Aidan Chiles threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday while adding a fourth score on the ground as Northwestern cruised to a 45-14 nonconference rout of visiting Ball State in Evanston, Ill.
Chiles completed 17 of 23 passes while primarily targeting Griffin Wilde, who caught eight balls for 144 yards and a score as the Wildcats (4-1) rolled up 436 total yards and scored on their first four possessions.
Keldric Luster hit on 27 of 41 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception for the Cardinals (1-5), who couldn’t generate a consistent ground game with only 68 yards on 26 carries.
Northwestern wasted little time putting its stamp on the game. A 41-yard run on the second play by Joseph Himon II, combined with two 16-yard completions by Chiles, pushed the ball to the 2. Four plays later, Chiles snuck in from 1 yard out for a 7-0 lead at the 11:42 mark.
Chiles and Wilde made it 14-0 with 3:07 left in the quarter when they hooked up on a 19-yard touchdown pass to conclude a 92-yard drive. The margin grew to 21-0 when Caleb Komolafe scored on a 14-yard run with 10:52 remaining in the first half.
Ball State got on the board via TJ Horton’s 1-yard touchdown run at the 8:20 mark of the second quarter but Jackson Kleather bombed a 52-yard field goal on the Wildcats’ next possession. Robert Fitzgerald scored for the Northwestern defense with 3:04 left in the half on a 15-yard interception return.
Luster rebounded from that mistake by hitting Jamarion McDougle for a 2-yard touchdown pass 12 seconds before halftime to slice the deficit to 31-14.
However, any thoughts of a second-half rally were quashed by two more Wildcats touchdowns in the third quarter. Chiles connected with Drew Wagner for a 12-yard touchdown with 10:12 remaining, two plays after the Cardinals failed on a fourth-down gamble from their 36.
Chiles capped the scoring with 53 seconds left in the third when he hit Alex Honig for a 32-yard score.