Football hopes for eighth home win in a row – KentWired

After an away loss to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, the Kent State football team returns to Dix Stadium for its first home game – the team has not lost its first home game since the 2016 season.

KSU (0-1, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) lost to Pitt (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 55-24 on Saturday. The offense started slow and the defense was unable to keep the team in the game, but the team came back to some life midway through the game.

“When you look at the game, there are probably eight or nine plays where you think, ‘That might have cost us the game,’ and those are eight or nine plays that we need to fix,” coach Kenni Burns said. “But eight minutes into the third quarter, it was a one-possession game, and if we can get a stop on defense, we’re back in the game. There were plays like that all over the place.”

Although most of the statistics favored Pitt (such as total yards, with the Panthers outgaining the Flashes 567 to 212, and the home team’s 31 first downs compared to Kent State’s 15), there were times when the Flashes were able to keep up with Pittsburgh.

Kent’s defense allowed 14 points in the third quarter, but the offense allowed 10. The Flashes’ offense outgained the Panthers’ offense, gaining 157 to 144 yards in the third quarter.

Kent State hosts Saint Francis for their first home game on Saturday. They enter the matchup with the Red Flash 0-1, with everything in the conference still ahead of them. Every MAC team has played a non-conference opponent, but the Flashes are still at the bottom of the conference standings with their first week loss.

The Red Flash are 0-1, but their loss to Dayton was a non-conference loss, so they still have everything to play for in the Northeast Conference.

quarterback

On offense, redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Kargman, who rushed for just 42 yards and an interception in the first half, will look to continue his hot streak from the second half, when he threw for 139 yards and a touchdown.

In the second half, Kargman appeared much more precise and confident in the pocket and generally made more accurate passes. After a game score of 4-12, Kargman finished the game with 10-16 passes.

On the other side of the Red Flash is second-year quarterback Nick Whitfield Jr., who completed 15 of 26 passes for 121 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in a loss to Dayton last week.

Run back

In the backfield, redshirt senior running back Ky Thomas led the way, although it was not a great day. Thomas managed just 40 yards on 18 attempts. As a team, the Flashes rushed for 31 yards on 38 attempts, or just 0.8 yards per run.

“I thought Ky played pretty well, he played solid, he ran hard, but we need to give him more opportunities to play the ball,” Burns said. “Our O-line needs to play better. They didn’t find their rhythm until later in the game. They need to come out a lot quicker and not play so timid in the early part of the game.”

Facing Ky Thomas and Kent State’s offensive line is Saint Francis’ defensive front, which held up against Dayton’s running attack and allowed just 47 yards on 44 attempts.

Recipient

The Flashes’ best pass receiver was wide receiver Luke Floriea, who caught a personal record of 104 yards and a touchdown on six passes.

Crishon McCray, a sophomore and redshirt wide receiver, was selected to the All-MAC first team in the preseason and had to catch only four balls for 49 yards.

defense

One problem area of ​​the defense that Burns pointed out was the inability to get Pittsburgh off the field on third downs. “They made nine of 15 attempts, which is unacceptable,” he said.

The defense allowed 55 points, but Burns had high praise for his defensive ends.

“(Redshirt junior defensive end Antoine) Campbell is an extremely talented kid, I’m glad we have him, we still have a couple years left on his clock,” he said. “He can have a big impact on a game. You can see him on the other side of (Matt Harmon) and Stephen Daley. Those three are as good as any other ends in the league.”

Burns pointed out after the game against Pitt that there is room for improvement on the interior of the defensive line.

“We need to play better inside. Oliver Billotte played solid, but he can play a lot better than he did, and Kaden Beatty did a really good job, too.”

Beatty recorded two total tackles in Week 1, while Billotte had just one total tackle.

Burns further acknowledged that the numbers suggest that defense is a big problem, but he is “not worried about defense at all… we just have to play.”

The Flashes will face the Red Flash on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Dix Stadium.

“I told our staff, ‘We have a snapshot of our roster. We know exactly what our roster looks like now and what it can do,'” Burns said. “I expect big jumps in the next week.”

Demetri Manousos is a reporter. You can reach him at (email protected).