Both Kent State and Ball State will be two hungry, motivated football teams to get a victory when they meet Saturday at Dix Stadium.
For Kent State, simply put they need a win, period. They are 0-5 this season and 1-16 in the last two years, without a win over a FBS team. It’s hard to get buy in without results.
Two weeks ago against Eastern Michigan, turnovers and an inability to get key stops aided in a 52-33 setback on homecoming against Eastern Michigan.
It wasn’t without bright spots, as a Golden Flash offense came to life, sparked by QB Tommy Ulatowski. The Chicago native making his first start of the year, threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns, and another score on the ground. It’s the most passing yards by a KSU signal caller in two years.
Receiver Chrishon McCray also flashed his all-conference ability with five catches for 188 yards and two touchdowns. The offensive showed some imagination with it also featuring McCray in the perimeter run game, a wildcat package and more success in the RPO pass game. Kent State Head Coach Kenni Burns is eager to see the improvements his team may have made in the bye week.
“Our playmakers came out and played pretty well,” Burns said Monday. “You look at Chrishon McCray, you look at Luke. Those guys went out there and really were dominant in that football game. We didn’t get enough stops obviously, and we didn’t run the ball well enough to really win the game, turned the ball over. But when you look at it there’s a lot of encouraging things with guys playing fast, playing loose, now just bringing the discipline side of it as well and making sure we play loose and fast, but play within the parameters of what we’re asking them to do from a schematical teaching standpoint, and then how you value the football.”
Ball State comes in with two gut wrenching losses in league play, losing by three to both Central and Western Michigan. Ball State alum Mike Neu, in his ninth year, is led by redshirt freshman QB Kadin Semonza, tight end Tanner Koziol and FCS transfer running back Braedon Sloan.
Neu knows conference play is a different animal with a level playing field, and his team by no means can overlook a hopefully improving Golden Flashes team.
“In this conference, I think year after year, week after week, anybody can beat anybody,” Neu said. “Obviously, we saw that in college football this past weekend. So, it’s really a nameless, faceless opponent. I know that sounds silly, but it really is, because you’ve got to make sure that you’re putting your football team in a position to do what they do best.”
“They’ve been through their end. They lost two quarterbacks in the same game against Penn State. Tommy Ulatowski came back, had a career game against Eastern Michigan for 350 yards or right around there. Chrishon McCray had a huge day that game — very explosive player. So, they’ve got some playmakers. And it’s one of those things that — no different than any other team — injuries are part of it.”
If Kent State can continue their upward trend on offense with the ability to take advantage of their matchups, protect the football, and get key stops on defense along with solid special teams play, they’ll be right there to get a victory. You know, playing complimentary football, right? Something that is still eluding the team.
Kent State is severely banged up, with freshman playing all over the place. That should mean a very eager, hungry team looking to prove themselves.
“I was encouraged by a lot of things and the thing I love about our football team is it’s a young hungry football team so they took what we gave them after the game and they ran with it and like every game here on out, we should have a shot to go in and compete and if we clean up the things that were struggling with, we can get a win for sure,” Burns said.
Kickoff is set for noon and will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Anthony Lima and Ryan Cavanaugh on the call and is also on the Kent State radio network with Rob Polinsky, Tom Evans and Dane Richardson.
