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Saturday’s Akron-Kent State game before 20,811 at InfoCision Stadium was another close contest in the series – now 52 games old. Ultimately, the hosting Zips prevailed 28-20, and in so doing, broke a six-game losing streak (their longest since 2002).

With the victory, Akron (2-7, 1-4 MAC) not only retained possession of ‘The Wagon Wheel’ trophy for the third consecutive year and fifth time in the last six meetings, but it also ended a 10-game losing streak to teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision and a seven-game slide against MAC opposition. The win was also the first against a MAC opponent in Zips’ new football home.

“It was a fantastic win” Zips head coach J.D. Brookhart said after the game. “They have gone through so much (this season)…. I don’t think I have ever been as happy for a group of players as I have been for this group.”

Kent State (5-5, 4-2 MAC)  not only saw its three-game winning streak, the longest since 2006, come to an end. The loss, coupled with Temple’s win against Miami 34-32 on Thursday night, dropped the Golden Flashes a game-and-a half behind the Owls, who they will meet November 21  in South Philadelphia.

“It was a well-played game on both sides,” KSU head coach Doug Martin said afterwards. “They (Akron) played really well…. We did not stop the run, and our inability to run the ball, which made us a one-dimensional team, was really the difference in the game.”

It was a day for offense on a beautiful November afternoon as the two teams combined for 844 yards of total offense. The offensive cornucopia was a battle of true freshman quarterbacks - Patrick Nicely of Akron  and Kent State’s Spencer Keith.

Nicely, a native of Willoughby, Ohio had a career day connecting on 19-of 34 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns while winning his first game as a starting quarterback. He was one of the top high school quarterbacks in the state last year and was highly recruited. He was forced into action when  incumbent starter Chris Jacquemain was suspended (and later removed from the team) in September and then backup Matt Rodgers was lost for the season with an ACL injury in the Ohio game on October 10th.

“All the seniors told me this week about this game. It’s Kent State - how much this game meant to them, and I did not want to let any of them down” Nicely said.

Keith, meanwhile, completed 30-of-59 passes for 377 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He entered the lineup after starter Georgio Morgan injured his ankle during the Boston College game.

After Keith started against Iowa State and Miami, Morgan regained his starting spot at Baylor October 3.  Morgan later reinserted Keith, who has been growing in the position.

Both teams scored on their initial possessions of the contest. Kent State took the opening kickoff and moved from their own 20 yard line to the Akron 17, where the drive stalled and placekicker Freddy Cortez connected on a 37-yard field goal for a 3-0 Golden Flashes lead.

The Zips then took the ball, and for the first time in 2009, scored on their first possession. Taking advantage of a 15-yard penalty for interference on the kickoff reception, Akron embarked from the Kent State 45 and in just nine plays took a 7-3 lead when running back Alex Allen scored from one-yard out.

One key to the contest was the ineffectiveness of the KSU running game, which took a hit early when Jacquise Terry was injured. Terry, who has led Kent State in rushing since the season-ending kidney injury to running back Eugene Jarvis in September, hyperextended his left knee on the play. He would only play one more down the entire game.

Akron extended its lead in the second quarter, when on the first play after a Kent State punt, Nicely connected with wide receiver Jeremy LaFrance on a post pattern.  LaFrance used his speed to outrace the Kent State secondary and reach the end zone for a 14-3  Zips lead.

The game then turned into a battle of punts and field position until Keith and the Golden Flashes offense started to gain the momentum. With 7:11 remaining in the period, KSU took possession on their own 28 yard line. It took just eight plays to traverse the 72 yards, with Keith completing five passes on the drive, the last going to freshman running back Dri Archer, who went 22-yards into the end zone to narrow the Akron lead to 14-10.

After an Akron punt, Kent State took over at its 24-yard line with 3:12 remaining in the half. Riding the arm of Keith, the Golden Flashes reached the Akron one. After an illegal-procedure penalty moved the ball back to the Zips six, Akron was called for pass interference and Kent State accepted the penalty rather than a four-yard completion.  Keith tried three fade routs into the end zone, but all three passes were incomplete.

Cortez came on and connected on his second field goal of the game, this a 19-yarder as time expired in the first half to give Akron a narrow 14-13 lead. That stop by the Zips defense, holding Kent State to a field goal and saving four points was one of the big turning points in the game.

Akron got the kickoff to begin the third quarter. Again Cortez kicked the ball out of bounds and the Zips had possession on their own 40. Nicely and the Zips offense moved the ball down to the Kent State five.

But on first down and goal running back Broderick Alexander was stopped for a five-yard loss. After two incomplete passes, place kicker Bronko Rogovic attempted a 27-yard field goal, but the snap was low and when Rogovic made the attempt, it was blocked.

The Zips would add to the slim lead on their next possession. Starting on their own 27 after a Kent State punt, it moved73-yards in 11 plays. Andre Jones, taking a direct snap out of the wildcat formation, went the final eight yards for a touchdown and a 21-13 lead. “We actually put it in for the Syracuse game. We work on it after practice and it's the first time we really called it” Jones said.

KSU had a golden opportunity to get right back into the game late in the third quarter. But a decision from the replay booth reversed touchdown and a possible swing in the momentum.

On a fourth down and three from the Kent State 31, Brookhart did not want Rogovic to try a 48-yard field goal after the botched snap on the previous attempt, so he decided to go for it. Nicely completed a pass to running back Joe Tuzze, who was stopped and fumbled the ball, safety Dan Hartman scooped up the ball and raced into the end zone for a touchdown that would have made the score 21-19 with an extra point pending.

However, the ruling on the field was overturned by the official in the press box. Even though Tuzze did not have either knee down, his arm that had the ball was down before it came loose, meaning it was a completed pass, which was short of the first down.

Kent State gained possession but saw the apparent touchdown negated and then failed to score on the ensuing possession.

It set the stage for a frantic fourth quarter, which began with the Zips taking possession on their own 25 following the punt. Nicely moved the offense the 75 yards in just nine plays  to make it a 28-13 game as he hit LaFrance from six-yards out for his second touchdown of the game.

Kent State never gave in, and with Keith throwing on virtually every play, engineered an 80-yard nine-play drive that culminated with a nine-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kendrick Pressley with 5:24 remaining to make the score 28-20.

The Golden Flashes had one more possession to try and possibly send the game into overtime. But that drive would start on their own one-yard line as Zach Campbell’s punt was covered well by the Zips punt team.

Thanks to three big completions by Keith the Flashes moved to the Kent State 49 in the final minute. But after three straight incompletions, Keith’s desperation pass was intercepted by linebacker Mike Thomas and Akron had secured a rivalry victory.

“This game means a lot to me, to the kids, to this program and to the University” Brookhart said.

Akron will have little time to savor victory as they must prepare for the Eastern Division leading Temple Owls, who come to InfoCision Stadium Friday night.

 NOTES:
- Brookhart is 5-1 lifetime against Martin…
This is the first game in the series at InfoCision Stadium…

- Kent State’s last win at Akron  was 2003 at the Rubber Bowl.
 

- Akron’s last MAC win was November 5,2008 vs Toledo

- It was the first time in Keith's career that he has passed for over 300 yards in consecutive games.

- Andre Jones' fourth quarter touchdown marked the fourth different way he has scored a touchdown in his collegiate career