Ball State football routed by Liberty on the road; final score, takeaways

Ball State football’s road struggles continued with an ugly showing in Virginia.

The Cardinals lost 51-15 to Liberty on Saturday, Sept. 19, marking their 12th consecutive road loss and ninth in as many games for head coach Mike Uremovich. The Flames scored touchdowns on seven out of their 10 drives and outgained the Cardinals, 464-239.

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Here’s three takeaways from the Cardinals’ road loss to Liberty.

Ball State’s defense had no answers for the Flames’ offense. Liberty scored on six of its first seven drives, with five of those drives ending with touchdowns. Quarterback Deshawn Purdy operated from clean pockets all day and torched the Cardinals’ secondary by completing 13-of-20 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns. He did not play in the fourth quarter as Liberty inserted its backups with a three-score lead.

Ball State wasn’t much better at stopping the run. The Flames ran it 33 times for 199 yards and averaged 6 yards per carry. The Cardinals’ lone defensive highlight was a fumble recovery by Ameir Glenn on a bad exchange between Liberty’s backup quarterback and running back, but the offense failed to score on the ensuing drive.

Last week’s victory against Stony Brook featured the most penalties against Ball State in the Uremovich era, as the Cardinals were flagged 11 times for 99 yards. Things did not improve a week later — in fact, they got worse. Ball State drew 11 flags again for 108 total yards, including four holding penalties and three 15-yard personal fouls.

The penalties at Liberty were much more costly in context than the one’s committed against Stony Brook. In the second quarter, a 29-yard run by quarterback Keldric Luster was negated by a blindside block against wide receiver Donovan Hamilton. Later in the quarter, an unnecessary roughness penalty on defensive lineman Kendrick Gilbert gave the Flames first-and-goal, which they immediately turned into another touchdown right before halftime.

Ball State’s offense did not fare much better than the defense with only 249 total yards and two touchdown drives. Their passing game was held in check, as Keldric Luster finished 10-of-21 for 93 yards and no touchdowns.

The running game was fairly effective, as the Cardinals ran 35 times for 156 yards and a respectable average of 4.5 yards per carry. Running back TJ Horton put together another strong performance with eight carries for 79 yards (9.9 yards per carry) and both of Ball State’s touchdowns. He provided most of the offense’s explosive plays with four carries for 10 or more yards.

Ball State (1-2) will be back on the road next week to open Mid-American Conference play at Kent State (1-2). The Cardinals have not lost to the Golden Flashes since 2019, and their last road win came at Kent State with a 37-35 victory on Oct. 12, 2024.

Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State football routed by Liberty on the road; final score, takeaways