Death by execution

Execution has two different meanings - it can mean to carry out a plan, or it can be referring to a form of death. In the case of the football team this past weekend, it sort of meant both.

The term was said many times in the post-game press conference following a 49-14 loss at Ball State. Head coach Turner Gill used it as he gave credit to the Cardinals (3-2, 2-1 Mid-American Conference), but felt that his Bulls (1-4, 1-1 MAC) needed to play better on the field.

"They have some good players, but we've got good players and we've got to execute better. That's the bottom line," Gill said. "They executed better than we did. That's the only thing that's happened in the last two games they've played against us. They out-executed us from the first snap on to the last snap."

Junior quarterback Drew Willy mentioned the same term to explain the struggles of an offense that was out-gained 507 yards to 219.

"We tried to come out and run the ball. We just need to execute better," Willy said. "Everything starts with our running game, so we opened it up a little bit in the second half. We just need to execute better running the ball, passing the ball."

The Cardinals made a statement early. Frank Edmonds rushed for a one-yard touchdown to complete their first possession of the game, which was followed by an interception returned for a touchdown by Trey Lewis only 14 seconds later. Less than five minutes into the game, the Cardinals held a 14-0 advantage.

Willy claimed that the interception did not bother him, as he was able to keep it out of his mind.

"Confidence is not something that I'm short on," Willy said. "I was emotionally upset about that one play, but after that's over you've just got to move on to the next play. It was just an unfortunate thing, but we've got to move on from it."

Ball State made it difficult to move on. They didn't let up as they showed their recent one-point loss to Nebraska was no fluke. Late in the first quarter, Darius Hill caught a touchdown pass from Nate Davis, who had three touchdown passes on the day. The pair connected for another score with 8:30 left in the second quarter.

A career-long 71-yard bomb by senior punter Ben Woods on the Bulls' next possession slowed the momentum down for the Cardinals. The teams headed into the locker room with Ball State leading 28-0.

Buffalo had just 65 yards of total offense in the half and Willy was held to 18 passing yards. Despite the deficit and trouble on offense, Gill hoped his team could come back in the second half.

"Even though they scored, we've got to come back and answer on offense," Gill said. "It's tough, no doubt about it. We know that they have an explosive offense. We know that some how, some way, defensively we have to keep them off the board and also offensively, we have to put points on the board."

To start the second half, Ball State finished their drive with a nine-yard touchdown run from Dante Love, but the Bulls were able to respond. Sophomore running back James Starks ran for his first of two touchdowns on the day to put the Bulls on the scoreboard.

However, Love scored again when the Cardinals got the ball back. This time he got into the end zone through the air with a 15-yard reception. In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Starks scored again. He ran for his second touchdown on the ensuing possession to rack up a score of 42-14.

It was too little too late however, as Frank Edmonds ran in his second touchdown on the afternoon for the final score of the day.

Edmonds was filling in for team rushing leader MiQuale Lewis, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Edmonds had 127 yards on 24 carries.

Gill knows his defense needs to be prepared to stop any player put in the game.

"Whoever the back was in the game, they were able to do what they needed to do and unfortunately we've got to get off blocks," Gill said. "We've got to make tackles."

Defensively, freshman safety Davonte Shannon had 16 tackles. Senior defensive lineman Trevor Scott had a sack in which he forced a fumble, but it was recovered by the Cardinals.

For the Ball state offense, Gill credited the run for opening up the passing lanes. Davis was able throw for 233 yards while not having a pass attempt in the fourth quarter.

"When you can get the running game going, you're going to be able to move the football in most cases. That's the thing they've got going," Gill said. "When you've got a good running game and you do have multiple receivers that you can go to versus one guy, it does make it a little bit tough."

Gill looks for the team to execute better this Saturday, as they host Ohio at UB Stadium at 1 p.m.

"Our guys continue to fight hard and play hard and we'll be back and ready to play next week," Gill said.