The Ball State Cardinals were the buzz of the college football world two years ago when they threatened for a BCS invitation from a non BCS conference.

Their dreams faded with a loss in the MAC championship game to Buffalo and head coach Brady Hoke decided to head out west to take the San Diego State position.

With only 10 returning starters, the Cards finished 2-10 last season under Stan Parrish.

There is a new outlook this year and plenty of experience to go around with 19 returning starters.

(View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 MAC football predictions article.)

Offense

Replacing a record breaking quarterback is never easy, but it seemed nearly impossible at times last year for Ball State.

Parrish gave the keys to redshirt freshman Kelly Page, who ended up starting seven games before an injury kept him out of action. He was unimpressive for most of the year, throwing for just over 1000 yards and seven touchdowns with nine interceptions.

Young quarterbacks tend to go through growing pains in their first full year and Page was no exception.

Aaron Mershman will get serious consideration for the starting job at quarterback this year and the coaching staff is very high on this kid. Running the ball was more of a priority in '09 as the Cards actually had experience in this area.

MiQuale Lewis played a large role in the 2008 season and followed that up with 871 yards and five touchdowns last year. Lewis will once again be the featured back for Ball State.

Last season Lewis' numbers were good enough to make the second team All-MAC.

The receiving core looks to be strong with seven of their top eight returning.

Briggs Orsbon had a team high 51 receptions, but averaged only nine yards-per-catch. Torieal Gibson and Daniel Ifft provide depth on the outside also. The team received bad news when star TE Madaris Grant was denied a sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA after suffering a season ending injury in the first game last year.

This is a huge blow to the offense.

The offensive line could end up being one of the best in the conference when all is said and done as they return all five starters and have a ton of experience up front.

Defense

The defensive side of the ball had seven starters back last year, but struggled at times also. Opponents averaged over 28 points-per-game and nearly 400 yards of total offense.

Ball State's pass defense took a turn for the worse and the defensive front struggled to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. DE Robert Eddins was the exception, however, as he collected nearly half of the total sacks by the team with seven of his own.

Eddins 13.5 tackles for loss were also a team high and he was selected to the first team all-conference.

DT Rene Perry is the other returning starter in the trenches, but defensive coordinator Jay Hood will have to work in two new players. The top two tacklers from last year’s team are back at linebacker.

Davyd Jones registered 100 tackles including 7.5 behind the line of scrimmage. Sophomore Travis Freeman made an impact as a true freshman with 93 stops and could be a four year starter for the Cards in the middle.

Improving the secondary has to be a major priority for the coaching staff.

Adding Michigan transfer Artis Chambers to the mix should assist in doing just that. Chambers will take over at the strong safety position for Alex Knipp.

Second year corner Jason Pinkston will move into a starting spot at corner after he intercepted three passes in limited duty as a freshman.

Charlie Todd adjusted nicely to Division 1 football at corner last year and will lock down the other starting position.

Overview 

Ball State should be 2-0 heading into their match-up with Purdue on Sept. 18th.

The following week they head West to take on the ninth ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

MAC play begins for many of the teams in Week Two, but the Cards will wait until Week Five for their conference opener at Central Michigan.

They host both preseason conference favorites (Northern Illinois and Western Michigan) at home, but do have four difficult road games to conquer.

I believe Ball State finishes with a 6-6 record.