Kent State football took a 3-0 lead on the team’s first drive, but gave up the game’s next 23 points in a 23-3 loss to Miami University (OH).

This is the third time in five games where the Flashes did not score a touchdown throughout the game.

“We’re disappointed in the loss, obviously,” coach Kenni Burns said. “They have a really good football team, and they’re similar to what we’re trying to be. They’re playing good defense, and they protect the ball on offense, and they don’t beat themselves.”

After the loss, KSU fell into a tie for last place in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division. 

The team has a 1-4 overall record this season and a 0-1 record against conference opponents.

Miami improved to 4-1 on the season with a 1-0 record in MAC play and remained in second place in the MAC East.

“We have a lot of things to clean up as a football team, and it starts with me being a better coach and making sure our coaches put our guys in a position to be successful,” Burns said. “We’ll learn from it and get better.”

Kent State started the scoring early with a 27-yard field goal by junior kicker Andrew Glass four minutes and 12 seconds into the game, making the score 3-0.

Glass has kicked at least one field goal in every game this season.

The Flashes would hold the lead for a little over three minutes and never regain it.

Miami evened the score on a field goal of its own, a 40-yarder from junior kicker Graham Nicholson, but the RedHawks took the lead with 20 seconds left in the first quarter on a 32-yard touchdown reception by redshirt junior wide receiver Cade McDonald, making the score 10-3.

It was McDonald’s second touchdown of the season, and the receiver would end with four catches and 62 yards in addition to the touchdown.

Miami would take a 13-3 lead into halftime following another 40-yard field goal from Nicholson.

The RedHawks were the only team to score in the second half.

The team’s points came on Nicholson’s third field goal of the game, a 24-yarder, and a one-yard rushing touchdown from redshirt sophomore running back Rashad Amos, giving Miami a 20-point lead.

Amos continued to be Miami’s best running back, rushing for 54 yards and 13 attempts with the touchdown.

Nicholson has made every field goal (9/9) and extra point (16/16) attempt this season.

No points were added in the final quarter, finalizing the 23-3 score.

Redshirt junior quarterback Mike Alaimo had a career-high in completions against the Miami defense. He went 18-30 for 170 passing yards but was sacked seven times.

“They do a good job stopping the run, but they give you some advantages in the passing game, and we took advantage of them the best we could,” Burns said. “Mike played solid – he didn’t turn the ball over, but we had a couple of deep balls that he had to hit. He’ll learn to play better – Mike’s a competitor; he kept competing all the way until the end of the game.”

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Chrishon McCray was Alaimo’s most efficient receiver. He had 10 catches for a career-high 105 yards and added an 11-yard run.

Sophomore Jameel Gardner, Jr. helped in the passing game as well, catching five balls for 56 yards.

“(McCray’s) our best player on offense, you can’t hide that at all,” Burns said. “Jameel Gardner has shown some progress, as well. We have to do more because they’re two dynamic players. They can be impact players in this league.”

Miami’s quarterback, redshirt junior Brett Gabbert, completed 11 of his 23 pass attempts for 216 yards and one touchdown.

Neither team ran the ball efficiently, with Miami rushing for 76 yards on 34 attempts and KSU averaging just over one yard per carry with 36 yards on 35 attempts.

“I’d like to see us run the ball better,” Burns said. “This team made it really hard to do that with how they play defense schematically, so we have to be better at finding creative ways to run the ball.”

The Flashes scored on the team’s first drive and did not score on the final 10. The team’s drives ended in Miami territory only three times.

Burns said that success on third down “comes down to pass protection.”

“We have to be better and have protection, and we did not do a good job of passing it off, so we have to do a better job with that,” he said. “If we’re going to throw the ball 30 times, our offensive line has to know the job that they’re going to do upfront to make sure we can get the ball rolling. They will – they’re a very young group that has to get more experience and keep playing.”

The Kent State defense allowed its second-lowest amount of points this season and 292 total yards, the second-lowest total allowed this season. 

Both stats were at the team’s lowest in the win against Central Connecticut State University.

“Elite defenses win championships,” Burns said. “Whenever they’ve struggled in the game, they’ve come back responding. We have a lot of talent on defense, and it’s just about being able to not give up the big plays. I love our defensive energy.”

Looking ahead

Kent State will look to get back on track after losing the last two contests against Ohio University.

OU is first in the MAC East with a 4-1 overall record and a 1-0 conference record.

KSU is 27-45-2 against the Bobcats all-time and has won the last two matchups, but only four of the last 10 have gone the Flashes’ way.

Kickoff will be at 3:30 p.m. in Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio, Oct. 7.

“I told the guys, ‘everything matters in a football game,’” Burns said. “Today, they made more plays, and they didn’t beat themselves up like we did. We have to learn from that and get better because next week, Ohio is a really good football team, but from a talent standpoint, we’ll be right there with them. Can we make sure that we don’t beat ourselves up again and give ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game?”

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].