Recordpub.com - Long term should take priority for Flashes vs. BC

Kent State’s offensive line will have to keep the pass rush away from sophomore quarterback Giorgio Morgan if Kent State is to have any chance of upsetting Boston College on Saturday afternoon.

An ankle injury made life difficult for Morgan in last week’s season-opening win, and that should have KSU’s coaches more than a little worried about their trip to New England.

After being sacked three times by a Football Championship Subdivision team like Coastal Carolina in the opener, Morgan could be a sitting duck against an ACC program like Boston College if he still struggles with his mobility in the pocket.

Beating Boston College in Alumni Stadium would be a huge boost to the Golden Flashes’ confidence, and an upset win once seemed like a very real possibility based on all of the turnover on the Eagles’ coaching staff and roster in the last year. But if winning comes at the cost of losing Morgan for any extended period of time, it’s not worth it.

A win at Iowa State to start the 2007 season once seemed like a breakthrough moment for Kent State football. Nobody remembers that game now, though, because the Flashes ended up losing a very real opportunity to win a Mid-American Conference title the next week when then-starting quarterback Julian Edelman suffered an injury in a meaningless non-conference game at Kentucky. Edelman kept playing, but he wasn’t the same player when the league season started.

This year’s Flashes have enough talent on their roster to compete in what appears to be a very mediocre East Division. That opportunity needs to be the priority. With fifth-year senior Anthony Magazu’s future uncertain due to an elbow injury and true freshman Spencer Keith promising but raw and untested, Kent State doesn’t have enough depth at the quarterback position to stay in the division race without a healthy Morgan.

Based on inconsistent play in the preseason and several missed assignments against Coastal Carolina, there is no reason to believe Kent State’s young offensive line is ready for the test it will find on Saturday.

The Eagles are also young along their defensive front, but even after replacing defensive tackles B.J. Raji (a first-round pick of the Green Bay Packers) and Ron Brace (a second-round pick of the New England Patriots), they still have the size and speed you would expect from a BCS school and perennial bowl qualifier. Kent Cleveland and Brian Winters are going to be outstanding offensive linemen for Kent State, but the starting tackles will be tested in just their second college game.

Kent State needs to hope Boston College comes into the game with a similar gameplan to the one it employed in a 54-0 thumping of Northeastern last week. In that game against an FCS neighbor, the Eagles rarely blitzed and finished the game without a single sack.

But KSU expects Boston College to dial up at least a few more blitzes on Saturday. Traditionally, the Eagles are a 50-50 blitz team.

Martin has considered playing Keith for at least one series in the first half as the Flashes try to prepare the true freshman to take over as Morgan’s backup. But if the Flashes’ offensive line is having a hard time picking up blitzes and keeping Morgan off of his back, Martin should turn the game over to Keith and live to fight — with Morgan — another day.

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David Carducci can be reached at dcarducci@recordpub.com