[2023] Daily News: Cards Shock #2 Bruins in Rose Bowl

[npklemm]

 

The Cards traveled to the historic Rose Bowl to take on the #2 Ranked UCLA Bruins and won 26-20. The Cards surely were big underdogs in this one, but found a way to come out on top.

 

UCLA kicked the scoring off on their first drive. RB Fernando Parker took their first offensive play for 70 Yards. The Ball State Defense held tough and forced a Field Goal. The Cards moved the ball fairly well in the first quarter, but just got bogged down near midfield. Late in the first, UCLA relied on another big play, this time a 43-Yard Pass from Hiram Maronde to Jose Colabello that put them on the Ball State 31. Despite giving up another big gain, the Cards held the Bruins to a Field Goal. On the very next drive, the Cards rattled off a 15 Play, 64-Yard Drive to kick a Field Goal of their own. The Bruins got the ball back and started up the field. On their 3rd Play, Hiram Maronde threw another pass to Jose Colabello, but CB Nate Walker IV jumped the route and picked it off in Bruin Territory. Ball State took just 6 plays to punch it in the endzone and take a 10-6 lead. The Cards got another chance to score late in the 2nd, moving the ball to the UCLA 41 before running out of time.

After the break, the Cards forced a 3-And-Out for the Bruins. The first play of the Cards drive was a huge 38-Yard hookup between QB Scott Romero and WR Dario Lindsay. 3 Plays later, they did it again, advancing the Ball from the UCLA 44 to the UCLA 6. After a holding penalty on Freshman OT John Nunez, Romero found RB Garett Cordier for 16 Yards and a Touchdown, putting the Cards up 17-6 on the #2 team in the nation. The Bruins weren't just about to fall down though, they moved down the field emphatically on the very next drive and scored on a Hiram Maronde toss to TE Taylor Allen. Ball State did advance the ball to the UCLA side of the field, only to once again sputter and be forced into a punt. The next drive was all Hiram Maronde. He went 5/6 for 34 Yards while carrying the ball 7 times for 44 Yards. In the end, RB Fernando Parker bulled his way into the Endzone, giving the Bruins a 20-17 lead. On the ensuing Kick-Off, CB Doug Young fielded the ball at the 8 and exploded up the field for 47 Yards into UCLA Territory. Romero found TE Eric Kaczmarski for 20 Yards to put the ball on the UCLA 23, and then found TE Cole Lillard for 23 Yards for another Touchdown. K Alex Parker missed the PAT, Ball State leads 23-20. UCLA got their next drive off to a rough start, and on 3rd and 12 on their own 24, Maronde tried to find Jose Colabello on a Corner Route, but Nate Walker IV was there yet again to pick him off and give the Cards great field position. The Cards wouldn't do much with ball, advancing it just 5 Yards and settling for another Field Goal. Cards lead 26-20. UCLA got the ball on their own 25 with 1:48 left in the game. They moved fairly well near Mid Field, albeit taking a lot of time off the clock, before hitting a wall. 4 Straight Incompletions ended the game.

On the field postgame, an ESPN reporter caught up with Scott Romero who had this to say:

"It was a complete team game. NW4 [Nate Walker IV] came up huge today. 2 Picks in game, especially off a guy like Hiram is crazy. He's that Dude though. Dario [Lindsay] was a stud. The O Line was fantastic, they kept my jersey clean today, I owe those guys dinner for sure. Garett [Cordier] didn't explode like usual, but beating his guy like that on that play was money."

Coach Klemm had this to say at the Post Game Press Conference:

"Obviously this is the biggest win in school history. UCLA is a damn fine team. I'm so proud of our guys, especially the defense. Maronde is such a good, dynamic player. What we were able to to do today to him at times was so impressive. Seeing everything we've been coaching them to do and teaching them to do showing on the field in the Rose Bowl of all places is definitely one of the best moments of my coaching career. Scott, man, what can I say about him. He was on it today. We don't win today without him. I'm excited to get back to Muncie and review the tape of this one. It's a morale booster for sure"

 

Box Score

 

Teams	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
UCLA	6	0	7	7	20
Ball State	0	10	7	9	26

  Passing

 

Team	Player	POS	CMP	ATT	YDS	YDS/ATT	TD	INT	RTG	SCK
UCLA	Hiram Maronde	QB	20	41	173	4.22	1	2	82.52	1
Ball State	Scott Romero	QB	33	45	335	7.44	2	0	150.53	0

  Rushing

 

Team	Player	POS	ATT	YDS	YDS/ATT	TD	FUM
UCLA	Fernando Parker	RB	8	95	11.88	1	0
UCLA	Hiram Maronde	QB	11	69	6.27	0	0
UCLA	Stephen Coleman	RB	3	10	3.33	0	0
UCLA	Angel McCourty	FB	1	4	4	0	0
Ball State	Rashard Williams	RB	6	25	4.17	1	0
Ball State	Garett Cordier	RB	12	22	1.83	0	0
Ball State	Jacob Rodriguez	FB	2	2	1	0	0

 

Receiving

 

Team	Player	POS	TGT	CTH	YDS	YDS/CTH	TD	FUM
UCLA	Jose Colabello	WR	12	7	82	11.71	0	0
UCLA	Taylor Allen	TE	6	5	58	11.6	1	0
UCLA	Fernando Parker	RB	7	2	4	2	0	0
UCLA	Stephen Coleman	RB	5	2	7	3.5	0	0
UCLA	Morris Carter	WR	4	2	13	6.5	0	0
UCLA	Jason Straw	WR	3	2	9	4.5	0	0
UCLA	Angel McCourty	FB	1	0	0	0.00	0	0
UCLA	Kevin Castro	WR	1	0	0	0.00	0	0
Ball State	Garett Cordier	RB	10	8	60	7.5	1	0
Ball State	Cole Lillard	TE	9	7	69	9.86	1	0
Ball State	Dario Lindsay	WR	8	7	114	16.29	0	0
Ball State	Fletcher Wood	WR	12	6	34	5.67	0	0
Ball State	Rashard Williams	RB	2	2	9	4.5	0	0
Ball State	Jacob Rodriguez	FB	1	1	24	24	0	0
Ball State	Eric Kaczmarski	TE	1	1	20	20	0	0
Ball State	Marqueston Seaton	WR	2	1	5	5	0	0

 

Defense

 

Team	Player	POS	Solo TKL	Ass TKL	TFL	SCK	FF	FR	INT
UCLA	Brad Crow	FS	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Eric Gregorius	ILB	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Qi Okogie	CB	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Adam Ascanio	CB	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Enrique Norman	SS	6	0	1	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Tommy Russell	DE	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Kurtis Downs	DT	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Jarvis Mauro	DE	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Doug Bianchi	CB	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Trevor Hamilton	OLB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Kyle Osuna	ILB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
UCLA	Paul Garcia	OLB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Damien Chachere	ILB	9	0	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Ball State	Teddy Parry	DE	5	0	1	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Ricky Marte	DE	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Nate Walker IV	CB	4	0	0	0	0	0	2
Ball State	Doug Young	CB	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Robert James	CB	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Robert Ervin	SS	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Aaron Kelemete	OLB	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Corey Noteboom	ILB	2	0	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Ball State	Monte Morris	OLB	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Tyler Garcia	FS	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ball State	Tommy Murphy	CB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0