Football coach Kenni Burns said his team has “to focus on [them]selves” ahead of its match-up against Central Connecticut State University.
“We have to get better as a football team like we did last week,” he said. “We have to not focus on the result, but how we got to the result and find a way to get better. If we keep doing that, we’ll have great success this year at some point.”
Kent State will play the first home game of the “Kent GRIT” era Saturday following two road losses to start the season.
“You have to take care of home: That’s the bottom line,” Burns said. “You have to win home games – you have to win all of them. It is an advantage. Your fans are there, there is a sense of excitement that you get when you are at home, and we have to find a way to take care of home.”
Last season, KSU went 3-2 while playing at Dix Stadium, with the wins coming against Long Island University, Ohio University, and Akron.
CCSU is coming off a three-point loss last weekend to Stonehill. The team sits at 1-1 this season and is 0-1 in conference play.
KSU is 0-2 to start the season after two out-of-conference games.
“This week, we play a really good football team,” Burns said. “Whenever you play a team that is really aggressive and plays hard and has good players, you are always concerned about that, and you have to be able to neutralize that.”
CCSU will be coached by Adam Lechtenberg, who is in his first year as a head coach.
“If you watch them, they fly around,” Burns said. “It is a tough, gritty football team. And (Lechtenberg) is doing a great job with them. They’re a really good football team, and you can tell they’re figuring it out.”
The Blue Devils’ offensive attack will be led by junior quarterback C.J. Duell.
“He’s an athletic guy,” Burns said. “Our defensive staff says he’s a gamer; he finds ways to make plays, does a good job of keeping plays alive with his feet, he’s got a good arm, and he’s a guy we have to do a great job of suffocating in the pocket.”
Duell has thrown for 534 yards and three touchdowns this season while throwing zero interceptions on 35-53 passing (66%). Duell has also run 14 times this season for 30 yards and has lost two fumbles.
Sophomore Elijah Howard will be starting in the backfield for CCSU this week. Howard has run for 99 yards on 25 attempts this season. He has reached the end zone once and has lost one fumble.
Burns said that Howard is “a guy that can break tackles, has nice size, and is good in space.”
Duell’s best receiver this season is junior Isiah Williams, who has 156 yards and one touchdown on 13 receptions.
On the defensive side of the ball, Burns highlighted junior defensive end Ahmad Craig.
“They have a really good defensive end that transferred in from Duke,” he said. “He’s a guy that’s athletic and has played big-time football. He has great size and length and is a really good player.”
The other person mentioned on the CCSU defense was junior linebacker Harold Miles III.
“The guy that anchors their defense is their linebacker,” Burns said. “He’s a guy you see on the tape everywhere and is always around the ball. He has a good nose for the ball in the backfield and being a part of sacks.”
For KSU, Michael Alaimo will take the field for his third start as the Flashes’ quarterback.
Alaimo completed 11 of his 17 passes last weekend at Arkansas for 174 yards but did not score through the air.
He has thrown for 319 yards this season and has thrown an interception in each of his first two starts.
Burns will look to the running game this week with sophomore rusher Gavin Garcia.
This season, Garcia has 36 touches for 113 yards (3.1 yards/attempt) and has yet to score.
Burns explained that success in the rushing attack rests on finding the right unit on the offensive line.
“We are going to rotate some guys up front this game to see what works for us and see our best five and keep working towards it,” he said. “We’ll try to establish the run game. Gavin Garcia played a really good game, and he was breaking tackles and getting three to four yards per carry. We’ll do what we can to get our team better up front.”
Against Arkansas, Garcia rushed for 68 yards, but the team ended with only 26 yards on the ground.
Defensively, the Flashes improved from week one, where the team allowed 723 total yards and 56 points against the University of Central Florida.
“We were just more sound,” Burns said. “The guys did a good job of doing their job. That’s the first part of playing good defense. Guys were in position to make plays because they were where they were supposed to be. Our coaches did a great job of getting a good game plan to give Arkansas some difficulties.”
KSU allowed 308 yards of total offense, gave up 28 points, and sacked the quarterback twice.
Burns attributed the defense’s success to sophomore defensive lineman Stephen Daley, a team captain this season.
“The first game, he played solid, but the last game, he really came into his own,” he said. “He played hard, he played aggressive, he was around the ball a lot. It was a dominant performance. If he keeps getting better and keeps progressing, that young man should have a great year.”
Daley had six tackles in the loss to Arkansas.
CCSU will look to establish a pass game against Kent State this week.
The team is ranked ninth in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in passing yards per game with 276.5 yards.
The Blue Devils are also efficient running the ball, averaging 197.5 rushing yards per game, which is ranked 23rd in the FCS this season.
Last week, CCSU had 420 yards of total offense, with 299 coming through the air and 121 on the ground.
Kent State is tied for 127th nationally in defensive yards per game allowed. The team allows an average of 515.5 yards per game.
The team allows 235 passing yards per game (88th nationally) and 280.5 rushing yards per game (131st nationally – second-to-last in the nation) while forcing three turnovers this season.
Offensively, Kent State has not found their groove, either. KSU is ranked 114th in passing yards per game with 159.5 and is 122nd in the nation in rushing yards per game with 60. The team has only lost two turnovers this season, putting them at plus one in the turnover margin.
CCSU has allowed the sixth-fewest passing yards per game in the FCS this season (114) but has allowed 164.5 yards per game on the ground (tied-53rd in FCS). The team has turned the ball over four times this season.
Last week, CCSU allowed 399 total yards. 163 came through passing, while the team allowed 236 rushing yards.
Burns said the team has a clear focus ahead of the matchup.
“We’re focusing, on both sides of the ball, on how we get our best players in situations to make plays,” he said. “Defensively, is it blitzing more, or is it creating single matchups with how you line guys up front? Offensively, how do you get creative with your formations to create separation for guys?
“That’s the biggest thing we learned and that we’re going to address this week as we’re figuring out our football team.”
Graduate student cornerback D.J. Miller Jr. shared more about the defensive plan going into the game.
“Whenever the ball is thrown, we’re running to it,” Miller said. “You can never know what happens with the ball. We try to run to the ball every single play, and that’s what we emphasized last week, and we’ll continue to emphasize here on out.”
Kickoff will be at noon Saturday at Dix Stadium. Stadium parking and tailgating will be open at 9:00 a.m.
“The biggest thing the fans should be excited about is how we’re playing right now,” Burns said. “We’re playing with energy and excitement. If we take it one game at a time and play our best, you will see some growth.”
John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
