DETROIT – Resilience. Toughness. Togetherness. Every superlative and description available for a championship team, Ball State earned it. The Cardinals are conference champions.

The team rallied around the mantra “Detroit or Bust.” The Cardinals made that a reality. And when they got there, they delivered a primetime performance against a nationally-ranked team featuring the nation’s top-ranked offense, outgunning MAC East champion Buffalo 38-28 Friday night at Ford Field.

“The credit goes to our young men,” head coach Mike Neu said. “I told the guys before we left the hotel that this might be the only chance they get to play in a game like this. We earned ourselves a MAC Championship. I might not ever leave Ford Field tonight.”