The Ball State Cardinals football team is a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

program representing

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) Division I

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS)

. Mike Neu is the head coach. Ball State plays its home games on

Scheumann Stadium Scheumann Stadium (officially, the "John B. and June M. Scheumann Stadium"), formerly known as Ball State Stadium, is in Muncie, Indiana. It is primarily used for football, and it is the home field of the Ball State University Cardinals. The st ...

on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals compete in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

as a member of the West Division. The Cardinals have a 421–381–32 record, which ranks below the top 50 most victories among NCAA FBS programs. Ball State was originally classified as a teacher's college, participating in the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

(NJCAA) from 1937 until 1956. In 1957, they were classified as a Small College school until 1972. Ball State received Division II classification in 1973, before becoming a Division I-AA program in 1975 and a Division I-A (now FBS) program in 1981, dropping to Division I-AA for a single season (1982) before returning to Division I-A.

Conference affiliations

Ball State has been an independent and affiliated with multiple conferences. * Independent (1924–1949) * Indiana Collegiate Conference (1950–1969) * Conference of Midwestern Universities (1970–1971) *

(1973–present)

Championships

Conference championships

Division championships

Bowl games

Ball State has appeared in nine NCAA Division I postseason

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

s, in which they have compiled a 1–8 record. Within all FBS teams, Ball State was one of eight that had never won a sanctioned bowl game, until the

2020 Arizona Bowl The 2020 Arizona Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2020, with kickoff at 2:00 p.m. EST (12:00 p.m. local MST). It was the sixth edition of the Arizona Bowl, and was one of the 2020–21 bowl games concludi ...

. Ball State also appeared in two NCAA College Division postseason bowl games, where they compiled a record of 0–1–1.

Head coaches

The Ball State Cardinals have had 17 head coaches throughout the program's history. With 68 victories, John Magnabosco has the most victories in the program's history, followed by Paul Schudel (60 wins) and Dave McClain (46).

Rivalries

Indiana State

Ball State leads the series with Indiana State 38–24–1 with the last game played in 2014.

Miami (OH)

Ball State and Miami were granted rivalry status by the MAC in 2017. The cross-division foes play each year for the Red Bird Rivalry trophy. BSU has been known as the Cardinals since 1927, while Miami adopted the RedHawks moniker in 1997. The series dates back to 1931 but really heated up in the 1970s when BSU joined the MAC.

Northern Illinois

The Cardinals have played Northern Illinois six times in football since the launch of the

Bronze Stalk Trophy The Bronze Stalk Trophy is presented to the winner of the annual college football game between Mid-American Conference rivals Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The two interstate riva ...

. The trophy depicts several cornstalks in tribute to the prevalence of

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

around the respective home states of the rivals. Northern Illinois holds a 24–21–2 lead in the series through the 2019 season.

Cardinals in professional football

Ball State has produced a total of 29 NFL draft selections. The following "Active" and "All-Star" lists account for past and present Ball State University football players that have participated in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, XFL,

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

European Football League The European Football League (EFL) established in 1986, was a tournament for the best European American football teams affiliated to IFAF (International Federation of American Football - Europe), which replaced the European Federation of America ...

Austrian Football League The Austrian Football League (AFL) is the highest level of American football in Austria founded in 1984. The Austrian Football League (AFL) has always been considered among the best and strongest leagues in Europe. The league plays by rules based ...

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''American-Football-Bundesliga'' to ''German Foot ...

and

IFL IFL may refer to: ;American football *Intense Football League, (2004–2008) in the United States, merged into the Indoor Football League *Indoor Football League, (2008–present) in the United States *Intercontinental Football League, a European l ...

Active

As of November 2022, there are a total of twelve Cardinals listed on team rosters in the NFL, CFL, AFL, XFL, IFL, and USFL. * Nate Davis - QB -

Duke City Gladiators The Duke City Gladiators are a professional indoor football team based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, a suburb of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They began play in March 2015 as members of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF) league. The Gladiators played ...

* Walter Fletcher - RB -

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

*Justin Hall - WR -

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducing ...

* Caleb Huntley - RB -

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

*Hassan Littles - WR -

Green Bay Blizzard Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

* Jonathan Newsome - DE -

Birmingham Stallions The Birmingham Stallions were a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second professional league of American football in the United States in competition with the National Football League. They played their ...

*Antonio Phillips - CB -

Vegas Vipers The Vegas Vipers are a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL (2020), XFL, owned by RedBird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia's Alpha Acquico, LLC. The team beg ...

* Danny Pinter - OL -

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

* Drew Plitt - QB -

Arlington Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne ...

*Tuni Ropati - DL -

Bay Area Panthers The Bay Area Panthers are a professional indoor football team based in San Jose, California. They are a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL) and were to begin play in 2020 at Oakland Arena as the Oakland Panthers. Due the onset of the COV ...

Willie Snead IV Willie Lee Snead IV (born October 17, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2014 and has been a member o ...

- WR -

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

*Jaylin Thomas - LB -

Seattle Sea Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons (formerly known as the Seattle Dragons) are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team is a franchise of the new XFL and plays its home games at Lumen Field in Seattle. Originally founde ...

All-stars

Among the numerous Cardinals who have participated in the NFL, CFL, and AFL, three have received all-star recognition by their respective leagues. *

Blaine Bishop Blaine Elwood Bishop III (born July 24, 1970) is a former professional American football Safety (American football position), safety in the National Football League who played most notably for the Tennessee Titans. He was drafted by the History o ...

- S ::NFL Pro Bowl (

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) ::NFL All-Pro (1995, 1996, 2000) * Timmy Brown - RB ::NFL Pro Bowl ( 1962,

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

) ::NFL All-Pro (1963, 1965, 1966) *

Kenny Stucker Kenny Stucker (born June 11, 1970) is a former American football placekicker who played seven seasons in the Arena Football League with the Milwaukee Mustangs, Chicago Rush, New York Dragons and Tampa Bay Storm. He played college football at ...

- K ::AFL All-Arena ( & )

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 27, 2019.

References

Ball State Historical Data
College Football Data Warehouse. * Michael Maccambridge (ed.), ''ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game'',

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, 2005, .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ball State Cardinals Football American football teams established in 1924 1924 establishments in Indiana