 Let’s have a show of hands please, and be very honest. Who had the Kent State Golden Flashes battling for first place in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division this late in the season?
If it was men’s or women’s basketball, you might have raised your hand, but in football?
Kent State (4-4, 3-2 MAC) has won three of its last four games to stay just one game behind the tri-leaders of the MAC East -- Ohio, Temple, and Miami. Now they face the Owls (7-2, 4-1 MAC) at Dix Stadium in arguably the program’s biggest home game in many seasons.
“We will be playing in a meaningful game with very high stakes.” KSU head coach Doug Martin said at his weekly press briefing. “The winner of this game will have a lot to say about who the MAC champion is.”
Last season, KSU used a three-game winning streak through the month of October to get into the race but lost their final three to squelch any hopes of a winning season and a possible bowl game. In 2006, they used a five-game skein through September and October to get into the race, but faded down the stretch, losing four of their final five games.
Last Saturday, the Golden Flashes defeated Ball State 33-14, pulling away in the second half as KSU defeated the Cardinals for the first time at home since 1985. The offense racked up a season best 452 yards 176 of which came on the ground also a season high. Senior Andre Flowers led the rushing attack with 77 yards on 16 carries all coming in the second half as he replaced starter Jacquise Terry who re-aggravated a shoulder injury suffered two weeks ago in the win at Bowling Green.
“It was really exciting to get back on the field, and help my teammates to a victory.” said Flowers who has been struggling with injuries himself this season. “There is no such thing as going through a season without hurting or without an injury. You just gotta fight through it.”
Sophomore quarterback Spencer Keith also had a good day, passing for 252 yards and a touchdown, while completing just 18-of-38 passes while finding seven different receivers. One key factor in the rise of the Golden Flashes is the play of Keith. Over the last four games, since throwing the interception late in the fourth quarter at Miami on October 2nd, he has completed 58 percent of his passes (77-of-132) for 806 yards with four touchdowns and just one interception (that coming against Toledo), while the offensive line last week did not allow a sack for the first time this season.
The defense again came up big, holding BSU to 272 total yards. It was the third time in the last four games that the Flashes have held the opposition to under 300 offensive yards. They ranks number one in the MAC and eighth overall in the entire Football Bowl Subdivision. The run defense held a solid BSU ground game to just 72 yards, and is still number one ,not only in the MAC but in the entire FBS.
When asked about that defense, Temple head coach Al Golden said “They will be the best defense we have faced all season. I am very impressed with their schemes, their energy, and their deployment on the field. You can see this defense building over the past couple of years.”
Temple has also been impressive, and comes to town on the strength of consecutive shutouts -- 42-0 two weeks ago at Buffalo and 30-0 last Saturday at home against Akron as the Owls pulled away in the second half after leading just 6-0 at intermission.
Temple has won three straight games since a 31-17 loss at Northern Illinois on October 16 and has emerged victorious in 16 of their last 19 regular season games, dating back to last season. The Owls have posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1978-79.
When the two teams met last year in South Philadelphia, KSU held a slim 10-9 lead at halftime. Temple then scored 38 second half points en route to a 47-13 victory as it amassed 275 yards on the ground, led by Matt Brown, who had 156 yards and two touchdowns. Keith passed for 256 yards and a second-quarter touchdown to wide receiver Kendrick Pressley before he was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury.
The Owls offense is based on the running game, and features possibly the best pair of running backs in the MAC -- sophomores Brown and Bernard Pierce. Pierce, who had a phenomenal freshman season a year ago, has struggled with injuries in 2010, but he still has gained 644 yards and leads the team with nine touchdowns. Brown leads TU with 682 yards and six scores.
Following the loss at NIU, Temple made a change at quarterback, installing Mike Gerardi in place of Stewart. Thusfar, Gerardi has nothing but wins to his credit after guiding thee Owls to wins over BGSU, UB, and UA. The latter two victories were one-sided wins.
While Kent State’s defense has drawn deserved attention this year, the Owls once again have a stalwart “D.” Temple leads the MAC in scoring defense (18.3) and passing defense (187.7) . It is second to KSU in total defense, allowing just 322.1 yards per game.
The leader of the defense is Muhammad Wilkerson. The 305-pound junior paces TU with seven sacks and eight and a half tackles for losses, both among the best in the MAC. Defensive back Jaiquan Jarrett leads in tackles with 64 (36 solo).
“From here on in, every game is a season.” Golden said. “It’s quite a match-up on Saturday -- a big game for everybody.”
Martin ended his opening remarks this week by saying this Kent State team, has done things that previous teams have not done. They beat Akron to regain possession of the Wagon Wheel for the first time since 2006. Their win at Bowling Green was just the fourth at Perry Stadium since 1966, and last Saturday’s win over Ball State was just the second in the last 16 games against the Cardinals.
With another big challenge square in front of them, Martin hopes to get the most from any potential home field advantage. “We need our students here,” he said. “We need the community of Kent to get behind these players. We are gonna play a team that is a lot bigger than we are. They are going to outman us on both sides of the ball.”
With MAC teams now in the home stretch, the KSU-Temple outcome is important for both squads.
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