Kent State preview

[MarkL]

There is no fanbase in the MAC and perhaps nationwide I feel worse for than Kent State. Kent has always been a futile program, and then out of nowhere in 2012 they were a first down in the MAC championship away from going to the Orange Bowl. It was a purely magical season. Three years later, it feels like ancient history.

Kent State
This is a MAC East game so it is a must-win game. Honestly Kent is not a strong east team that should not by the looks give us real trouble. Still, their defense and special teams brings us challenges we must overcome.

TL;DR version
Kent's offense is just not good. Their defense is great. And we torched a great defense last week. I believe we can pull away in this one.

The Series
- We all-time dominate Kent State
- We are on a two game winning streak over Kent State teams in the post-Darrell Hazell era
- Previously Kent had won 3 straight, including 2012's classic MAC East defacto title game at the Doyt

Offense
- Quite simply, the strength of Kent State is not their offense. So here come some rather un-noteworthy stats ...
- The starting QB will be freshman George Bollas. He replaces Collin Reardon, who was the starter.
... - Last week was Bollas' first start and he had an efficient day, going 20/25 for 135 with 1 TD and 1 INT. He also ran around for almost 80 yards including a nifty 25 yard rush.
... - He's a good sized kid at 6-3 208.
... - Obviously when you have a first time QB, the defense has little to work from, which could certainly help explain his efficiency against UMass. UMass prepared for a QB they had no film on.
... - It is hard to say much about Bollas. He had an impressive first start, but a) UMass had no film to study and b) UMass gave up school record yards to us the week prior.
- Kent divides the carries up a lot. So on the one side, you have a lot of backs to prepare for, but on the other side, none of the backs are putting up great stats.
... - The leading rusher is a guy we're familiar with. Trayion Durham had a great 2012 season which was aided by Dri Archer being such an explosive threat.
... - Durham is a big, powerful guy (6-1 248). He has 301 on 88 carries and only 2 TDs. He's a workhorse but certainly is not an explosive runner.
... - Freshman Raekwon James is more of a speedy back. He's a small guy at 5-9 187. His average isn't all that great but he has a 50 yarder on the season.
... - The third leading rusher is the aforementioned George Bollas. And that production is almost entirely in two games.
... - Junior NIck Holley and freshman Myles Washington both have 30+ carries and 100+ yards.
... - I believe Kent wants to establish the run. The problem is their run game isn't very good.
- Kent's passing game has only accounted for a hair over 1000 yards for the season. So when the QBs aren't getting the job done, it's hard to draw much about the receivers.
... - The leading receiver in terms of both receptions (18) and yards (220) is that freshman running back Raekwon James. When a RB is leading the receivers, there's not much to say about the remaining receivers.
...... - He has a couple 40 yard receptions on the season. He's good after the catch.
... - The leading WR is sophomore Kris White - 13 for 167. He's a decent sized guy at 6-1 210. No TDs.
... - The leading TD receiver is junior Ernest Calhoun. 11 receptions for 141, two of which went for TDs. He's a smaller, quicker guy at 5-6 155.
... - This is the least scary receiving corps we've seen all year long. And the least scary receiving corps we'll see until next year.
- The offensive line is small compared to what we've seen. Only two of the five are 300 pounds.
- I could go on with stats for a while and further make you less impressed with Kent's offense. Here's what to know ...
... - The passing game hasn't done anything all season but has a new QB.
... - The offense is supposed to revolve around the run but the run isn't working very well.
... - Maybe the receivers are OK and the QBs can't get the ball to them, or maybe the receivers are a big part of the passing woes.
- If our defense plays anything like we saw last week, we're fine. Perhaps more than fine.

Defense
- The strength of Kent is not the offense. The defense is good.
- You know how we get all the hype for returning all our starters on offense from last year? Kent did the same on the defensive side of the ball.
- Kent allows an average of 24.7 points and 291 yards per game.
... - Take away the season-opening blowout against Illinois and they allow 20.2 ppg. Very impressive.
- Junior safety Nate Holley, like last year, is all over the field. He leads with 40 solo tackles.
... - Senior linebacker Matt Dellinger leads the LB corps with 20 solo tackles and 5 TFL including 2 sacks.
... - Junior DT Terence Waugh leads the DL with 14 solo tackles, 9.5 TFL (leads team), and 7.5 sacks (leads team).
...... - Waugh is having a Chris Jones-like season for a DT.
- This defensive front seven causes all kinds of problems. They are the strength of the team.
... - I said almost the exact same thing about Akron last week. And all we did was score on almost every drive.
- Sophomore corner Demetrius Monday has 5 interceptions! 2 against Minnesota and 2 against MU.
... - The team has a total of 11 interceptions on the season, which is quite impressive.
- This is a great defense.
... - However they were lit up by UT and Illinois. UT scored on seemingly every drive.
... - But Kent bounced back and held UMass to around 250 yards of total offense, only 10 points and a second half shutout.
- This is a great defense but we played a great defense last week and toasted them. I would expect more of the same this week.
... - You may be a bit worried about how UMass could not score on Kent. That was largely because UMass relies so much on the pass. We are a balanced offense.
... - For what it is worth, UMass ran for over 80 on Kent ... and only 30 on us.
- Kent is a great defense but they get lit up by good offenses. We are the best offense they've seen all year. I could see Kent's defensive stats taking a ding after this week.

