Recordpub.com - Flashes seek win to turn season around

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

The fate of Kent State’s 2009 football season may be decided today at Peden Stadium in Athens.

A win over Ohio University and the Golden Flashes could find themselves in a share of first place in the Mid-American Conference East Division standings.

At the very least, a win would put KSU in the heat of the division race with four games remaining. It would also prove the Flashes can beat a good football team. So far, conference wins over winless Miami and Eastern Michigan haven’t proven much.

Lose to Ohio and the Flashes’ hopes of fulfilling head coach Doug Martin’s pledge of a winning season and a bowl bid become increasingly difficult.

They would need to play near-perfect football in the season’s final four games to keep either dream alive.

“This is a really big game,” said KSU freshman quarterback Spencer Keith. “Everyone around here knows it could be a turning-point game for us.”

Kent State (3-4, 2-1 MAC) can catch Ohio University (5-2, 3-0) atop the East standings. If East co-leader Temple loses at Toledo, and the Owls are a three-point underdog on most Vegas betting sheets, the Flashes would find themselves in a three-way tie for first place.

Ohio, meanwhile, is anywhere between a 9 1/2-point and 10 1/2-point favorite despite KSU’s run of success in Athens during the last decade. The Flashes have won three of their last four games in Peden Stadium.

The Bobcats have a much better team than they did in any of those previous meetings.

“The difference shows in them in their team speed,” said Martin. “They are a much faster team than they’ve been over the rest of coach (Frank) Solich’s time there. You can tell their recruiting is really kicking in. They are explosive at receiver, quarterback and running back. They are a big-play offense.”

Senior Taylor Price and junior Terrence McCrae both have four touchdown catches already this season — two more than any KSU receiver. Senior Theo Scott’s statistics (54.0 completion percentage, 12 touchdown passes and five interceptions) reflect an efficient quarterback, but his speed and his escapability make him far more dangerous than his numbers. Scott has not been sacked in five games.

The Bobcats are also productive on the ground, whether senior Chris Garrett (4.9 yard average on 70 carries) runs with the football or if injuries force sophomore Donte Harden (4.2 yard average on 49 attempts) into the role of primary ball-carrier.

While all of those key players are capable of big plays, Ohio’s offense tends to stall when faced with the task of piecing together long drives. They rank 11th in the MAC in third-down conversions (35 percent). Ironically, only Kent State is worse (22 percent).

The Bobcats really shine on defense, where their 23 forced turnovers lead the nation and are the big reason for the program’s best start since 1997.

“I’m not jumping up and down yet,” said Solich, who is 28-28 in five years as head coach at Ohio. “We’ve talked this through, and we are not trying to pinpoint any one, two or three games. We are trying to improve week by week. We’ll take what comes. So far, we’ve lined up and played hard for seven games. We need to continue to do that. We have a team that can run, so we need to continue to play fast.”

According to Solich, team speed has also become strength of Kent State’s game.

“They have good team speed, and they are utilitzing that team speed in a positive manner on both offense and defense,” said Solich.

Ohio prides itself on strong special teams that include the 10th-best kick-return average in the nation, but speed has helped KSU’s once lowly special-teams units surpass the Bobcats.

“This is a team that is ahead of us in four out of five special-teams categories,” said Martin. “They are No. 1 in the country. So special teams is going to be huge for us again. This may be the biggest challenge for us we’ve had this year.”

The speed versus speed matchup could make Kent State vs. Ohio “an intriguing game to see,” according to Martin. “We kind of go strength against strength.”

And if Kent State can come out on top?

“It would be huge,” said KSU true freshman wide receiver Tyshon Goode. “I believe if we win, our whole team will really be up for the rest of the season.”

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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com