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MUNCIE – The kid quarterback was a hit, it turned out. He ran. He threw. He ran, and then he threw. He made the defense look, at times, as if it were coming down with something terminal.
Yes, sir. Riley Dodge was Da Bomb.
Under the lights, in front of a national television audience and a sea of red in Scheumann Stadium, the redshirt freshman for North Texas tormented the Ball State Cardinals, generating 289 yards Thursday as the Mean Green, 1-11 a year ago, jumped to a 10-0 halftime lead that turned into a 20-10 season-opening upset.
And the other quarterback from Texas?
Kelly Page put up 140 yards passing and 53 on the ground for Ball State, and then proved he was a quick study with his assessment of what all that meant.
“We lost,” he said.
“Personal stats don’t mean anything to me. It’s all about what we should have got at the end of the night and didn’t. We didn’t get the ‘W,’ so my first start was a failure.”
If so, his counterpart had a lot to do with it. Dodge took the Mean Green 55 yards in eight plays on North Texas’ first possession, Lance Dunbar fighting 3 yards into the end zone to finish it off. It was the opening salvo in a game dominated by the Mean Green, who piled up 512 yards to Ball State’s 309, 27 first downs to the Cardinals’ 16, and hogged the football for more than 37 minutes to Ball State’s 22:42.
Dodge completed 23 of 33 passes for 216 yards and touchdown and running for 73 yards on 12 carries. That was complemented by Cam Montgomery, who gashed the Ball State defense for 149 yards and averaged almost 9 yards a carry, and Dunbar, who tacked on 71.
The Cardinals committed two costly turnovers and converted just 2 of 13 third downs. That offset the breaks they caught: North Texas’ nine penalties for 81 yards, an interception in the end zone by Sean Baker to save a score and Royce Hill’s 94-yard interception return for six that was wiped out by a hold.
“That wasn’t quite what we had in mind,” said Ball State coach Stan Parrish, for whom the night was a double loss; not only did he lose his debut as head coach, he lost tight end and team captain Madaris Grant to a knee injury, perhaps for the season.
“I think the football gods make you earn what you get,” Parrish added. “And they did a good job.”
Ball State got even at 10 with 12:41 to play when MiQuale Lewis, who ran for 103 yards, broke a 27-yard scoot around the right side three plays after Robert Eddins got the ball loose from Dunbar and Sam Woodworth recovered at the North Texas 35. Dodge immediately found Jamaal Jackson for 59 yards to the 2-yard line, then hit Michael Outlaw for the six to give North Texas the lead again with 10:40 to play.
Freshman running back Eric Williams promptly fumbled while fighting for an extra yard on his 27, North Texas cashed a field goal.
“When it was 10-10 and they came back and scored, that was a big turning point emotionally,” Parrish said. “(But ) you can’t fumble and miss field goals and throw interceptions and get out with a win. And we did all those things.”
