Ball State Cardinals
FBS
Mid-American Conference · BALL
Team Vitals
+1.3
power · 2026 · #156 D1
+0.1 / +1.2
off / def (higher = better)
1–1
2026 record
117
roster (2026)
Team profile 2025 · vs 136 FBS teams
Percentile against every FBS team, from 2025 play with garbage time excluded. No 2026 game has been played yet, so this describes last season.
- Win rate 15%ile 0.333
- Offense (PPA/play) 2%ile -0.021
- Defense (PPA allowed) 28%ile 0.201
- Offensive success rate 0%ile 0.319
- Defensive success rate allowed 13%ile 0.455
- Explosiveness 59%ile 1.289
- Explosiveness allowed 42%ile 1.291
- Plays per game 17%ile 56.3
median · bars right of it are above the FBS average · pace is a style, not a grade
Upcoming 2026
| Date | Wk | Opponent | Site | Model Lean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-19 | Wk 3 | Liberty FBS | AWAY | Liberty 57% |
| 2026-09-26 | Wk 4 | Kent State FBS | AWAY | Ball State 52% |
| 2026-10-03 | Wk 5 | Toledo FBS | HOME | Toledo 76% |
| 2026-10-10 | Wk 6 | Northwestern FBS | AWAY | Northwestern 86% |
| 2026-10-17 | Wk 7 | Bowling Green FBS | AWAY | Ball State 53% |
| 2026-10-24 | Wk 8 | Sacramento State FCS | HOME | Ball State 87% |
| 2026-11-04 | Wk 10 | Massachusetts FBS | AWAY | Ball State 56% |
| 2026-11-11 | Wk 11 | Buffalo FBS | HOME | Ball State 66% |
| 2026-11-17 | Wk 12 | Ohio FBS | AWAY | Ohio 65% |
| 2026-11-28 | Wk 13 | Central Michigan FBS | HOME | Ball State 66% |
Recent Results
| Date | Season | Wk | Opponent | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-12 | 2026 | Wk 2 | Stony Brook vs | W | 41–17 |
| 2026-09-05 | 2026 | Wk 1 | Ohio State @ | L | 3–56 |
| 2025-11-29 | 2025 | Wk 14 | Miami (OH) @ | L | 24–45 |
| 2025-11-22 | 2025 | Wk 13 | Toledo @ | L | 9–38 |
| 2025-11-15 | 2025 | Wk 12 | Eastern Michigan vs | L | 9–24 |
| 2025-11-05 | 2025 | Wk 11 | Kent State vs | W | 17–13 |
| 2025-10-25 | 2025 | Wk 9 | Northern Illinois @ | L | 7–21 |
| 2025-10-18 | 2025 | Wk 8 | Akron vs | W | 42–28 |
| 2025-10-11 | 2025 | Wk 7 | Western Michigan @ | L | 0–42 |
| 2025-10-04 | 2025 | Wk 6 | Ohio vs | W | 20–14 |
| 2025-09-20 | 2025 | Wk 4 | UConn @ | L | 25–31 |
| 2025-09-13 | 2025 | Wk 3 | New Hampshire vs | W | 34–29 |
Season by Season
| Season | W | L | PF | PA | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 73 | -29 |
| 2025 | 4 | 8 | 190 | 358 | -168 |
| 2024 | 3 | 9 | 304 | 481 | -177 |
| 2023 | 4 | 8 | 219 | 293 | -74 |
| 2022 | 5 | 7 | 279 | 323 | -44 |
| 2021 | 6 | 7 | 313 | 369 | -56 |
| 2020 | 7 | 1 | 274 | 206 | +68 |
| 2019 | 5 | 7 | 418 | 377 | +41 |
| 2018 | 4 | 8 | 290 | 389 | -99 |
| 2017 | 2 | 10 | 215 | 488 | -273 |
| 2016 | 4 | 8 | 324 | 361 | -37 |
| 2015 | 3 | 9 | 277 | 430 | -153 |
Injuries
Not an injury report. College football has no league-wide mandated one, and the ESPN feed we poll has carried the same three players all season — so an empty table here means nothing has been reported to us, not that the team is healthy. Nothing on this page, and nothing in our model, uses it.
