Football: Kent State, WMU Edge Towards Bowl Eligibility
October 30, 2009
Both the Broncos and Golden Flashes have big goals on Saturday.
By Evan Meyer
emeyer@themacdaily.com
KENT — When the Kent State Golden Flashes lost their star running back Eugene Jarvis, Doug Martin made a bold prediction.
He said that this Kent State team would finish with a winning record and play in a bowl game. Well, that bravado did not help the Blue and Gold right after when they lost three of their next four games including that 12-point fourth quarter lead they squandered at home to Bowling Green on October 10th.
Kent State rebounded from that crushing loss with a victory at Eastern Michigan. However, many were skeptical of their 2-1 MAC start as both of their wins (EMU and Miami) came against winless opposition.
But last week they traveled to Athens and beat Ohio 20-11, ending the Bobcats three-game winning streak and moving into second place in the Eastern Division with a 3-1 record and 4-4 overall.
“It was a very physical football game that played into our favor” Martin said at his press conference on Monday. “Our players really executed the game plan on both sides of the ball”
Kent State wants to keep its momentum from Ohio.
Both four wins overall and three MAC wins equaled their total for all of last season.
“If you told me that we were going to be 3-1 in the conference going into the season, I would have been shocked” Martin said.
KSU busted a close 6-3 game open in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from freshman Spencer Keith to another freshman wide receiver Tyshon Goode. Running back Jacquise Terry rushed for a career best 110 yards on 31 carries.
“To execute the game plan we had to run the ball effectively. If we didn’t, we would have been in third-and-long all day,” Martin said.
Spencer Keith finished the afternoon completing 23-of-38 passes for 273 yards and the two scoring tosses to Goode who had nine receptions for a career best 105 yards.
The defense held the Ohio running game to -9 yards and 164 yards in total offense. Not allowing them to score a touchdown. They harassed Ohio quarterbacks Theo Scott and Terry Tettleton into nine sacks the most since 1994.
Defensive back Brian Lainhart picked off his MAC leading fifth pass of the season. While defensive lineman Kevin Hogan had five tackles (3 ? for losses) and 2 ? sacks en route to picking up MAC East Defensive Player of the Week honors.
To get that first bowl bid since the 1972 Tangerine Bowl, the Golden Flashes begin this quartet of games to complete the season with the Western Michigan Broncos this Saturday in Dix Stadium.
Western Michigan is 4-4 overall and 3-2 in MAC play coming off a 34-31 overtime win at home against Buffalo. WMU possess one of the top quarterbacks in the MAC in senior Tim Hiller.
When Kent State has faced a passing quarterback they have struggled. Most notably was the 505 yards BG’s Tyler Sheehan had against them but also Miami’s Zac Dysert in his first collegiate start back on September 26, when he passed for 337 yards.
“We’re facing an NFL quarterback” Martin said. “We can’t let Hiller sit in the pocket and put our defensive backs on an island against him. We have not played well like that and he will pick you apart”
Hiller, who grew up not far away from Kent, in Orville, Ohio, is third in all of Division I-A in passing yards with 2,254.
WMU is not a one-dimensional team offensively as running back Brandon West is second in the MAC in rushing with 763 yards and is also a threat returning kicks as he had 108 return yards against UB garnering MAC West Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
“They have the ability to throw the ball 60-times in a game if they want to but you have to defend the run” Martin said.
Defensively, the Broncos are led by linebacker Austin Pritchard with 71 tackles (51 of them are solo) and is coming off a solid performance against Buffalo where he had 10 tackles, one for a loss and a pass break-up. Free Safety Doug Wiggins is tied with KSU’s Brian Lainhart in forcing fumbles with four.
“They present a lot of problems for you (defensively) as they give you several different schemes…They can put a lot of speed out there at one time if they want to and that can give us some problems so we have to be sharp” Martin said
The road is not easy for the Golden Flashes to achieve that winning season and bowl game, but both goals are attainable.
“We have to establish something here in Dix Stadium that we haven’t had for a while and that is a big win at home,” Martin emphasized.
But the main thing is to win and that starts this Saturday against the Broncos.
NOTES: Saturday’s game is the 51st lifetime meeting between the two schools with Western Michigan holding a 32-17-1 advantage winning the last 12 games in the series…26th lifetime game at Kent (16-9 WMU)… Kent State’s last win over WMU was 1988 at Kalamazoo 45-28 and their last win at Dix Stadium was 1987 27-13…Kent State is 3-1 in MAC play for just the ninth time in 58 years of MAC football (the last being 2006 when they were 4-0)…KSU leads the MAC with 26 sacks…Jacquise Terry-KSU is 10th in MAC rushing with 482 yards…Cobrani Mixon-KSU ios tied for second in tackles with 79 (42 solo)..Tim Hiller-WMU last week against Buffalo became the eighth quarterback in MAC history to pass for 10,000 yards in his career…Broncos are 4-6 lifetime on Halloween…Kent State last played on Halloween in 1987 (17-13 win over Toledo)…Brandon West-WMU is second lifetime in Division I-A all-purpose yards with 7,041.
emeyer@themacdaily.com
KENT — When the Kent State Golden Flashes lost their star running back Eugene Jarvis, Doug Martin made a bold prediction.
