Fresh off a 34-28 win over Baylor to open things up, Auburn will return to Jordan-Hare Stadium for Kickoff on The Plains against Ball State on Saturday.
Coming off a 3-9 season in 2024, the Cardinals are looking to turn things around in the MAC this season under first-year head coach Mike Uremovich after finishing second-to-last in the conference a year ago. However, they’ll be severely outmatched on Saturday against the Tigers.
Here’s a quick look at Ball State heading into Week 2:
Blanked by Purdue
Ball State didn’t put up much of a fight against Purdue in its Week 1 matchup. The Boilermakers blanked Ball State 31-0.
Giving up a touchdown on two plays to start the first quarter, the Cardinals gave up 433 total yards of offense – 340 coming through the air. Offensively, they were only able to muster 203 total yards, with 116 coming on the ground, led by quarterback Kiael Kelly.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly gave the Cardinals a -26.1 rating in his SP+ rankings after Week 1, which ranked 135th out of 136 FBS teams.
Players to know
Quarterback Kiael Kelly
A dynamic athlete who has flirted with positions all over the field, Kelly is back at quarterback for the Cardinals this season. He was the team’s second-leading rusher in 2023, compiling 724 yards on 135 attempts. Last season, he appeared in 11 games, lining up at quarterback, halfback, slot and wide receiver. He finished last season just 2-of-4 passing for eight yards and 91 yards on 35 carries. He was the team’s leading rusher in Week 1 with 63 yards on 22 attempts.
Running back Qua Ashley
Ashley, a 5-foot-10, 191-pound junior, was the team’s second-leading rusher against the Boilermakers with 43 yards. He posted runs of 21 and 14 yards on the Cardinals’ longest drive of the first half, which amassed 33 yards on eight plays.
Linebacker Joey Stemler
After posting 56 tackles, a fumble and two interceptions last season for the Cardinals, Stemler picked up where he left off with a team-high seven tackles against Purdue.
Athlon Sports and Phil Steele both named the 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker to their 2025 Preseason All-MAC second team.
Auburn won’t overlook
The nightmares of Diego Pavia and New Mexico State marching into Jordan-Hare Stadium and dominating the Hugh Freeze-led Tigers in 2023 will forever live in the heads of Auburn fans.
So, simply put, Auburn will not overlook Ball State.
But Freeze, when asked on Monday how he preprares his team to stay focused against a lesser opponent, says the focus is on Auburn – what can Auburn get better at?
“You hope the focus is on us and not a given opponent, and it’s on us getting better from last week, and there’s a lot on the film that we can. We don’t have to search for it; it’s there,” Freeze said. “If the leadership of the team truly wants to have a year that we look back on and are pleased with, there’s zero chance of that happening without us understanding that the task at hand is to better ourselves from week one to week two.
“It doesn’t matter who the opponent is or what people say. I’ve had a lot of those that you get into that’s a dogfight because you didn’t have that mentality. I hope we are at a point in Year 3 that we have some leaders who understand it’s not about anybody other than Auburn and how we should improve each week, regardless of who we are playing.”
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
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