The college football regular season may be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some Tuesday night #MACtion for old time’s sake. Ball State made the trip from Muncie to South Bend (probably passing very close to where I’m typing this from this very moment!) to take on #9 ranked Notre Dame.
The Cardinals were 17.5 point underdogs to the Irish, which makes sense; Ball State was 4-4 entering the contest, with blowout losses at Oklahoma and Oregon, while Notre Dame had put together an impressive early season run that included a Maui Invitational title over Wichita State.
Ball State had won three games in a row, however, including a win over the same Indiana State team that blew out Indiana in Bloomington, and two of their losses were by a combined five points at Bucknell and at Dayton, two solid programs.
They came to play in South Bend, and found themselves tied at 77 with the clock winding down.
That’s when Taylor Persons did this:
A SHOCKER IN SOUTH BEND!@BallStateMBB takes down No. 9 Notre Dame on this game-winner by @TaylerPersons8! #MACtion pic.twitter.com/wE5fSRUN44
— #MACtion (@MACSports) December 6, 2017
The junior guard from Kokomo, Indiana (within two hours of South Bend, if you’re curious, and also relatively close to where I’m sitting) had a heck of a game, putting up 24 points en route to the massive upset.
Here’s the valuable in-arena video; listen for the classic airlock-venting swoosh after the shot goes in:
Yes, @BallStateMBB just took down No. 9 @NDmbb. See the last 9 seconds of play, including a game-winning 3-pointer from @TaylerPersons8. pic.twitter.com/sJK0hgsaNN
— Robby General (@rgeneraljr) December 6, 2017
Ball State has now beaten Indiana State, IUPUI, and Notre Dame, with Valparaiso coming to Muncie this Saturday; that’d be a heck of a run against in-state schools. Regardless, it’s a massive early-season upset, and another example of college basketball’s unpredictability.
