Mon Feb 13 2012
By David Carducci
Record-Courier staff writer
Kent State is not getting the battle for first place it wanted, but the hopes and dreams of 2009 will still be on the line today when the Golden Flashes face Mid-American Conference East Division-leading Temple at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
A heartbreaking end to a three-game winning streak Nov. 7 at the University of Akron robbed KSU of a chance to challenge for the Owls’ perch atop the East standings.
After a week off to get over the disappointment and refocus for the final two games of the year, the Flashes are embracing the opportunities still in front of them.
“This has been a really resilient group,” said KSU head coach Doug Martin. “They know they are playing for a lot. We can be a seven-win football team real easy. And we can still have a lot to say about who wins the MAC East, and it could be us.”
The Flashes will need some help to force themselves back into the heat of the division race. If the Flashes can win today and close the regular season with another victory over Buffalo next week at Dix Stadium, they would then need second-place Ohio University to lose at home today to Northern Illinois, and then win at home next week against Temple.
If all of those things happen, Kent State would finish in at least a three-way tie for the division lead with Ohio and Temple and have wins over both schools to take into the tiebreakers. A four-way tie for first place could also occur if Bowling Green wins at home against arch-rival Toledo next week.
While all of these scenarios are within the realm of possibility, the Flashes can handle a few more realistic goals all by themselves.
Win out and KSU would finish the year at 7-5 overall and tie the school record for conference wins with a 6-2 league mark. The Flashes were also 6-2 in 1976. The 7-5 overall record would give KSU just its third winning season since 1972.
Temple stands in the way of all of those possibilities.
“They are a real good football team playing with a lot of confidence,” said Martin. “Nobody in the conference has been able to beat them yet.”
On Saturday, the Owls will honor 16 seniors who have engineered a stunning turnaround. That group celebrated just one win in their first 17 games at Temple. Now they are enjoying an eight-game winning streak to answer their back-to-back losses to open the season.
The star of the turnaround, however, has been a newcomer — true freshman running back Bernard Pierce.
It didn’t take long for Pierce to emerge as one of the top ball-carriers in the country. His 1,308 rushing yards lead the MAC and rank fourth nationally. His 15 touchdowns are also a Temple record.
“He has great vision, and he is really great in the hole, side-to-side ... what we call a jump-cut runner,” said Martin. “And he is really strong. He is breaking tackles and getting free.”
On the other side of the football, KSU will have starting running back Jacquise Terry back at full strength after he missed the final three quarters of the Nov. 7 loss to the Zips. His return from a knee injury should help the Flashes avoid the one-dimensional, pass-only offense that made the trip to Akron such a disaster.
If Terry can run just a little against Temple’s MAC-leading run defense (107.2 yards per game), KSU freshman quarterback Spencer Keith will find more opportunities to attack a questionable Temple pass defense. Miami freshman Zac Dysert racked up 426 yards through the air just two weeks ago as the RedHawks came within a last-second field goal of upsetting the Owls in Philadelphia.
“(Kent State) is the same operation that scored 41 points against us (last year), and we haven’t been great against spread offenses here of late,” said Temple head coach Al Golden. “That’s a challenge for our defense, most particularly when they run the ball well. When they run the ball well, they have that play-action passing game that comes off of it, which is very difficult to handle.”
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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com
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