I Witnessed 109,200 People Scared Shitless

Sorry it's been so long. I'm working on it.

So, basically, the best 30 bucks I'll likely ever spend in my life was on a ticket to this Ball State-Michigan game. At the time it was just a chance to see the much-ballyhooed Big House, and when two of the other people I'd been planning on going with backed out late and I had to go the alternate route and go with two WCRD (campus radio station) colleagues, I was starting to regret going. Was it even going to be worth all the trouble? Four hours back and forth to go to a slaughter?

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to leave at 7:15, and we still only managed to get to the game right after kickoff, missing all the normal pregame pageantry (I'd been hoping to at least witness UM coming out of their tunnel and jumping to that Go Blue sign that you've seen so much) thanks to traffic jams and a 30-minute detour at Burger King.

Section 36, Row 53, Seat 18. I'll likely never forget that seat number. We sat in the corner of the north end zone opposite the press box. As it turned out, the best corner of the stadium we could've picked, as the biggest plays occurred in our endzone and most of those in our corner.

We sat with a bunch of Michigan fans as it turned out. Although that was the case for most people, since there were maybe 100 or 150 Ball State fans in attendance, and it's likely that probably a third of those were people wearing Red Wings stuff that I assumed were BSU fans. I was wearing black (I know, disappointing) since I could not find a red shirt that I liked. But my red backwards Ball State hat that's been with me since almost the moment I got here gave me away.

It was obvious at the start of the game that UM fans were there to have fun and not to see a football game. Kids dressed in Michigan stuff, probably many going to their first game, probably many the beneficiaries of season-ticket holders that had no interest in this stinkfest. Michigan had forced anyone who wanted a ticket to the Iowa game the week before to also purchase a Ball State ticket, resulting in an overabundance of them on eBay. That explains why I snagged a $49 ticket for 30 bucks.

Anyway, we happened to be sitting right behind a particularly rambunctious UM fan who had probably enjoyed a few adult beverages before the game. He jokingly did that trick where you grab someone's head and softly smack, with your other hand, the hand that is on your head to all of us as we joked about how we were going to shock the world.

Then something funny happened: We almost did.

Things started out pretty inauspiciously. Michigan took the ball to start the game and drove downfield easily, 77 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a Jerome Jackson goal-line run to go ahead 7-0. It was clear Michigan had no intention of putting the ball in the air. Of course, the Cards punted on their first possession, followed by one more punt for each team. Michigan took the ball on their own 2, and it looked like only a matter of time before this thing got out of hand.

I'd jokingly told my buddy Levin, one of the WCRD guys I was at the game with, that BSU would get an early safety to spark the upset, right down to predicting that DE Cortlan Booker would be the guy involved. Well, Booker was involved in a safety on that first play but not the kind I anticipated. Mike Hart, who had gone 665 touches without losing a fumble in his career to that point, took a handoff and Booker whacked it out of his hands. The ball rolled out of the corner of the end zone and it was 7-2. On touch 666, Hart lost a fumble.

Things looked to be inching back to normal when BSU went 3 and out on the ensuing possession, right down to Michigan getting one of those BS penalties they usually get at home when Terry Moss was flagged for a completely bogus offensive pass interference call.

But I wasn't done being clairvoyant. As we half-seriously discussed our chances before that next drive began, I told my friends that you can always count on Chad Henne making one awful, simply indescribably bad throw in a game. I attended the ND-Michigan game earlier this year and that throw landed in the hands of Irish safety Chinedum Ndukwe in the first quarter, so I felt I knew what I was talking about.

Wouldn't you know it? On the 2nd play of that same drive, Henne fired a curl pass perfectly into the hands of...Ball State safety Erik Keys, who took that pass 30 yards back for a touchdown directly into our endzone. It was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life. BSU led mighty Michigan 9-7. It was telling that no UM fan had argued with me on my earlier mention of counting on one dumb mistake by Henne per game. Also worth noting, although we didn't see at the time, was that Brian Jackson became BSU's career leader in PATs on that kick.

All we'd wanted was a lead so we could take pictures of the scoreboard and we'd gotten it. All BSU fans there, as Facebook photos will later show you, snapped pics of that 9-7 score, and we joked about other stadiums being shocked by the score when it was announced. The UM fans let us have our fun, with the exception of one person, quickly shouted down by another group of Wolverine supporters, who yelled at me for standing up and clapping along with our fight song after that TD. We even led after one. Already I'd felt we'd gotten more than we'd bargained for.

But absolutely no one was surprised when UM scored the next 17 points of the game. An 8-play 74-yard drive ended on a 3rd-down TD pass (we'd hoped for a FG so it'd still be 10-9) to Carson Butler.

BSU went 3 and out. Michigan went 49 yards in 7 plays, but Steve Breaston dropped a sure TD on 3rd and goal and UM settled for the FG to go ahead 17-9, setting off a volley of "almost halfway through the first and it's a one-possession game" jokes.

Another quick BSU punt and a 40-yard TD run by Brandon Minor, UM's 3rd-string RB, ended those jokes and UM was up 24-9. Things were pretty much back to normal. The Wolverines would surely cruise from here.

But, credit the Cards, they showed up and put together a workmanlike 42-yard 9-play drive that featured a Nate Davis fumble but resulted in a Brian Jackson FG. BSU's defense managed to hold UM from the endzone before half and it was 24-12.

I spent most of halftime calling friends and family letting them know that we were keeping it respectable, but the back of my head kept thinking of all the brilliant second halves BSU had played this year (sarcasm obvious). We'd laid up 2nd-half meltdowns against IU, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan already this season and hadn't really played much better in many other 2nd halves, so we all pretty much felt things would get out of hand in the 3rd. Enjoyable though, was Patrick Stewart of "X-Men" fame yelling "Let's Beat the Bucks" in reference to the battle with Ohio State in two weeks and hearing probably the loudest yelling of the game.

