Recordpub.com - Flashes in need of win

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

It's Homecoming weekend at Kent State.

Unfortunately, Golden Flashes fans are still looking for reasons beyond an annual gathering of alumni to get excited about a trip to Dix Stadium.

Their team owns an ugly 1-5 overall record. At 0-2 in Mid-American Conference play, it may still be in the mix in an East Division where first-place Akron and Buffalo are just 1-1. But to have any realistic hope of making a run at a division title, a 2008 turnaround needs to happen today.

"Our players have to understand that everyone in the conference has a loss right now, so if our players want to do like they did in 2006 and go on a winning streak, they can get right back in this thing," said KSU head coach Doug Martin. "That starts this Saturday."

If there is good news for the Flashes, it's that this week's opponent is in exactly the same situation. At a matching 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the MAC, Ohio University is also in dire need of a win to potentially turn its season around.

The question is, does either team still have the heart to put together a big effort after so many disappointments in the first half of the year?

KSU is trying to overcome a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to its arch-rival last week. Ohio has experienced its own heartbreaks in its first six games.

"I know their record is the same as ours, but you look at the games they played and the way they lost," said Martin. "They lost by one point to a very good Wyoming team. Their game with (defending MAC champion) Central Michigan came right down to the wire, and they really should have won that game. They fumbled going into the end zone for the winning touchdown right at the end. Then last week, they had Western Michigan in a dogfight until the fourth quarter."

After 22 years of coaching, Martin knows what to expect in a game between two teams that could have plenty of reason to go into a funk and feel sorry for themselves.

"We have two teams that are in exactly the same position, both 1-5 and 0-2 in the league," said Martin. "One team, I promise you, will play with unbelievable passion and intensity. The other team won't. The team that does will win. It always seams to go that way when you have two teams in this position. We have to make sure we are the team that plays with great passion and intensity."

If Eugene Jarvis' ankle is healthy enough to allow him to return to the field for the first time in almost a month, KSU may just find the lift it needs.

On his way to rushing for 1,669 yards in 2007, Jarvis blew through Ohio's defense for 230 yards -- including touchdown runs of 35 and 42 yards -- in a 33-25 win. KSU hasn't beaten a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I) team since that Sept. 29 meeting, a stretch of 12 straight games.

To end that streak, running the ball -- whether Jarvis plays or sits out -- may be the key.

Behind quarterback Julian Edelman and the emergence of young running backs Andre Flowers and Jacquise Terry, KSU has managed to stay at the top of the MAC's rushing rankings, averaging 207.2 yards per game. The Bobcats, meanwhile, are in the bottom half of the league's rushing defenses, allowing 172.3 per game.

"(Kent State) has been a run-oriented offense, and they do a great job with it," said Ohio coach Frank Solich. "If you look at Julian Edelman and Eugene Jarvis, those are two outstanding runners. Their quarterback scrambles a great deal, and he is so elusive he will take off and become a running back, and a very good one. They are committed to that phase of the game, and it shows."