 KENT STATE 33, BALL STATE 14
The Flashes have won three of their last four games as they defeated the Cardinals for the first time since 2001, and the first time in Northeast Ohio since 1985.
Playing before 15, 468 fans on a cloudy, windy day at Dix Stadium, Kent State (4-4, 3-2 MAC) used a season high 452 yards of total offense to register consecutive wins for the first time this season.
We talked this week about exposing character and getting on a win streak,” KSU head coach Doug Martin said after the game. “That’s what they did today. They played with a lot of enthusiasm; they were on a mission and played well on both sides of the ball.”
The win kept KSU in the thick of the MAC East Division race, with upcoming opportunities to improve its position against two of the three division co-leaders. The Flashes meet East co-leader Temple at home next Saturday and finish the season against Ohio.
Ball State (2-7, 1-4 MAC) suffered its fourth consecutive defeat, and has just one win in its last seven encounters. “For us, it was the same old, same old,” BSU head coach Stan Parrish said afterwards. “We could not block and that makes for a tough day. When you are one-dimentional, it is tough to get anything going.”
KSU used a balanced offensive attack that included a season-best 176 yards rushing. Senior running back Andre Flowers led the way with 77 yards on 16 carries, all coming in the second half as junior Jacquise Terry left the game with effects from a shoulder injury which began last week in the win at Bowling Green.
Sophomore quarterback Spencer Keith completed 18-of-38 passes for 252 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. It was the third time in the last four games that Keith has not thrown an interception.
In the first half, the Golden Flashes used the big play to get deep into Ball State territory. On the second play of the game, Keith found wide receiver Lendric Muldrow for 47 yards to the BSU three. But the drive stalled, and sophomore kicker Freddy Cortez connected on a 39 yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.
The Cardinals took their first and only lead of the game midway through the opening quarter. Gaining possession on their own 40 after a KSU punt, freshman quarterback Keith Wenning engineered a nine-play drive to traverse the 60 yards, capping the drive himself with a one-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone.
Kent State moved the ball effectively on its second possession after taking over on the KSU 23. Keith used a short passing game, mixed in with runs, to advance the ball to the BSU 21 where the Cardinals stiffened. That forced Kent State to settle for a second Cortez field goal, this one a 45-yarder, to make the score 7-6.
The Golden Flashes regained the lead in the second quarter with an eight-play, 83-yard drive aided by two big Keith completions, a 25 yarder to junior flanker Sam Kirkland, and a 33-yard strike to sophomore split end Tyshon Goode. Another sophomore, running back Dri Archer, capped the drive with what went down as a 16-yard touchdown run. After he was stopped on the left side, he reversed his field and raced to the lower right corner of the end zone to give KSU a 13-7 lead.
There was no further scoring in the half, although KSU had a chance to add to their lead late in the quarter. Getting the ball after a BSU punt on their own 43, a 46-yard completion from Keith to wide receiver Chris Gilbert took the ball to the Cardinals seven. But three passes into the end zone were incomplete, with one almost intercepted. Cortez came on for a 24-yard field goal, which he missed from the right hash mark, pushing the ball to the left keeping the score 13-7 at halftime.
Ultimately, the third quarter proved decisive.
The first key play of the period came on Kent State’s first offensive possession when sophomore cornerback Jason Pinkston hit Archer right on the football, causing a fumble which was recovered by Cardinals defensive end Andrew Puthoff near midfield.
On the fourth play of the drive, the Golden Flashes defense came up with their biggest play of the afternoon as a Wenning pass was deflected into the hands of senior linebacker Dorian Wood, who returned it 61-yards for his first career touchdown, extending the Kent State lead to 20-7. It was KSU’s third defensive TD and the second interception returned for a score.
The Cardinals responded to their offensive mistake with a nine-play, 71-yard drive. Wenning connected with wide receiver Otis Brown from 32-yards away for the score as the redshirt freshman caught the ball over the middle and raced to the end zone to close the margin to six points at 20-14.
Brown led the Cardinals with eight receptions for 88 yards and a score while Wenning, making his seventh start of the season, completed 15-of-32 passes for 200 yards, the touchdown to Brown and three interceptions.
The third big play of the quarter came on Ball State’s next possession when senior linebacker Cobrani Mixon stripped the ball from running back Eric Williams. Sophomore defensive end Jake Dooley recovered at the KSU 33.
The KSU defense, ranked number one in total defense (MAC) coming into the game, held the Ball State attack to just 50 yards rushing and 272 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers (three interceptions and a fumble). The only possible blemish on the defense was that it did not register a sack for just the second time this season. “We had some mistakes today, but we played hard. We showed endurance and toughness.” Wood said
Keith and the offense salted the game away after the fumble as they put together a 12-play, 62-yard drive as the third quarter became the fourth. The drive started with five consecutive runs by Flowers. Once inside the red zone, Keith ended the drive with a five-yard pass to Goode for the touchdown. A two-point conversion failed to make the score 23-14.
Kent State closed the scoring with a little bit of trickery after gaining the ball on an interception by junior cornerback Josh Pleasant, On the second play of the drive, Keith lateraled the ball to Kirkland who threw a pass that wide open redshirt freshman Tim Erjavec snared and ran into the end zone for his first career touchdown to make the final score 33-14. “It was a trick play we had been working on,” Kirkland said.
After their win at Bowling Green, Martin challenged his players to show consistency and get on a winning streak. They accomplished that by scoring 30 or more points in consecutive games for the first time since 2008. Their next challenge comes Saturday with possibly their biggest home game in many seasons.
GAME BALLS:
OFFENSE: ANDRE FLOWERS-KENT STATE. The senior from Ridgely, Tennessee led the Golden Flashes with 77 yards all coming in the second half when Jacquise Terry re-aggravated a shoulder injury sustained lasts week at Bowling Green. (47 of those yards came on a 62-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter).
DEFENSE: DORIAN WOOD-KENT STATE. The senior linebacker from Austell, Georgia led the defensive 11 with 10 tackles, along with his 61-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
SPECIAL TEAMS: HOWARD BOWENS-KENT STATE. The senior from Laverne, California had just two tackles, but they were what former NFL head coach and television analyst John Madden would call ‘de-cleaters’ He left the game after one of those hits with a concussion.
NOTES: The game was the 25th lifetime meeting between the two schools with Ball State holding a decisive 10-5 edge…The game was the 12th at Kent (all at Dix Stadium) with the Golden Flashes picking up just their third win in the series…The KSU defense still has not allowed a 100-yard rusher or a 300-yard passes this season…The 7-3 lead in the second quarter by Ball State was the third consecutive game in which it had a lead…KSU head coach Doug Martin is 2-1 lifetime against Ball State (1-0 vs current head coach Stan Parrish)…KSU retired the number nine jersey of Josh Cribbs at halftime. Cribbs was the quarterback of the Flashes from 2001-04 and has eight individual records. His number is the fourth number retired by the school (Jim Corrigal-79, Jack Lambert-99, and Eric Wilkerson-40 the others)
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