Ball State boasts all-purpose wide receiver

MUNCIE – Ball State’s offensive game plan is simple and effective. All the Cardinals have to do, it seems, is get the ball to Dante Love.

Through two games, and the first 2-0 start for Ball State in 13 years, Love leads the nation in all-purpose yardage, is second in yards receiving and is tied for sixth in scoring. Following offensive coordinator Stan Parrish’s game plan, Love is confident he can elude defenders and that once he gets open, quarterback Nate Davis will get the ball to him.

“Coach Parrish is always trying to create a mismatch with me. He has a lot of faith in me, and I don’t want to let him down,” said Love, who this week was named Mid-American Conference West Division offensive player of the week.

“So every time I get the ball, I try to make something happen so the ball can keep coming my way,” he said. “With what I did (against Navy), I believe I’ll get the ball even more.”

In a 35-23 win against Navy on Friday night, Love ran for one touchdown and caught nine passes from Davis for 165 yards and two more touchdowns, including a 61-yard reception on the second play of the game. The week before, he had nine catches for 171 yards and one touchdown in a 48-14 season-opening win over Northeastern.
Ball State opens MAC play on Saturday at Akron, then visits IU in a non-conference game Sept. 20.

Love, a 5-foot-10 senior from Cincinnati, has 529 all-purpose yards for the season, more than double the next-highest total for a Ball State player, running back MiQuale Lewis.

“Dante’s important because he can do so many things,” Ball State coach Brady Hoke said.

“The different things that he can do from throwing it to running it to catching it, and the way he blocks, is something I don’t think people give him enough credit for,” the coach said. “Because I promise you, you watch game tape and you watch him down the field on those long runs that ‘Quale has, believe me, those receivers work their tail off, and Dante stays on guys. He’s relentless.

“He obviously has a lot of natural, God-given ability instincts, but I think also our offensive coaches do a good job.”

Love already has tied former Cardinal receiver Dante Ridgeway’s career record of 11 games with at least 100 yards receiving. Now he needs just 50 receptions to break Ridgeway’s career record of 238 and 377 yards to break Ridgeway’s career record of 3,030.