Games You Should’ve Watched
Ball State Cardinals Vs. Navy Midshipmen
Michael Schottey-NFL Correspondent/Drafttek Senior Writer
6:02 Well, Law and Order is over. Titanic is on, I should probably watch something else instead…but maybe after Kate Winslet is on. Nah, I’ll check ESPN. Ball State vs. Navy? Hmm, I could do worse.
6:03 2nd play, 1st penalty—I’m going to assume that ratio holds up throughout the game.
6:04 3rd play, Nate Davis and Donte Love hook up for a 61-yard TD—I’m going to assume that ratio holds up. (Ball State 7 Navy 0)
6:05 I see along the bottom of the screen that ESPN has a High School FB Showdown. Everyone who watches that immediately forfeits their soul…FYI.
6:06 Navy’s offense takes the field—I may be the only one who cares.
*Note* My college, Martin Luther College, runs the same offense as Navy. However, at Div III they run it (comparatively) a lot faster than the school that made it famous and I often get angry at Navy Quarterbacks. It should be a fun night.
6:06 1st play: Play action with pre snap motion works perfectly; 60-yard strike down field. The Quarterback, Jarod Bryant, completely missed the wide open receiver. Somewhere Craig Candeto is rolling in his grave.
6:10 Navy stud running back Shun White broke the Navy single-game rushing record last week, against Towson. Am I the only one who feels that should have an asterisk?
6:13 Someone needs to tell ESPN and Sonic that Sonics are not prevalent throughout the United States. I have seen one in my lifetime and I was over 1000 miles from my home. Sonic has delicious food and ESPN tempts me with things I can’t have. Someone will pay.
6:20 Ball State has run three plays this drive all involving Donte Love who is coming out of the backfield this drive. 3rd play: Donte Love takes the ball on a slot-around and breaks around 72 tackles. Touchdown Ball State! 14-3 BSU
6:24 #5 Florida is playing Miami and ESPN is hyping it. Is this 1999?
6:25 In this offense, the TB can look very good if the wing-backs are better blocking types. Kyle Eckel got to the NFL that way Eric Kettani may follow (if the US Government lets him)
6:32 I like East Carolina, they’re a go-to team on NCAA Football for me, but please Lou Holtz…stop pimping your son, let the other analysts tell us he’s a great coach.
6:33 So far, Navy has had the ball for 9 minutes, 18 plays, and have 6 pts. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go fellas.
6:37 The pervert camera man shows some scantily co-eds. The play by play guy makes a “Naval Ring” joke—boo! In other reporting news. ESPN Studios call in to let us know Tropical Storm Hanna hasn’t affected tonight’s game in Muncie, Indiana. Thank you!
6:40 Great story about Ball State DT Brandon Crawford who is 32 years old and had a bumpy adolescence before enrolling in the marines. Amazing story about a man who turned himself around. He’s a good player too!
6:49 Thanks to advertising, I now know that Digiorno Pizza can get me into parties at primarily African-American fraternity parties with scantily clad white women. All this for $10 a pie! Sign me up!
6:53 Pan of the crowd—it looks like my highschool bleachers. High Note: The cheerleaders are wearing more than the “naval rings” from earlier.
6:54 Pass completion (barely) to Donte Love. Chris Spielman praises Nate Davis for his footwork as the replay shows that he crossed his feet over, threw off his back foot on his tip toes and chucked it at Donte’s feet. The weirdness to this play was that Navy challenges the play even though it is the first half and it was only a 5 yard completion. Timeout wasted.
7:00 Apparently Navy lets players sleep on the floor during film study. Tom Coughlin just threw up.
7:08 Eric Kettani runs a 4.5 40-yard dash and just dropped 44 yards on the Cardinals. Let’s hope he’s playing on Sundays and not in Uzbekistan.
7:10 A $.99 banana split sounds delicious….SCREW YOU SONIC!
7:12 Jerrod Bryant keeper for a 14 yard TD run. 21-16 at half, a LOT closer than is should be!
7:16 There is a significant difference between mobile and “throws well on the run” Nate Davis is fast but just threw the ball into the ground…he’s mobile.
*HALF TIME*
7:40 A Shun White 70-yarder plus two straight QB ISO plays equals a TD for Navy, now up 23-21. Ball State was beating itself up before the half…Navy kicked its butt on that drive.
7:45 After a nice looking tackle by the Navy kicker, we learn that one of the Navy linebackers was a point guard for the basketball team. That’s chutzpah.
7:54 Miquell Lewis (RB-Ball State) has a lot of talent but he’s 5’6 and likes to run east/west. I’d love to see him on Sundays but I don’t think its going to happen.
7:55 Donte Love scores his third TD. System? No way. This guy is bringing sexy back.
8:01 ESPN brings us back from commercial with top 5 reasons to go to Ball State. #1? “Even a nerd like me can get a date” New Motto: “Beautiful Campus—easy women”
8:11 Nate Davis has a clear hole up the middle for a first down and the ACC Crew (read: JV) calls a ridiculous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Davis spinning the call. Look, Nate Davis carries himself like a NFL Quarterback already—there’s a difference between cocky and confident. Confident doesn’t warrant 15 yards.
8:15 So NBC is running a ‘kick off weekend special’ it includes Keith Urban and Usher…but no football. Someone should be caned for this.
8:21 Drink Dr. Pepper slowly….dr’s orders. (*goosebumps*)
8:22 If NASCAR is serious about being taken seriously by mainstream America they need to stop giving their naming rights to every Tom, Dick, Harry INC who wants to sponsor a race.
8:25 Jason Whitlock (Kansas City Star) says that Ball State (his alma mater) could finish 12-0 and get a BCS bowl. Um Jason? Let them play Dan Lefeavor (C. Michigan), and Greg Middleton (DE-Indiana) then we’ll talk.
8:33 Rich Eisen knows football pretty well but he’s on NBC shilling the no-game show with Deion Sanders. Someone better get their fingernails ripped off for this.
8:34 Ball State redzone INT-BJ Hill (who also has 10 tackles)…35-23 with 7:25 left. GAME OVER!
8:41 I’ve been working, so I just heard rumblings that Nate Davis has a learning disability and spends a lot of extra class time dealing with it. It’s a great story and I don’t mean to be blunt but I know another QB with all the physical gifts who has a learning disability and was really successful in college: Kyle Boller (ADHD) Learning an NFL playbook is difficult. This might drop him down draftcharts.
8:45 Navy needs to throw—this ain’t pretty.
8:49 Navy turnover on downs—A lesser man would call the game over now, but I got it 15 minutes ago. Gonna do some more work now. Hope you enjoyed the read!
