MiQuale Lewis ran for three touchdowns, setting a single-season school record, and Nate Davis threw for one score and ran for another to help the 15th-ranked Ball State Cardinals remain one of the nation's four undefeated teams with a 45-22 victory over Western Michigan on Tuesday. The Cardinals (12-0, 8-0 Mid-American Conference) completed their first perfect regular season since 1949, their first undefeated season in MAC play since 1978 and they finally clinched a spot in the conference title game. They'll face Buffalo on Dec. 5 in Detroit with a chance to win their first league championship since 1996. Not surprisingly, Davis and Lewis were the crux of Western Michigan's problems. Davis exposed the Broncos' holes in the secondary, Lewis kept the offense balanced and Trey Lewis' 35-yard interception return late in the third quarter sealed it. Lewis started it by ducking under a defender, staying on his feet and scooting in for a 10-yard touchdown run. On Ball State's next series, Davis zipped a 40-yard touchdown pass to Lewis Johnson, whose stop-and-go move enabled him to elude two defenders. Western Michigan responded with a trick play, scoring when Tim Hiller threw a lateral to backup quarterback Drew Burdi, who turned and heaved a 36-yard TD pass to Scneider Julien, making it 14-7. The Broncos tied it early in the second quarter on a beautiful lob from Hiller to Juan Nunez, who caught the 9-yard pass over his shoulder. The Cardinals broke the tie on a 43-yard field goal from Ian McGarvey and took a 24-14 halftime lead when Davis scrambled for a 6-yard TD run, his fourth rushing score of the season. Lewis' 1-yard TD plunge late in the third quarter and Lewis' interception return made it 38-14. Western Michigan closed to 38-22 early in the fourth when Brandon West scored on an 8-yard TD run. But Lewis closed it out with a 1-yard TD run with 4:31 to go, his 20th rushing score of the season, which broke the previous record set by Mark Bornholdt in 1979.