Special Teams
- Kent's offense is bad. Which is why I believe their best offensive player is their punter, senior Anthony Melchiori.
... - He averages 41 a boot, which is less than Joseph Davidson.
... - In Kent's win last week against UMass, Melchiori consistently pinned UMass deep. UMass started drives after punts on the 19, the 20, the 15, the 9, the 2 (UMass went 3 & out), and the 1 (UMass gave up a safety)
...... - Talk about a weapon!
- The placekicker is Shane Hynes. He is reliable, hitting 6 / 8 on the season.
... - It might be fun if senior April Goss gets a shot at a PAT or FG. She became the first female MAC player to ever play when she hit a PAT at Minnesota. I would love to see her get a chance to score for Kent.
- Nothing to say about punt and kick returns.

Kent State's season so far
- Kent State is 3-4 (2-1)

- Kent was blown out by Illinois and then blew out Deleware State.
- Kent was impressive against Minnesota on defense, holding the Gophers to under 300. This was a winnable game but Kent could not move offensively, failing to hit 150 offensive yards.
- Kent played very well against Marshall but could not hold on in OT. It was the best running performance of the season, but when you go into 2 OT the offensive stats are naturally inflated.
- Kent beat MU even though MU came up with nearly 400 yards of offense. Kent came up with four interceptions and three sacks.
- Kent was blown out by UT. The offense was ineffective so Bollas replaced Reardon at QB. It was the defense's worst day as they gave up over 500 total yards.
- Kent bounced back and played good old fashioned defense and field position to shut down UMass. UMass was in bad field position all day. Kent's offense behind a new QB was efficient enough to get the win.

Which all leads me to ....
Bowling Green at Kent State
- We are 10 point favorites right now.
- There is a 60% chance of rain and heavy winds. That could throw off our passing game but the running game has come up big this season when called upon.
- Kent State and UMass are the weakest two teams up to this point.
- I'll be disappointed if our defense has a setback game after a great performance last week. Kent's offense is feeble.
- Our defense may have problems getting going but I expect we'll hit a rhythm and score with ease as the game goes on.
... - Kent's defense has been great against most teams but balanced offenses light them up. Like UT and Illinois.
... - I'd love to see us light up Kent's defense worse than anyone else this season.
- Kent's punter can pin us deep, but field position hasn't bothered us too much this year.
... - If Kent gives us good field position like Akron did last week, they have no chance.
- Kent's strategy will probably be ...
... - Move enough on offense to score on occasion or pin us deep with a punt
... - Create disruption with the front seven to stuff the run and knock off the timing of the pass offense
... - Come up with some turnovers
- But I don't see Kent being able to hang with us. I believe we will score and pull away.
- I wish I could say more but I just can't say much about Kent. So I apologize if this is a weak preview.
- I expect a win. And maybe another blowout.
... - If Kent's defense comes up big it may be a close game but I don't think so. Our offense is working too well right now.
- What I want out of this game ...
... - A 4-0 MAC record!
... - One win away from three straight east sweeps! Has that ever happened before? Marshall maybe ...
... - Do worse damage against Kent offensively than UT did
... - More defensive progress
... - No injuries. None for either team

[Falconfreak90]

Great stuff, as always, Mark. I, too, feel BG should be able to pull away and win this one comfortably. Our D should have another good game against a very weak offense. Yes, the Kent D is solid...but so is Akron. I see us putting up 45+ again. They simply have not seen this type of explosiveness all year. Finally, we travel very well to Kent and I expect 2-3K BG fans in the stands...at least.

GO FALCONS!!!!

[TG1996]

Historical note:

While the 151-0 win over Findlay will always skew the "most points" records, at fairly quick glance, it looks like scoring more than 50 points vs. Kent State will set a new BG record for "points scored in 3 consecutive games." (BG followed the 151-0 game with a shutout loss, then a 20-7 win over UT in 1921.)

Less attainable, BG is 112 points away from 20,000 points all time. Maybe next week.

[jpfalcon09]

Phil Steele posted on Twitter this morning that Kent is ranked first on defense in yards allowed per play. I have a feeling that will change on Saturday.

[Falcon137]

This game may play out exactly like the Akron game. Good MAC defense....gets down early, young QB known for his feet more than his arm has to throw the ball, can't get anything going....BG offense buries them.

Babers called the dogs off in the 4th quarter and BG still put a 59 spot on an Akron defense that was supposed to be the best in the conference.

[Falconfreak90]

This game may play out exactly like the Akron game. Good MAC defense....gets down early, young QB known for his feet more than his arm has to throw the ball, can't get anything going....BG offense buries them.

Babers called the dogs off in the 4th quarter and BG still put a 59 spot on an Akron defense that was supposed to be the best in the conference.

That's how I see it. The games are played on the field so anything can happen but if we are as focused as we were last week, I don't see how Kent can keep up. I think our D is coming of age in Coach Ward's system and this could be another BiG confidence booster. We could have scored 75 on the ZIps if we wanted, on the MAC's 2nd ranked D going into the game. Even after that game, Akron is still 3rd overall in D.

I simply love this offense and the precision in which it imposes its will. Add in an improving D unit and man this could be a freakin juggernaut.

GO BG

[kdog27]

Thanks as always ML