Ohio Football faces first MAC road test against Ball State
By: Andrew Bowlby
Posted on:
Friday, October 3, 2025
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Ohio Football started its Mid-American Conference schedule with a resounding 35-20 win over Bowling Green. Now, the Bobcats (3-2, 1-0 MAC) prepare to hit the road for the first time in MAC play to face Ball State (1-3, 0-0 MAC).
Ball State comes into week six of the college football season coming off a bye week. It was a much-needed break as the team hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season.
The Cardinals lost to Purdue and Auburn to open the season. They then came home and won over New Hampshire before losing to UConn in their last outing. There has been a lack of offense for BSU this season. The Cardinals are scoring just 15.5 points per game, the third lowest in the MAC. They also are lack a dangerous passing attack with quarterback Kiael Kelly contributing to the second worst passing offense in the conference.
This season Ball State is under the direction of first-year head coach Mike Uremovich. It’s his 26th season coaching college football (11th as a head coach) and his most recent stop was as the head coach at Butler University from 2022-24.
Coleman Owen running into the end zone for his first TD vs Ball State. [Andrew Bowlby | WOUB Public Media]
Uremovich has experience in the MAC with three separate stints at Northern Illinois. He is attempting to rebuild a Ball State program that has not had an above .500 season since winning the MAC in 2020.
“They (Ohio) are at where we are trying to get to as a program,” Uremovich said on Monday.
He will take Ball State into Saturday’s meeting looking to snap a five-game losing streak against the Bobcats. The Cardinals last beat Ohio in the 2012 season 52-27.
Although it has been 13 years since BSU beat OU, the two haven’t played often. Ball State is a school Ohio just doesn’t see very much. Since 2000 they have only met nine times with five of those coming since the 2012 meeting.
The Bobcats 2024 win over Ball State was the final one of the regular season and got Ohio into the MAC Championship game. While this season’s meeting certainly won’t carry as much weight, it’s still the first time the Bobcats are on the road in conference play this year.
Over the last three seasons Ohio is 9-3 in MAC road games, including a 3-1 record last year.
The Bobcats take one a balanced offense into the week six matchup. Ohio is one of only two teams in the MAC to rank top three in scoring, rushing and passing (Toledo). That attack was on full display against BGSU with Ohio rushing for 250 yards while Parker Navarro threw for over 200.
The offense has been complimented all season by the defense. A week ago, the defense was led by Cam Hollobaugh and Jay Crable. Both contributed to chaos inflicted on the Bowling Green offensive line. They helped create turnovers, negative plays and ultimately an Ohio win.
One area the team will be looking to clean up is the special teams. While there have been flashes of what’s possible for the unit, there has not been consistency. Most notably with the field goal kicking.
For the last four weeks Brack Peacock has handled the kicking duties and at times has struggled. He’s 3/5 on field goals and 12/14 on extra points in weeks 2-5. Smith says Ohio will change direction and go back to David Dellenbach who nailed a 30-yard field goal and made all four extra points against Rutgers.
Saturday’s action kicks off from Muncie, Ind. at 12:00 p.m. and airs on CBS Sports Network.