This Saturday Toledo will host Bowling Green in a rivalry, MAC football game. Both teams are 2-1 in the league, and both have legitimate title hopes.
A sold-out crowd at the Glass Bowl awaits, with a great day of weather in the works. The tailgate lots will be full, and the action in the stadium will be exciting.
Similar to how I’m sure a lot of fans around the league are jealous when they watch Kent State vs. Akron in men’s basketball on national television, this Kent State fan can’t help but be a little jealous of Saturday.
Regardless of the day in age that we are in with transfer portal transactions ravaging group of five rosters, NIL resources impacting all that goes on, that college football feel can still exist. Those fans, for a few hours have a chance to forget about all of that, and life in general and enjoy some quality football, while proudly wearing their school colors.
It’s all you could want, and ask for in being a fan of a MAC school these days. While the gap between Division I football continues to widen, we in the MAC have (for now) our rivalries, our moments and our days to shine.
Going to a MAC school and then claiming Ohio State, or Michigan, or whoever as your school is definitely a pet peeve of mine. I get it, but I don’t. How many people in the Glass Bowl will be thinking about someone else Saturday? The product on the field is enough to capture their attention.
Which brings me to Kent State. We as fans, long for those days. Big games, big crowds and big atmospheres. A college atmosphere with a good product on the field. Something you can be proud of. You can wear your colors proudly and not have someone make a snide comment to you about your team’s football misery (That may have happened to me recently).
The Golden Flashes head to Western Michigan this weekend to battle the Broncos. At 3-0, WMU is in first place by themselves. They are an 18.5 point favorite, which seems very kind.
Kent State Head Coach Kenni Burns goes back to the place where he teammed up with mentor P.J. Fleck and did some special things, helping take the Broncos from 1-11, 8-5, 8-5 to 13-1 and a Cotton Bowl appearance. From there, Fleck and Burns got promoted to Minnesota.
Burns said this week he is doing the same things they did at Western. Stick to the process, stick to the plan. Burns even displays ‘RTB’ on the sleeve of his gear at Kent as an ode to Fleck’s Row The Boat motto.
Fans got a taste of being relevant in the MAC and nationally with the FlashFAST era. The crowds responded, winning was done. Those teams and those atmospheres were fun.
The fans Saturday will be having a great time watching the Rockets and Falcons do battle on the gridiron. A big time MAC football game in a great atmosphere.
A MAC fan’s dream. I look forward to the return of Kent State football someday, playing a big game in a big atmosphere.