KENT, Ohio — Before the game, linebacker Clayton Coll thought about the last time Ball State football visited Dix Stadium.
It was in 2019, and the Cardinals left with a three-point defeat. It was the second in what would be Kent State's 12-game home winning streak over the next three years. Coll remembers how the loss, Ball State's seventh that season, ended any postseason hopes. He remembers the seniors, who would never get to experience Ball State's 2020 Mid-American Conference championship season or the back-to-back bowl games in the years that followed.
Tuesday night, after digging itself in an early 13-0 deficit, Ball State (5-3, 3-2 MAC) rallied from behind, something it's done so often this season, to beat Kent State (3-6, 2-3 MAC) 27-20 and bring the Cardinals within one game of bowl eligibility for the third straight season, something Ball State has never before achieved.