Kent State football extended its losing streak to three games in a dominating 42-17 loss to Ohio University Saturday.
KSU has given up 42 or more points three times this season – the team has not scored that many points since a 63-10 win against Long Island University on Sept. 17, 2022.
OU won its fifth straight game this season after starting 0-1.
“They played a great game, and they’re really well-coached,” coach Kenni Burns said. “I can see why they are a championship-caliber team; they do things the right way, and they don’t beat themselves. We have a lot to learn from them with how they play the game.”
The Flashes are in a tie for last place in the Mid-American Conference East with Akron after the loss. Both teams have a 1-5 overall record and an 0-2 in-conference record.
With the win, Ohio is tied for first place in the MAC East with Miami, who share a 5-1 overall and 2-0 conference record.
“We played a couple of good quarters, but they put a complete game together,” Burns said. “We have to learn from it and get better. Our team has to do a little bit of soul searching and find out who we want to become and then start working towards that.”
The game’s first quarter saw no score, but the Bobcats grabbed the first points of the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass from graduate student quarterback, Kurtis Rourke to junior wide receiver, Miles Cross.
KSU responded with a seven-play, 77-yard drive, which ended with a 42-yard touchdown catch from redshirt freshman wide receiver Chrishon McCray, tying the game at 7-7.
OU scored two more touchdowns in the final five minutes of the half.
The first was a 30-yard touchdown pass to graduate student wide receiver Sam Wiglusz, and the other came on a four-yard run from Rourke, his first rushing touchdown of the season.
At the end of the half, KSU had only rushed for one yard on 18 attempts and had 99 fewer yards than OU.
Ohio’s lead was cut in the second half by junior kicker Andrew Glass’ eighth field goal of the season, a 37-yarder, making the score 21-10.
Glass extended his streak to six consecutive games with a field goal this season.
OU would put the game out of reach by scoring the game’s next 21 points.
Cross caught his second touchdown of the day, a 22-yarder, and redshirt sophomore running back, Sieh Bangura had a couple of three-yard touchdown runs to put the Bobcats up 42-10.
Bangura scored his first two rushing touchdowns, and Cross hauled in his third and fourth receiving touchdowns of the season.
At the start of the fourth quarter, redshirt junior quarterback Mike Alaimo was replaced by Tommy Ulatowski.
The sophomore played for three drives and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to McCray, his second score of the game, which ended the scoring at 42-17.
Burns clarified that Alaimo “did nothing wrong” to deserve the benching in favor of Ulatowski.
“I wanted to give Tommy a shot and see if we could get a spark on offense,” he said. “I thought Tommy came in and did a good job – he got the chains moving, and we will go back and reevaluate it.”
Alaimo ended the game on 9-13, passing for 107 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
The quarterback has not thrown for 200 yards or more yet this season.
The interception was his fourth of the season and was the team’s first turnover since an interception in the first quarter of the Central Connecticut matchup.
Ulatowski went 2-7 for 12 yards and one touchdown while also running four times for 60 yards in limited playing time.
Redshirt senior Jaylen Thomas got the start at running back over sophomore Gavin Garcia.
“Gavin was battling a couple of knicks and bruises, so we thought to give Jaylen a shot,” Burns said. “I thought he did a good job – I know the stats don’t say that, but I thought he did a good job, and there is definitely something to build off of there.”
Thomas ran the ball 24 times for 67 yards, a 2.8 yards/carry average.
McCray followed up his career game against Miami with another efficient outing. He caught six balls for 93 yards and two touchdowns – his first two scores of the season.
The receiver caught six of the 11 team completions and accounted for 93 of the total 119 receiving yards.
“We have to get another guy to step up,” Burns said. “I love Chrishon, and he’s doing a great job, but we have to have another answer. In the second half, they started to do some things to take him out of it, and we have to either be able to run the ball, which we did an okay job with, or we have to be able to get another receiver involved. He keeps progressing, and he has a great future, and I think he’s starting to find his voice within the offense, so I am really excited about his growth.”
KSU had four tackles for loss compared to OU’s 10. Kent State also gave up six sacks while recording zero themselves.
“They have a really good o-line, and they did a good job,” Burns said. “They knew (the D-line) was our strength, and they took it out of us. Our D-line got neutralized today, and they have to go back and find out why and find a way to play harder and better. That is a very determined group, so I know they will take pride in their work and come back next week and play better.”
Burns noted that drive length impacted the defense and the scoring ability of the Bobcats.
“We did a good job with field goals, but we have to do a way better job with our punts,” he said. “The game took a big swing when we punted the ball. It wasn’t good enough today, and we have to do better – they just have to be way more consistent than we were today.”
Four of the six OU touchdown drives were 60 yards or less.
KSU’s 17 points are its second-highest total this season, the most coming from its win against CCSU.
Looking ahead
The Flashes will stay on the road for the next game, traveling to Eastern Michigan.
The Eagles have a 3-3 overall record and a 1-1 record against MAC competition, putting them in a tie for second place in the MAC West with Central Michigan. Toledo leads the division with a 5-1 overall and a 2-0 conference record.
Kent State is 19-15 all-time against EMU, with the Eagles winning the most recent matchup last season.
KSU has won six of the last eight games between the two teams.
Kickoff will be at noon in Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Oct. 14.
“We have to get back to work. Everybody takes their shots right now at our football team because we’re getting better, and eventually, we’re going to put this team together and have a really good football team. I told our team to keep their heads up and keep grinding.”
John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
