BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Ball State isn't used to playing with a target on its back.

If the Cardinals keep winning, they won't have a choice.

Nate Davis threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns as No. 25 Ball State overcame a slow start in its first-ever game as a ranked team to beat Western Kentucky 24-7.

MiQuale Lewis ran for 112 yards and a score for the Cardinals (7-0), who needed more than a half to find any rhythm against the pesky Hilltoppers (2-5).

Perhaps the Cardinals were suffering from stage fright. They were dominated at times by WKU, which is in the final year of transition from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Hilltoppers piled up 352 yards of offense but turned the ball over three times and continually self-destructed in Ball State territory. David Wolke threw for 161 yards.

The Hilltoppers fell to 0-5 against FBS teams this season.

Ball State led just 7-0 at the half before eventually taking control in the third quarter.

The Cardinals drove 64 yards during the opening drive of the second half, though it ended with Ian McGarvey missing a 21-yard field goal try.

Still, it was the spark Ball State needed. After getting pushed around for most of the first half, the defense pushed back and forced WKU into a quick three-and-out. Lewis bolted up the middle for 38 yards on Ball State's next possession to set up a 1-yard touchdown run that put the Cardinals up 14-0.

WKU, which used the two-quarterback system of Wolke and Dexter Taylor to keep the Cardinals off-balance in the first half, was ill-equipped to play catch-up.

The Cardinals started getting to Wolke in the third quarter and kept grinding away with Lewis. McGarvey hit a 37-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-0, and after WKU failed on fourth down deep in its own territory, Davis hit Louis Johnson with a 20-yard score with 6:31 remaining to put it out of reach.

The Hilltoppers — playing a ranked team for the third time this season — had plenty of opportunities to beat the first Top 25 team to visit Houchens-L.T. Smith Stadium.

WKU controlled the first half, moving the ball with ease. The Hilltoppers drove into Ball State territory four times in the first half only to come up empty.

Taylor was a yard short of the goal line when he fumbled out of the end zone for a touchback on WKU's first possession, starting a series of missed opportunities. One drive ended with a missed field goal attempt. Another ended with a fumble and yet another on a failed fourth down.

Ball State managed just one sustained drive in the half, but made it count. Davis hit Briggs Orsbon for a 5-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead they somehow managed to take into the break.