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Ball State begins tough stretch against Northern Illinois

Nov 4, 2008 - 6:55 PM Northern Illinois (5-3) at (18) Ball State (8-0), 8:00 pm EST

MUNCIE, Indiana (Ticker) -- Ball State has been basking in the glow of the first top-25 ranking in school history.

But the schedule is about to get a lot tougher for the 18th-ranked Cardinals starting with Wednesday night's contest against Northern Illinois.

Now one of six unbeaten teams remaining in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Ball State may win the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. If the Cardinals do, they will have earned it.

Over their final four games, the Cardinals (8-0, 4-0 MAC West) face three of the conference's contenders as they also have contests left against two-time MAC champion Central Michigan and Western Michigan.

But Ball State cannot afford to look past Northern Illinois (5-3, 4-1 MAC West), which has won five of its last six games and was competitive in close losses to Minnesota (31-27) and Tennessee (13-9).

The Huskies did struggle to get past Miami of Ohio, 16-13, in their last game on October 25 as Mike Salerno kicked a 30-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.

Chandler Harnish ran for 116 yards on 19 carries to become the first Northern Illinois quarterback to run for more than 100 yards since 1990. However, the Huskies don't like to throw, as Chandler has passed only 70 times this season, tossing five touchdowns and two interceptions.

Northern Illinois has rebounded from a 2-10 year in 2007 that included a season-ending 27-21 defeat to Ball State. Cardinals quarterback Nate Davis passed for 326 yards and two touchdowns in that game.

Ball State has won its eight games by an average of 22 points. All eight wins have come by double figures, with the closest game being a 35-23 win over Navy.

A victory over Northern Illinois will enable the Cardinals to match the 9-0 start of the 1965 team.

Still, Cardinals head coach Brady Hoke is looking for a quicker start, as Ball State has only led 7-0 and 10-0 at halftime in its last two games. In its last contest on October 25, the Cardinals scored 28 points in the second half to defeat Eastern Michigan, 38-16.

"When you look at the start of the game on both sides of the ball in the last two games, we haven't been as productive as we would like to be," Hoke said.

Ball State leads the all-time series, 19-14-2. Northern Illinois has won seven of the last nine meetings, but the Cardinals have taken two of the last three contests.