A look at the Ball State Cardinals—alma mater of fantastic News & Advance photographer Jill Nance—plus some Monday links for your Labor Day reading pleasure.

BALL STATE
LOCATION: Muncie, Ind.
ENROLLMENT: 17,285
FOUNDED: 1918
NICKNAME: Cardinals
COLORS: Cardinal and White
CONFERENCE: Mid-American (West Division)
STADIUM: Scheumann Stadium (22,500)
SURFACE: FieldTurf

HEAD COACH: Stan Parrish (Heidelberg ‘69)
RECORD: 3-11 (2nd season)

2009 RECORD: 2-10
POSTSEASON: None
OFFENSIVE FORMATION: Multiple
DEFENSIVE FORMATION: 4-3
LETTERMAN RETURNING/LOST: 38/20
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST: 11/11
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 10/7

2009 RESULTS (2-10)
September
3…......NORTH TEXAS….....................L, 20-10
12…....NEW HAMPSHIRE…...............L, 23-16
19…....at Army…................................L, 24-17
26…....at Auburn….............................L, 54-30
October
3…......TOLEDO…..............................L, 37-30
10…....at Temple….............................L, 24-19
17…....BOWLING GREEN…...............L, 31-17
24…....at Eastern Michigan…..............W, 29-27
31…....OHIO…...................................L, 20-17
November
12…....at Northern Illinois….................L, 26-20
18…....CENTRAL MICHIGAN…...........L, 35-3
24…....at Western Michigan….............W, 22-17

2010 SCHEDULE/RESULTS
September
2….....SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE…...W, 27-10
11…...LIBERTY….....................................7 p.m.
18…...at Purdue…....................................Noon
25…...at Iowa…........................................TBA
October
2…....at Central Michigan…......................3:30 p.m.
9…....WESTERN MICHIGAN….................Noon
16…...EASTERN MICHIGAN….................1 p.m.
23…...at Toledo….....................................7 p.m.
30…...at Kent State…...............................2 p.m.
November
6…....AKRON…........................................1 p.m.
12…..at Buffalo…......................................6 p.m.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB ERIC WILLIAMS
Photo credit: Sports Page Magazine

A sophomore in a loaded backfield, Williams had a huge game last week against Southeast Missouri State, running 20 times for 105 yards and a touchdown. He also averaged 35.5 yards on two kickoff returns.

RB MiQUALE LEWIS
Photo credit: Mlive.com

Lewis is the bruiser in the Ball State backfield. He entered this season ranked third on the school’s all-time rushing list and topped 1,700 yards as a sophomore.

FS SEAN BAKER
Photo credit: BallStateSports.com

Baker was all over the place last week against Southeast Missouri State. He led the team with nine tackles, had two tackles for loss, a sack and forced a fumble.

—Some quick notes first:

* Mike Brown was named the Big South’s offensive player of the week for his performance Saturday, when he threw for 338 yards and four touchdowns in 2 1/2 quarters.

* Liberty moved up two spots to No. 19 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com Top 25. Montana supplanted Villanova as the No. 1 ranked team.

—Monday links time:

* Ball State is turning to 5-foot-7 Corey Sykes in power running situations, Doug Zaleski of the Muncie Star Press reports.

* Defensive end Robert Eddins met expectations in Ball State’s opener, Teddy Cahill of the Ball State Daily News writes.

* Ball State only ran eight plays out of the Wildcat formation Thursday night against SE Missouri, Zaleski writes.

* West Virginia pulled away in the second half and shut out Coastal Carolina, the Myrtle Beach Sun News’ Ryan Young reports.

* Coastal linebacker Andrae Jacobs is making an impact with his play, Young writes.

* Charleston Southern will have to be much better against Wofford than it was against North Greenville to have a chance this week, the Post & Courier’s David Shelton writes.

* VMI didn’t commit a turnover and rolled past Division II Lock Haven, the Roanoke Times’ Katrina Waugh writes.

* Gardner-Webb beat Brevard Saturday, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs have some issues to work out, the Shelby Star’s Alan Ford writes.

—As I mentioned in my notebook in Sunday’s News & Advance, Liberty football operations director Paul Rutigliano gave an update of the Flames’ future scheduling. Here’s that update again:

Liberty assistant athletics director for football operations Paul Rutigliano confirmed Saturday that the Flames will play a home-and-home series with Richmond, beginning in 2013 at UR’s Robins Stadium.

The Spiders will visit Lynchburg in 2014. Rutigliano also said Liberty was working on completing the 2011 and 2012 schedules, and that the school is in talks with both William & Mary and Old Dominion to fill dates in those years.

The Flames completed a four-game series with William & Mary in 2007, with the Tribe sweeping all four games. Old Dominion resurrected its long dormant football program last season.

Liberty’s upcoming lineup of FBS games is as follows: North Carolina State (2011), Wake Forest (2012), Kent State (2013) and West Virginia (2014). Virginia was originally scheduled for ‘14, but with the coaching change in Charlottesville, that date has been pushed back, “maybe to ‘17,” Rutigliano said.

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We’ll be back tomorrow with press conference notes.