Player grades 2026 season
Box production, opponent-adjusted, ranked within position (50 = positional average). OL rows are team-inferred — college football publishes no individual OL box stats. Full leaderboard →
| Player | Pos | Grade | Pos rank | G | 2026 season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Pinnace | DB | 70 | #261 | 2 | 6 tkl · 1 PD |
| Tate Hoover | TE | 68 | #70 | 2 | 6 rec · 23 yds · 1 TD |
| Jalen Bonds | RB | 65 | #211 | 2 | 86 rush yds · 1 TD · 2 rec |
| Kamron Chamble | DB | 64 | #507 | 2 | 4 tkl · 2 INT |
| TJ Horton | RB | 64 | #232 | 2 | 129 rush yds · 1 TD · 7 rec |
| Jabari Smith | WR | 64 | #355 | 1 | 6 rec · 72 yds · 1 TD |
| Ka'Shawn Thomas | DL | 61 | #784 | 1 | 4 tkl · 0.5 sacks · 1.0 TFL |
| Layton Starks | LB | 60 | #468 | 1 | 5 tkl · 0.5 sacks · 2.5 TFL |
| Gavin Forsha | LB | 60 | #492 | 2 | 8 tkl · 1.0 TFL |
| Keldric Luster | QB | 59 | #188 | 2 | 345 pass yds · 3 TD · 2 INT |
| Kaleb Stewart | LB | 59 | #532 | 2 | 10 tkl · 0.5 sacks · 0.5 TFL |
| Jared Badie | LB | 58 | #541 | 2 | 4 tkl · 1.0 sacks · 1.0 TFL |
| Brody Boehm | K | 58 | #120 | 2 | 3 FG · 5 XP · 14 pts |
| Quentavius Scandrett | DB | 58 | #898 | 2 | 9 tkl |
| Sterling Smith | DB | 58 | #936 | 2 | 9 tkl |
| Ben Marsh | DL | 57 | #1041 | 2 | 2 tkl · 0.5 sacks · 0.5 TFL |
| Cole Stumbaugh | P | 56 | #91 | 2 | 11 punts · 45.4 yd avg |
| Cedric Franklin II | DB | 56 | #1038 | 2 | 3 tkl · 1 INT |
| Jamarion McDougle | WR | 55 | #700 | 2 | 6 rec · 68 yds |
| Lucas Szymborski | LB | 55 | #684 | 2 | 9 tkl |
| Will Yates | DB | 55 | #1134 | 2 | 5 tkl · 1 PD |
| Austin Stief | DL | 54 | #1308 | 1 | 2 tkl |
| Derek Fields | DB | 53 | #1246 | 2 | 7 tkl |
| Maverick Gracio | DL | 52 | #1456 | 2 | 5 tkl |
| Isaiah Thacker | WR | 52 | #845 | 2 | 6 rec · 42 yds |
| Donovan Hamilton | WR | 52 | #873 | 2 | 5 rec · 51 yds |
| Caden Britton team-inferred | OL | 52 | #63 | 1 | — |
| Kendrick Gilbert | DL | 52 | #1525 | 2 | 4 tkl · 0.5 TFL |
| Ameir Glenn | DL | 50 | #1676 | 2 | 2 tkl · 1.0 TFL |
| Justin Thomas | LB | 49 | #964 | 2 | 4 tkl · 1.0 TFL |
| Elisha Durham | WR | 49 | #998 | 2 | 2 rec · 47 yds |
| Cincear Lewis | LB | 48 | #1024 | 2 | 6 tkl |
| Elijah Jackson | RB | 48 | #755 | 1 | 20 rush yds · 1 rec |
| Stone Perkins | DB | 47 | #1729 | 2 | 2 tkl · 1 PD |
| Deondre Shepherd | DB | 47 | #1769 | 1 | 4 tkl |
| Johnny Thompson Jr. | RB | 46 | #791 | 2 | 9 rush yds · 3 rec |
| Spencer Vaka | DL | 45 | #2116 | 2 | 3 tkl |
| Reese Hill | DL | 44 | #2163 | 1 | 2 tkl |
| Gabe Aramboles | DB | 43 | #2074 | 2 | 3 tkl |
| CJ Nelson | WR | 42 | #1356 | 2 | 2 rec · 14 yds |