It looked like that was that when coach Brady Hoke elected not to go for it on a 4th and 3 from the Michigan 49 to start the 2nd half, and Michigan immediately went 80 yards in 12 plays capped by a short Mike Hart TD to make it 31-12. I'd been annoyed at the call, saying that surely Hoke had to realize that this was likely BSU's final hope to stay in the game and he should have taken advantage of it.

Little did I know that on the 5th play of the ensuing drive, Nate Davis would fire an absolutely gorgeous pass to Dante Love and that he'd race 55 yards for a TD to make it 31-19. We went nuts. It was the very last hope we had had, and Davis had delivered. Again.

At the end of the 3rd, UM was driving once again and it looked like hope had officially evaporated. But on 3rd and goal from the 4, a Chad Henne pass to Greg Mathews was broken up by Trey Lewis to force a FG and keep hope alive at 34-19. Trey Lewis cannot be commended enough for his play, as he held Mario Manningham catchless, albeit in limited action, and came up with a couple of great plays including that one to save the game for the moment.

Up to that point, UM fans were content to have fun with us and kid around. "Where's Ball State?" we heard. When asked what we do in a hick town like Muncie, Indiana, I half-sarcastically shot back "We drink." That earned me a high-five from the questioning fan. We gladly informed the fans that not only did Garfield's Jim Davis, David Letterman and Papa John attend Ball State, but that we had fallen to IU by only one after being up 16 at one point, and that we'd hung tough with Purdue before losing by 10.

Starting in the 4th quarter, things were a little different.

Let the record show that after a 3 and out followed by a Chris Miller shanked punt, that Michigan choked in their bid to put the game away, going 3 and out and committing two penalties in the process. Adrian Arrington dropped a wide open 3rd down pass that would have gone for the game-clincher, and BSU took over possession.

On first down, Nate Davis, who'd been decidedly unimpressive up to that point besides the Love TD, found Terry Moss behind the secondary for 62 yards down to the Michigan 2. Worries that Moss had cost us any remaining hope were dashed away when Larry Bostic took a 2nd-down pitch into the end zone. It was bedlam in our section...for us anyway. Halfway through the fourth, it was a one-possession game. 34-26. More than we ever could have hoped for in our wildest dreams.

Michigan fans stopped talking to us after the long Moss play. Completely.

The stadium was about as close to silent as you can get after Michigan choked again, going 3 and out and giving the ball back to Nate Davis, the true freshman signal-caller, with 6 minutes to go at his own 13.

Davis proceeded to finish growing up in front of our very eyes on that drive. It looked like we had issues when the first down play was a screen for no gain. But the next pass was right on the money. 25 yards to Darius Hill. Two plays later, 22 yards to Dante Love. The whole stadium sat in shock as Davis had dissected his way to the Michigan 35. Hell, even we were in shock.

7 yard run by Bostic. 20 yard run by Bostic. We were down to the 8. Eight yards away from the game coming down to a two-point conversion. Unfortunately, a third Bostic play resulted in a loss of 4. So now it was 2nd and goal at the 12. Incompletion. Sack. We were doomed.

Laundry on the field saved us for the moment. A clear personal foul facemask moved the ball to the 6 and gave us a new set of downs. Give the officials credit: up to this point, they'd only screwed us over one time (the Moss interference call), which is low for a Michigan home game, and even more incredibly, UM was called for more penalties than we were.

An incompletion was followed by a run down to the 2. Me? I would've kept running. If you have to pass on 4th then you have to pass on 4th, but I would have kept the pressure on. Hoke didn't see it that way, so Nate Davis rolled out on 3rd and goal. And rolled. And rolled. And rolled. Just short of the sidelines, Davis fired what appeared to be a desperation heave.

The desperation heave just happened to be placed perfectly between 2 Michigan defenders to our big-play tight end, Darius Hill, named SI's Best Player You've Never Heard Of recently. But amidst all the traffic, alas, Hill couldn't hold on. So it was 4th and goal at the 2.

Our message board after the game appeared to think that Davis wanted to run a QB draw, because when Madaris Grant committed a false start penalty to move the ball back to the 7, Davis appeared to be extremely annoyed. Whatever the case, it came down to 4th and goal at the 7.

Davis rolled out again, this time to the opposite side. He elected not to throw to Darius Hill, covered by Leon Hall. Maybe I would have. You have to make them beat your best player, and Hill is ours. But Davis looked elsewhere - to a seemingly open Dante Love in the end zone.

The pass was a little low, and a little too far right, hitting the ground probably a yard and a half away from Love, but certainly not uncatchable. Making it all the more frustrating when no flag came to save us this time, even though Love was clearly hit before the ball got there.

I was told to get over it afterwards. I shot back "Would YOU get over it?" He said yes, but he had no idea. What could a Michigan fan, a fan of a team who hasn't missed a bowl game in something like 35 years, know about being denied a chance to shock the college football world?

BSU managed to get the ball back with 16 seconds to go, but we all knew better. The last play was intercepted in the end zone by Ryan Mundy.

Nevertheless, it was a great day for Ball State. 109,000 fans were legitimately terrified of a little team from Muncie, Indiana. We got all the requisite compliments afterwards. No one could quite believe that Nate Davis was a true freshman. "He's gonna be incredible", they said. And they're right. We hope.

Ball State. We nearly brought down the Big House. Not to mention the BCS. It was a day to remember.