Ball State football coach Mike Uremovich takes blame for ugly Buffalo loss
· Yahoo Sports
MUNCIE — Six times, Ball State's offense had the ball inside Buffalo's 30-yard line.
Six times, Ball State's offense came away with zero points.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
Ball State football was officially eliminated from bowl game contention with its seventh loss, falling 28-7 to Buffalo at home on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in a rain-soaked midweek MACtion game. The Cardinals (3-7, 2-4 MAC) scored the first touchdown of the game after recovering a blocked punt in the end zone, then proceeded to score nothing else as the offense fell flat time and time again.
Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich knew exactly where to place the blame for the offensive failures.
"The loss falls on one person, and that's me," Uremovich said Wednesday. "I'm the offensive coordinator. I call the plays. We didn't score a touchdown, that's completely my fault. ... When you get down in the redzone and have to settle for field goals, I'm not calling the right plays, so if you're looking for somebody to blame for this game and the way it ended up at the end, you're looking at him."
Despite taking the blame for Wednesday's loss, Uremovich will continue to serve as the offensive play caller. He told the media at Ball State's weekly pregame press conference on Friday, Nov. 13, that he had not considered making a change with play calling.
"We're going to continue to do it exactly the way we've done it," Uremovich said. "I've got to do a better job in the red zone, and we have to execute better in the red zone. We moved the ball up and down the field, we spent a lot of time on their end of the field, a lot of time in the red zone and didn't get any points out of it."
Where it went wrong on offense for Ball State vs. Buffalo
The shortcomings started early. Ball State's first offensive drive made it all the way to Buffalo's 25-yard line before a fourth-and-2 pass attempt by Keldric Luster was swatted at the line. The defense forced a quick punt, and the offense managed to get back to Buffalo's 30 before a bad snap and hold operation led to a 47-yard field goal attempt by Brody Boehm falling short.
It was the first of three missed field goals for Boehm, each one closer than the last. He missed wide right from 44 yards out with a much cleaner hold just before halftime, then missed wide left from 39 yards away early in the fourth quarter with another off snap.
The cold winds and heavy rains certainly didn't make things easier on the kicking unit, but Boehm has struggled in clear weather too. He's now 50% on field goals this season (6-for-12) and has missed an extra point in two of the Cardinals' last three games.
"We shouldn't be settling for all of those field goal attempts," Uremovich said. "I mean, for our defense to play as good as they did in the first half, to give us good field position and continually get us the ball in good spots and not be able to cash in for seven points, that's on the offense. I'm in charge of the offense, so it's on me."
Throughout his nearly two-year tenure as the Cardinals' head coach, Uremovich has continuously fallen on his sword and taken blame for the team's losses. Whether it comes down to play calling or penalties, Uremovich is always clear that everything starts with him and takes full accountability for Ball State's shortcomings.
"Whenever they don't work, it's the guy calling them. That's just the way I've always felt as a coach," Uremovich said. "When things are going well, it's because the players are doing a good job, and when they're not, I always start with the coaching. That starts with me and our staff and everybody else. That's how I've always been as a coach, you've got to start with yourself, you've got to look at what you could've done better."
Uremovich's willingness to take that accountability every chance he gets and his refusal to throw players under the bus has earned him a high level of trust and respect in the locker room. Even when things aren't going well, as is currently the case, the Cardinals have faith in their head coach and respect his inclination to absorb the blame.
"Coach U, great coach, I wouldn't blame the loss on him at all," wide receiver Donovan Hamilton said. "He's just one of those guys. We're just going to keep pouring our trust into him. I don't think the loss was on him, we're all a team together, so we've got to go out there and execute. We're going to go out there and keep putting our trust in Coach U."
Positive takeaways from the game
To their credit, Ball State's defense played really well — perhaps its best game of the conference schedule so far. The Cardinals forced Buffalo to punt on each of its first four drives, they sacked Bulls quarterback Jason Wright four times while holding him to just five completions for 48 yards, and they kept the MAC's leading rusher Messiah Burch from breaking the game open until the fourth quarter. At halftime, Burch only had 48 yards.
Ball State's defense has struggled all season, so the fact that the offense completely flopped in a game where they finally had solid defensive support made things all the more frustrating for the Cardinals.
"As a defensive player, that's my job," edge rusher Jared Badie said. "I had a coach in high school who would say the defense is firefighters. That's your job, go out and put fires out. I love football, so we're going to go out and try to put the fires out every time."
The defense broke down in the fourth quarter, surrendering a 67-yard touchdown run by Burch and a 32-yard touchdown run by Terrance Shelton Jr. just six seconds later after Buffalo's special teams caught the Cardinals sleeping with a surprise onside kick.
Ball State had its only highlight of the game after Boehm's first miss. The defense forced a three-and-out by Buffalo's offense, then blocked the punt as tight end Leo Collins shoved a Bulls blocker right into the path of the punt. The ball bounced off the player's back and settled in the corner of the end zone, where Ball State defensive back Gabe Aramboles fell on it for his first career touchdown.
It was a feel-good moment for Aramboles — who was carted off the field with a head injury at Liberty on Sept. 19 — that was ultimately and unfortunately overshadowed by the rest of the game the Cardinals played.
"It was exciting coming back and playing the game I love," Aramboles said. "I'm just glad I got the chance to put on the pads again. Thank you to Coach U and my coaches for believing in me and allowing me to go out there and keep playing, and for my athletic trainers for keeping me healthy and bring me back to who I was."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State football coach Mike Uremovich takes blame for ugly Buffalo loss