By David Carducci | Staff writer

Aesthetically, a 41-10 final score looked just about right on the Dix Stadium scoreboard as the clock ticked away on Thursday night’s season opener.

If Kent State is finally ready to contend in the Mid-American Conference East Division and chase down its first bowl bid since 1972, it should overwhelm a rebuilding Football Championship Subdivision team like Murray State.

The Golden Flashes treated the crowd of 16,535 to most of what it expected.

Eugene Jarvis returned from a lost 2009 season to open the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Spencer Keith set a few personnel records, as he opened his second season as the Golden Flashes’ starting quarterback.

Additionally, Sam Kirkland and Jacquise Terry were simply spectacular in the receiving game.

The Flashes made plays in special teams, including a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Anthony Bowman to open on the second half.

On defense, Kent State flew to the football and dominated the line of scrimmage, just as it should against a team from a lower level. The Flashes crushed a school record by holding Murray State to negative-65 net yards rushing.

“I’ve never been on a defense that did anything like that,” said linebacker and senior co-captain Cobrani Mixon. “Hopefully we can keep doing that.”

Yet with all of those positives, the discriminating fans must have entertained some serious fear as they headed for the exits. No unit created more source for alarm than the Flashes’ offensive line. 

If Kent State couldn’t open a hole against a defense that ranked eighth against the run in the Ohio Valley Conference and 105th in all of FCS last year, what can it expect when it faces its East rivals? Worse yet, Keith and running backs like Jarvis and Terry could be in very real danger at Boston College and Penn State in the next two weeks. 

It was even more alarming when you consider the Racers’ personnel.

“I thought our defensive line played very well, and we were missing our starting nose tackle who is kind of the leader of that defense, Lamar Theus,” said Murray State head coach Chris Hatcher. “We had two freshmen (defensive linemen) playing out there, who are little light in the britches. If we tackled a little bit better ... it could have been a different ball game.”

KSU finished with 137 rushing yards on 37 carries, but that stat is a bit of an aberration. Jarvis (11 caries, 45 yards) accounted for 20 of those yards with a first-quarter run. Keith was forced to scramble for another 17 yards in the second and safety Brian Lainhart rolled up 19 more on a third-quarter fake punt. 

Take those three carries out of the equation, and the Flashes rushed for a meager 2.25-yards per carry on 36 attempts.

As the game wore on, Murray State’s defensive front kept getting better and Kent State’s line kept getting worse.

Flashes head coach Doug Martin said his team “needs to be more physical in the running game.”

“It wasn’t as good as we want to be and we needed it to be,” he said. “We were better in camp (blocking) against our own defense.”

Martin was also quick to point out several other concerns, including two frustrating turnovers and penalties on both sides of the football.

“But you know what, when we come to a Kent State (game) and complain when we score 41 points and win 41-10, we’ve come a long way,” Martin said with a chuckle.

Keith tossed a career-best three touchdown passes in his 24-for-35, 275-yard performance. All three of those scores featured courageous individual efforts from his receivers.

Terry (4 catches, 73 yards) tossed aside a Racers defender 25-yards from the goal line as he broke through for a 49-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter. He also shed a tackle on a 6-yard touchdown pass that closed the scoring. 

Kirkland eluded another four tacklers on his way to the endzone after catching a 16-yard curl just short of the goal line late in the first quarter.

KSU’s only defensive lapse came late in the first quarter when cornerback Norman Wolfe lost Murray State wide receiver Arthur Bracket on his 42-yard touchdown catch from Jeff Ehrhardt.

KENT ST. 41, MURRAY ST. 10

Murray St. 7 3 0 0 — 10

Kent St. 17 7 10 7 — 41

First Quarter

Kent—Jarvis 6 run (Cortez kick), 10:53.

Kent—FG Cortez 29, 6:32.

Mur—Brackett 42 pass from Ehrhardt (Cullen kick), 3:19.

Kent—Kirkland 16 pass from Keith (Cortez kick), :19.

Second Quarter

Mur—FG Cullen 42, 9:17.

Kent—Terry 49 pass from Keith (Cortez kick), 1:13.

Third Quarter

Kent—Bowman 92 kickoff return (Cortez kick), 14:45.

Kent—FG Cortez 37, 6:26.

Fourth Quarter

Kent—Terry 6 pass from Keith (Cortez kick), 8:09.

A—16,535.

Mur Kent

First downs 12 20

Rushes-yards 22-(-65) 39-137

Passing 258 275

Comp-Att-Int 30-47-0 24-35-1

Return Yards 48 71

Punts-Avg. 10-42.2 5-46.2

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-Yards 8-71 7-60

Time of Possession 26:38 33:22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Murray St., Rothman 2-1, Brady 1-0, Nwagbara 1-0, Ma.Harris 1-(minus 4), Barnett 8-(minus 31), Ehrhardt 9-(minus 31). Kent St., Jarvis 11-45, Terry 11-30, Flowers 5-26, Lainhart 1-19, Archer 5-17, Goode 1-3, Keith 5-(minus 3).

PASSING—Murray St., Ehrhardt 30-47-0-258. Kent St., Keith 24-35-1-275.

RECEIVING—Murray St., Ma.Harris 11-79, Ard 8-71, Brackett 5-78, Daniels 3-16, Beauford 3-14. Kent St., Kirkland 9-126, Terry 4-73, Thompson 3-25, Goode 3-20, Jarvis 3-12, Bowman 1-17, Gilbert 1-2.

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Contact David Carducci at dcarducci@recordpub.com