sr.—Johnson is the leading tackler with 30 for a Temple defense that has looked pretty good in 2011. The senior started slow with 4 tackles in the first 2 games combined before getting on track with 8 tackles versus Penn State, 11 versus Maryland, and 7 versus Toledo. He has already surpassed his tackle total for all of 2010 when he ended the season with 29 tackles
• Tahir Whitehead, LB, Sr.—Whitehead is only 4^th on the team in tackles but is the most disruptive player on the Owl defense. He has forced 3 fumbles, recovered 2 fumbles, made 9 tackles for loss and sacked the quarterback 3 times. Teams are forced to find where he is lined up and take into account his ability to make big plays. He has the type of defensive explosiveness that NFL scouts are looking for in the draft.

Ball State

• Travis Freeman, LB, Jr.—Freeman is the leading tackler for the Cardinal defense so far in the 2011 season with 45 to go along with 3 tackles for loss and a sack. He is right on pace to equal or exceed his 101 tackles in 2010 and his 93 in 2009. He came up big in the Indiana and Buffalo games with 10 and 12 tackles respectively. 
• Sean Baker, DB, Sr.—Baker is the 3^rd leading tackler for the Cardinals with 38 on the young season. From the safety spot, he has been able to wreck havoc in the backfield on a couple occasions with 2 tackles for a loss including a sack versus Army. Baker has had at least 5 tackles in every game this season with a high of 11 in the loss to South Florida. He has played significant minutes in his 4 years at Ball State and should easily break the 300 career tackles plateau before the season ends.

Key Battles:

Pierce versus Freeman: The leading tackler for Ball State will have one of his toughest challenges with Bernard Pierce who is putting up 5.1 yards per carry so far this season. Freeman will have to contain the big run as Pierce has broken a run for 13 or more yards in every game this season. This could be a 15+ tackle game for Freeman to go along with a lot of soreness from a physical game.

Wenning versus Whitehead: The Ball State quarterback will have to account for Whitehead on every play and may have to audible out of plays to keep Whitehead from being so destructive. If he can make sure that Whitehead cannot cause turnovers and take what the defense will give him, it could be a pretty productive game for the sophomore.

How Temple will win: Putting the ball in Pierce’s hands and riding his back to the win. The running game is the bread and butter for the Owls offense. If he has a good game, the Owls will win. If he struggles, Temple will probably not win. The other major factor for the Owls is limiting turnovers. They had 4 in the Toledo game which allowed Toledo to get some cheap points and put the game out of reach for a Temple team that plays better with the lead than from behind.

How Ball State will win: Slowing down the Temple running game. Toledo was able to slow down the rushing attack of Temple in their win over the Owls forcing them to pass the ball in many more situations than they are comfortable with resulting in more turnovers. If Ball State is able to take the ball out of Pierce’s hands and force the Temple passing game to beat them then they have a very strong chance of winning.

Temple is coming off of a bad performance in a loss to a very talented Toledo squad last week. They were uncharacteristic in turning over the ball 4 times and having loads of trouble getting the running game started. The Owls will look at it as a personal challenge to push around the Cardinal defense at the line of scrimmage and show that last week was a fluke. Ball State is licking its wounds after a brutal pounding at the hands of #3 Oklahoma. With many players more sore than usual, this is not the ideal week for a punishing ground offense to show up. The defense must really show resolve and play through the soreness to have a chance with Temple. It will be interesting to see how both teams respond to the whipping they took in the previous week.