MUNCIE – Three yards and a cloud of dust football vanished almost two decades ago in the Mid-American Conference when Marshall joined the league in the 1997 season.

That season ushered in a new era in the MAC when high-level quarterback play was almost an absolute requirement in order for teams to contend for a championship.

From Chad Pennington to Byron Leftwich to Ben Roethlisberger to Dan LeFevour to Nate Davis to Chandler Harnish – just to name a handful – teams with elite players at quarterback were usually a prime factor in the title race.

As Ball State put the finishing touches on a season that produced a 3-9 record after Tuesday’s 48-10 loss to Bowling Green in Scheumann Stadium, it no doubt is looking forward to what the future might bring.

The Cardinals identified their quarterback of the future when true freshman Riley Neal took over the starting job on Sept. 26 in a close loss at nationally ranked Northwestern.

Neal went on to become one of the top freshman players at any position in the MAC this season, and his continued development will be directly tied to how successful Ball State becomes the next three seasons.

“I think we have the right guy to get us there,” Cardinals coach Pete Lembo said.

Lembo received a phone call from former Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning on Tuesday. Wenning, who broke most of the Cardinals’ passing records in a four-year career that ended in 2013, told Lembo that Neal reminds him of himself as a freshman: a player with potential who has to grow into all aspects of a sophisticated college game.

“I really like the intangibles that are there (with Neal) and the tangibles with his size, arm strength, how big his hands are and how well he moves his feet for a big guy,” Lembo said. “Now it’s learning the system and getting more comfortable with what he sees out there and the pace of everything.

“I do think he will be a championship-level quarterback in this league.”

Neal showed fine consistency most of the season as he passed for 2,276 yards and also was a rushing threat with 399 yards. He threw only three interceptions in his first 351 pass attempts before being picked off three times in the game against Bowling Green.

Despite the uncharacteristic performance against MAC East champion Bowling Green, the Yorktown High School graduate made opposing coaches take notice of his skill set.

“That freshman quarterback is going to be really good,” Bowling Green coach Dino Babers said of Neal. “You can see his development through the year. He’s got a strong arm, and his legs give him the ability to run and throw.”

Neal ranked sixth in the nation among FBS true freshman quarterbacks in passing yards going into Tuesday’s game. He posted career highs Oct. 10 at Northern Illinois in completions (31), attempts (53), yards (393) and touchdowns (four).

“I learned (the college game) is a lot more mental than physical,” Neal said. “It’s reading coverages, knowing what’s going on around you. It’s really a jump from high school football.”

Neal said he liked what he established in some areas, but he was far from satisfied.

“With the record we had and not having a lot of team success, it’s hard for me to say I reached my goals,” he said.

There is other young, emerging talent in the program, too.

Sophomore tailback Darian Green was the Cardinals’ leading rusher this season with 730 yards and a robust 5.0 average per carry.

His running mate in the backfield, James Gilbert, is a true freshman who gained 608 yards. And Neal is a rushing threat.

“James wants the ball on 3rd-and-1, 4th-and-1,” Neal said of Gilbert. “He’s a workhorse and is always ready to go regardless of the situation.”

Freshman placekicker Morgan Hagee went into this week’s MAC games third in the league with 15 field goals made.

Receivers KeVonn Mabon, a junior, and sophomore Corey Lacanaria combined to catch 115 passes this year.

Mabon also excelled in the second half of the season on kickoff returns, averaging 27.2 yards per runback for the year. He ran back kicks for 44 and 34 yards against Bowling Green. Green returned a kickoff for 52 yards against the Falcons and averaged 25.7 yards for the year. Lacanaria averaged nearly 10 yards on punt returns.

On defense, junior linebacker Sean Wiggins was a playmaker with 95 tackles, second on the team.

Free safety Martez Hester, linebacker Zack Ryan and end Joshua Posley – all juniors – finished in the top six in tackles and are back next year.

The challenge for the defense will be to find a level of consistency where it can get off the field instead of allowing opposing offenses to sustain drives.

“You have to get back to the basics,” Wiggins said. “If you can’t tackle, you can’t play defense. It’s nothing big, just little stuff we have to improve on.”

The Cardinals special teams were among the best units in the MAC under the direction of Justin Lustig, and many of the players on those groups will be back.

Certainly improvement is required across the board, but there are some building blocks in place.

“The biggest disappointment to me is I want to build something here that is recession-proof, and I haven’t been able to do that,” Lembo said. “It takes more than just me; it takes a village. But that’s what I want to do and what I want to see here.

“I don’t think it’s that far from happening, but I don’t want it to come down to just having a junior or senior quarterback who is championship-caliber. I want to see all the pieces get put into place so that this thing can survive a freshman quarterback or survive one side of the ball that is not quite superlative in a given year. We have to keep working at that.”

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