He said that this Kent State team would finish with a winning record and play in a bowl game. Well, that bravado did not help the Blue and Gold right after when they lost three of their next four games including that 12-point fourth quarter lead they squandered at home to Bowling Green on October 10th.
Kent State rebounded from that crushing loss with a victory at Eastern Michigan. However, many were skeptical of their 2-1 MAC start as both of their wins (EMU and Miami) came against winless opposition.
But last week they traveled to Athens and beat Ohio 20-11, ending the Bobcats three-game winning streak and moving into second place in the Eastern Division with a 3-1 record and 4-4 overall.
“It was a very physical football game that played into our favor” Martin said at his press conference on Monday. “Our players really executed the game plan on both sides of the ball”
Kent State wants to keep its momentum from Ohio.
Both four wins overall and three MAC wins equaled their total for all of last season.
“If you told me that we were going to be 3-1 in the conference going into the season, I would have been shocked” Martin said.
KSU busted a close 6-3 game open in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from freshman Spencer Keith to another freshman wide receiver Tyshon Goode. Running back Jacquise Terry rushed for a career best 110 yards on 31 carries.
“To execute the game plan we had to run the ball effectively. If we didn’t, we would have been in third-and-long all day,” Martin said.
Spencer Keith finished the afternoon completing 23-of-38 passes for 273 yards and the two scoring tosses to Goode who had nine receptions for a career best 105 yards.
The defense held the Ohio running game to -9 yards and 164 yards in total offense. Not allowing them to score a touchdown. They harassed Ohio quarterbacks Theo Scott and Terry Tettleton into nine sacks the most since 1994.
Defensive back Brian Lainhart picked off his MAC leading fifth pass of the season. While defensive lineman Kevin Hogan had five tackles (3 ? for losses) and 2 ? sacks en route to picking up MAC East Defensive Player of the Week honors.
To get that first bowl bid since the 1972 Tangerine Bowl, the Golden Flashes begin this quartet of games to complete the season with the Western Michigan Broncos this Saturday in Dix Stadium.
Western Michigan is 4-4 overall and 3-2 in MAC play coming off a 34-31 overtime win at home against Buffalo. WMU possess one of the top quarterbacks in the MAC in senior Tim Hiller.
When Kent State has faced a passing quarterback they have struggled. Most notably was the 505 yards BG’s Tyler Sheehan had against them but also Miami’s Zac Dysert in his first collegiate start back on September 26, when he passed for 337 yards.
“We’re facing an NFL quarterback” Martin said. “We can’t let Hiller sit in the pocket and put our defensive backs on an island against him. We have not played well like that and he will pick you apart”
Hiller, who grew up not far away from Kent, in Orville, Ohio, is third in all of Division I-A in passing yards with 2,254.
WMU is not a one-dimensional team offensively as running back Brandon West is second in the MAC in rushing with 763 yards and is also a threat returning kicks as he had 108 return yards against UB garnering MAC West Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
“They have the ability to throw the ball 60-times in a game if they want to but you have to defend the run” Martin said.
Defensively, the Broncos are led by linebacker Austin Pritchard with 71 tackles (51 of them are solo) and is coming off a solid performance against Buffalo where he had 10 tackles, one for a loss and a pass break-up. Free Safety Doug Wiggins is tied with KSU’s Brian Lainhart in forcing fumbles with four.
“They present a lot of problems for you (defensively) as they give you several different schemes…They can put a lot of speed out there at one time if they want to and that can give us some problems so we have to be sharp” Martin said
The road is not easy for the Golden Flashes to achieve that winning season and bowl game, but both goals are attainable.
“We have to establish something here in Dix Stadium that we haven’t had for a while and that is a big win at home,” Martin emphasized.
But the main thing is to win and that starts this Saturday against the Broncos.
NOTES: Saturday’s game is the 51st lifetime meeting between the two schools with Western Michigan holding a 32-17-1 advantage winning the last 12 games in the series…26th lifetime game at Kent (16-9 WMU)… Kent State’s last win over WMU was 1988 at Kalamazoo 45-28 and their last win at Dix Stadium was 1987 27-13…Kent State is 3-1 in MAC play for just the ninth time in 58 years of MAC football (the last being 2006 when they were 4-0)…KSU leads the MAC with 26 sacks…Jacquise Terry-KSU is 10th in MAC rushing with 482 yards…Cobrani Mixon-KSU ios tied for second in tackles with 79 (42 solo)..Tim Hiller-WMU last week against Buffalo became the eighth quarterback in MAC history to pass for 10,000 yards in his career…Broncos are 4-6 lifetime on Halloween…Kent State last played on Halloween in 1987 (17-13 win over Toledo)…Brandon West-WMU is second lifetime in Division I-A all-purpose yards with 7,041.