 KSU QB Julian Edelman had three turnovers in loss to Iowa State
Kent State turned the ball over four times; three at the hands of senior quarterback Julian Edelman. They also had two punts blocked with the Cyclones converting on the blocked punts into a touchdown.
The crucial moment came midway through the first quarter when freshman punter Matt Reinhart's kick was blocked and recovered at the Kent State one yard line. From there Iowa State scored a touchdown, starting a 21-point barrage.
“The two punts we had blocked they (Iowa State) weren’t even rushing the punt," noted Kent State head coach Doug Martin.
When asked about his punter and the punt team Martin replied “It will be fixed. He (Rinehart) did a tremendous job in practice on Sunday night. We had 22 defensive people rushing the punter at one time and he did a great job getting it off in time”
If you look at the Kent State - Iowa State game from a strictly a staticial standpoint, things don't look as bad.
Kent State outgained Iowa State overall 410-374. The Flashes rushed for 243 yards compared to 160 for Iowa State with Jarvis rushing for 139 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown bouncing back from the 51-yard performance in the season opener against Boston College.
Meanwhile, senior quarterback Julian Edelman completed just 10-of-22 passes for 171 yards but had three touchdowns and rushed for 65 yards but also fumbled three times.
In the end, along with the two blocked punts, it was the four fumbles that doomed the Flashes.
“If we had gone to Iowa State and they had just physically overpowered us, I would have come home and slept like a baby….But when you beat yourself, I have a problem with that and I am fed up with it around here,” Martin said
During his press conference on Monday, Martin said that the loss to Iowa State was squarely on the players and he put them on notice that if they did not play better this Saturday, against Delaware State at Dix Stadium, that some of them might not play the rest of the season.
“I look forward to playing the game, it can’t get here fast enough…It’s going to be a long week for these boys. They will be thanking God when this game gets here on Saturday. Practice will be a living hell,” Martin added
Kent State is 0-2 on the young season and has lost nine consecutive games dating back to last season. Their last win came on September 29 ,2007 at Ohio, 33-25. In fact, the last time the Flashes won a home game was against these same Delaware State Hornets 38-7 on September 15, 2007 almost one calendar year
Their opposition on Saturday afternoon has had nine days to prepare for the game as the Hornets defeated Florida A&M in their season opener at Dover, Delaware 35-28 in overtime, a win that put DSU into the Football Championship Subdivision poll at number 25.
The loss to Kent State last season was the Hornets' lone regular-season blemish in 2007 as they went 10-2, winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship making the playoffs, losing in the first round to their in-state brethren the Delaware Blue Hens 44-7.
“We are going to play a very dangerous football team. They have a really good program, excellent coaching staff. We have to play a lot better than we did last week” Martin remarked
In the Hornets' overtime win over the Rattlers, senior quarterback Vashon Winton accounted for all five of Delaware State's touchdowns as he rushed for 73 yards and four scores while the other came through the air going 21-for-33 for 178 yards. For his performance, he was named MEAC Offensive player of the Week
Winton, a native of Chicago, is second on the Hornets all-time list in passing yards (4,452), passing attempts (711) and completions (406)
“He is a quarterback like (Julian) Edelman. His strength is running. He is very athletic. He can make people miss and is very good in avoiding the rush," stated Martin.
Delaware State senior running back Chris Strother, a transfer from Central Florida, ran for 139 yards against FAMU and senior wide receiver Derrick McNeil caught seven passes for 47 yards in support of Vashon and the Hornets offense.
Defensively, senior linebacker Kevin Conner had eight tackles in the game with the Rattlers while junior tackle Tyron Hurst had two sacks.
The game Saturday will not only be an unveiling of some renovations at Dix Stadium, but also the culmination of a week long week of education titled “Flight 93: An Education on Everyday Heroes” with special remembrances of United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Central Pennsylvania after it was hijacked on September 11, 2001.
Kent State will end the non-conference portion of its schedule next Saturday, traveling to the bayous of Louisiana to face the Rajun Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette out of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Flashes open MAC play on September 27th with a trip to Muncie to face the Ball State Cardinals.
NOTES: Eugene Jarvis-KSU with his 139 yard performance last Saturday against Iowa State needs just 12 yards to move into fourth place on the Flashes all-time rushing list (currently has 2,657 yards)…Derek Burrell-KSU had 11 tackles against the Cyclones, his sixth consecutive game with double-digit tackles dating back to last season and currently leads the MAC with 25 tackles… Hornets head coach Al Lavan spent 18 years as an assistant coach in the NFL (Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Kansas City)…Lavan was running backs coach at Eastern Michigan from 2002-03 and was interim head coach in 2003 taking over for the final three games for Jeff Woodruff and went 1-2-0...Delaware State is 1-2-0 against MAC opposition (0-1 vs. Kent State, 1-1 vs Buffalo)..The second phase of the Dix Stadium renovation will be unveiled Saturday with a new entranceway, new ticket and concession kiosks, and finally, a new state of the art scoreboard |
