FACTS & STATS: Site: Michie Stadium (39,929) -- West Point, New York. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: Ball St. 0-2, Army 0-1. Away Record: Ball St. 0-0, Army 1-0. Neutral Record: Ball St. 0-0, Army 0-0. Conference Record: Ball St. 0-0, Army 0-0. Series Record: Army leads, 1-0.

GAME NOTES: Hoping to rebound from its first defeat of the young season, the Army Black Knights will host the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday afternoon in a non-conference affair at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

Ball State is off to a disappointing 0-2 start in its first season under head coach Stan Parrish, as the squad dropped a 23-16 decision to New Hampshire last Saturday night. The Cardinals' 0-2 start is especially disconcerting considering the club lost two games in all of 2008, going 12-2 with nine weeks spent in the Top-25. This matchup will mark the first road test of the 2009 campaign for BSU, which compiled a perfect 6-0 tally away from home a year ago.

As for Army, it suffered a 35-19 loss against visiting Duke last Saturday for its first setback of the season after opening with a 27-14 road win over Eastern Michigan. The Black Knights committed a total of four turnovers to Duke's two during the loss, an all-too important factor for a team that is 5-25 in its last 30 games when committing more turnovers than its opponent.

The Black Knights beat the Cardinals in the only previous meeting between the two, 41-21, on September 25th, 1999.

Offensively, the Cardinals find themselves trying to replace quarterback Nate Davis, who left Ball State a year early to enter the NFL draft. Davis set school records for passing yards (9,233), attempts (1,124), completions (678) and touchdown passes (74) in his three years with the program, and the Cards now find themselves averaging a mere 13.0 points and 218.0 yards per game. Taking the snaps under center up to this point for BSU has been redshirt freshman Kelly Page, who has completed 30-of-68 throws for 254 yards. Page has just one touchdown pass against two interceptions. MiQuale Lewis leads the squad on the ground with 124 yards on 29 carries, which has amounted to a rather lackluster 62.0 ypg, while Seth White has seven receptions for 85 yards and a score. The Cardinals were held to 127 yards of total offense in the loss to New Hampshire, which included just 13 yards on the ground. Page completed 15-of-34 passes for 114 yards with a touchdown and a pick, while Lewis caught a team-high eight balls for 22 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals have allowed opponents to rack up 417.0 yards per game, spread out fairly evenly between the ground (203.0 ypg) and the air (214 ypg), leading to 21.5 ppg. Defensive end Robert Eddins has two of the Cardinals' four sacks on the season, and he has already forced three fumbles. Sean Baker owns the club's lone interception, and linebacker Davyd Jones has tallied a team-best 20 tackles. The Cardinals did hold UNH to just 5-of-18 on third down conversions to go with four sacks during last week's loss, but BSU also allowed the Wildcats to convert 2-of-3 red-zone opportunities as well.

Patrick Mealy led an Army rushing attack that piled up 266 yards during last Saturday's losing effort against Duke, as the junior finished with 99 yards on just 10 carries. Freshman signal-caller Trent Steelman gained a season-best 75 yards on the ground to go with the first touchdown of his young career before giving way to senior quarterback Carson Williams, who completed 8-of-18 passes for 91 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Mealy continued to gain yardage in big chunks during the meeting with a 55-yard scamper, and he has now gained 208 yards on just 15 carries in the early stages of this season. Mealy owns an average of 104.0 rushing ypg, which is good enough for 26th in the nation, and his 13.9 yards per carry is the best in the nation among the 29 other players that have rushed for at least 200 yards to this point.

There may have been 35 points scored by the Blue Devils last week, but only 21 were surrendered by the Black Knight defense, as Duke cornerback Leon Wright returned two interceptions for touchdowns. The Blue Devils also found paydirt following an Army fumble on its own 19-yard line. The Army defense limited Duke to only 70 yards on the ground during the game, and after allowing just 40 rushing yards to Eastern Michigan to open the season, the Black Knights rank 17th in the country against the run at just 55.0 ypg allowed. The squad is yielding a meager 1.8 yards per carry, and has also limited foes to 174.5 ypg through the air as well. With a sack against Duke, junior DE Josh McNary pushed his season sack total to 3.5, and he now ranks fourth on the school's career list.

With a stingy defense and a healthy run game, expect the Black Knights to take care of a floundering Ball State club fairly easily. The Cardinals are simply overmatched on both sides of the ball, and Army should have no trouble notching its third victory.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Army 42, Ball State 13

Saturday, September 19th, 12:00 p.m. (et)