The Ball State Cardinals (4-4, 3-5 ATS, 3-5 O/U) take on the Kent State Golden Flashes (3-5, 3-5 ATS, 3-4-1 O/U) in a MAC battle on Tuesday evening. The Cardinals are looking to rebound from a narrow home loss to Eastern Michigan. The Golden Flashes posted a solid home win against Akron in their previous action. These rivals last met in 2019 in a game Kent State won by a 41-38 score.
The Ball State Cardinals are seeking a rebound after their second conference defeat of the season. The Cardinals defeated NIU in overtime to begin October and narrowly got by Central Michigan. They followed with a home win against UConn and were 2.5 point favorites in a narrow 20-16 home loss to Eastern Michigan last Saturday to end their three-game winning streak. The Cardinals have covered the spread in two of their five MAC games.
John Paddock has not been effective recently. The junior QB has recorded 178 or fewer passing yards in three straight games and has thrown three picks in that span. He has accrued 1985 passing yards along with a 14:9 TD to INT ratio on the season.
Carson Steele has been the biggest weapon on offense recently. The sophomore RB has eclipsed 100 rushing yards in three straight games and now has 890 rushing yards on an average of 4.6 yards per rush. The receiving core relies on Jayshon Jackson. The senior WR has surpassed 100 yards on two occasions this season and has collected 633 receiving yards. The Ball State offense has scored 25 or fewer points in three consecutive games.
Who's hotter than @carsonsteele30 right now? ??
Answer: Nobody.#1AAT x #WeFly pic.twitter.com/6fJxE5YfoH
— Ball State Football (@BallStateFB) October 22, 2022
The Cardinals' defense has been outstanding recently. They allowed 358 total yards and only 20 points in the loss to Eastern Michigan last time out. The pass defense is a strength, ranking 45th while the rush defense is at 108th. Ball State is scoring an average of 24.5 points, landing them 95th in the FBS. They are conceding an average of 28.1 points, pegging them 80th.