Two thirds of the way through the season, Kent State is still winless. There have been moments where the Flashes looked as if they were improving, but they were quickly overshadowed by mistakes.
Kent State is the only winless team in the FBS sitting at 0-8 with an 0-4 record in the Mid-American-Conference.
Offensively, Kent sits at 133rd out of 134 teams in yards per game with 250.875. One positive is that the team has shot up to 119th since junior quarterback Tommy Ulatowski became the starter entering conference play. The rushing game, though it has improved slightly, is still in the bottom five at 132nd. The offense is 129th in points per game with 17.
Defensively, the Flashes give up the most yards per game with 541.5. They rank 129th in passing yards per game allowed and last in rushing yards per game allowed. Kent is also last in points allowed per game, giving up 46.625 per outing. The Kent State defense has only forced one turnover in four conference games.
After a historic 56-0 loss at Happy Valley to No. 3 Penn State, the Flashes entered conference play against Eastern Michigan. The offense came alive in Ulatowski’s first start, but with the game tied at 21-21 in the quarter, the rain started to fall. The Flashes then turned the ball over three times in five plays, allowing the Eagles to take a 38-21 lead.
Though the Flashes offense gained 422 yards in the game, the four turnovers were too much to overcome as Eastern Michigan cruised to a 52-33 victory.
After a bye week, the Flashes were again at home, this time taking on the Ball State Cardinals. As they have continuously done, the team came out flat, allowing Ball State to take a 27-7 lead in the second quarter.
The Flashes fought back, scoring 21 of the game’s next 24 points to cut the lead to 30-28. A successful onside kick was called back due to a questionable illegal blocking penalty, and the Cardinals were able to protect the lead, winning 37-35.
Each of the last two games, the team has gone backwards, losing by 21 to Bowling Green and by 31 to Western Michigan. Against Bowling Green, the Flashes offense, which had been the best in the MAC in the previous two games, came to a halt. The offense gained just 204 yards and scored six points. Ulatowski, who had thrown for over 700 yards in the two games prior, threw for just 78 yards.
Though the defense gave up 27 points, they still gave up 434 yards and are yet to give up less than 400 yards this season.
The game against Western Michigan started about as poorly as possible, with the Broncos scoring the game’s first 38 points. The game ended with a score of 52-21. The defense gave up 579 yards while the offense only gained 250. A rare positive was that the Flashes rushed for a season-high 136 yards.
In the last two games, Kent State has appeared completely lifeless on offense. Though the offense has looked awful, the defense has not given them any help. Outside of when Western Michigan kneeled out the final seconds of the first half, the defense has come up with four first-half stops, while the offense has scored a total of three times in the last two first halves.
In its last two games, the offense has gained 454 yards. The defense gave up nearly 350 in the first half against the Broncos.
The third-down percentage for the Flashes has improved, but not by much, rising from 16.66% after the team’s third game to 21.57%.
After being one of the least penalized teams in the country in its first four games, Kent State has committed 28 penalties in conference play for a total of 212 yards, an average of seven penalties for 53 yards per game. Another bright spot in the non-conference schedule was the fact that the offense committed only three turnovers. In MAC play, the offense has quadrupled their turnover rate, turning the ball over 12 times in the last four games.
The opposite is true for the defense. The defense forced four turnovers in non-conference play, and their production has been significantly cut down, forcing just one turnover in MAC play.
Looking at the final stretch of the season, the Flashes will take on the Ohio Bobcats on Wednesday, Nov. 9, then hit the road to take on Miami (OH) one week later.
They will return home for senior night six nights later in the rivalry matchup against Akron before closing out the season at Buffalo on Nov. 26.
With bowl eligibility long gone out the window, the Flashes can still find a positive in their season if they take down the Zips and win back the Wagon Wheel on senior night.