The Kent State football team took a trip down south to play No. 7 Tennessee (3-0, 0-0), and it was a historic night. For Kent State, the team was on the wrong side of it, as Tennessee set numerous school records.
The 71-0 trouncing by the Volunteers extends Kent State’s nation-worst losing streak to 12 games.
The Flashes now fall to 0-3 (0-0) and are joined only by Miami (0-2, 0-0) as the conference’s only winless teams.
“I think there was a mismatch in personnel to start,” coach Kenni Burns said. “Our coaches try to do the best they can to simplify it. “
The Flashes received the ball first, and Kent State picked up a total of two first downs in the first half on its way to gaining 23 first-half yards.
A bad snap on KSU’s sixth play from scrimmage sent the ball into the endzone and was recovered by Kent, resulting in a safety for the Vols.
Tennessee went fast, averaging just over 95 seconds per drive in the first half. All 8 of its first-half drives resulted in a touchdown.
The Flashes were able to slow down the Volunteers in the second half when Tennessee put its backups in and became more conservative with the play calling.
However, the Kent State defense still surrendered scores on two of Tennessee’s three second-half drives, though they were just field goals.
The Flashes’ offense had a little more success in the second half, picking up 89 yards on their three drives. Their best drive was eight plays and 42 yards, lasting four minutes and 41 seconds. It stalled out at the Tennessee 33 yard line, and Kent State attempted to get some points on the board, but Andrew Glass’ 51-yard field goal had the accuracy but did not quite have the distance.
“Everybody talks about the Tennessee offense which is really good,” Burns said. “But the biggest jump, and why they’re a national championship contender is how good their defense is.”
Wrong side of history
For Tennessee, its 37 first-quarter points are the most in any quarter in program history, the 65 first-half points are a program record for first-half scoring, and the 71 points for the game are also a program record.
Its 740 total yards are the most in team history, as well. The 65 first half points are the most by any FBS team in decades and 11 short of Houston’s 76 points in 1968.
Junior quarterback Devin Kargman did what he could and was able to complete nine of his 15 passes for 58 yards.
The team ran for just 54 yards on 32 carries, though they were docked 25 yards for the bad snap, the team ran for a 1.7 yards per carry average.
Tennessee, however, had its way running the football, picking up 456 yards on the ground on 55 attempts for an average of 8.3 yards per carry, nearly five times the average of the Flashes.
The Volunteers now average 360.33 rushing yards per game, which is a major reason for their 63.66 points per game.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava did not have to do too much for Tennessee, as he only threw 16 passes, completing ten of them for 173 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Dylan Sampson picked up 101 yards on 13 carries for Tennessee and scored four times on the ground, tying a program record.
“We didn’t knock the ball down when we had chances to, and that just means tackling the ball,” Burns said. “I think some of our guys in the moment went away from what they know and what they’ve been taught, and they have to watch that, and they have to learn from that.”
The Flashes went up against a top-ten team and did not turn the ball over one time.
There have been multiple games this year where there has been a running clock in the second half or a shortened fourth quarter. The Flashes were presented with that opportunity after halftime, but declined.
“That’s not who we are,” Burns said. “That’s not who we are as a football team, that’s not who we are as a culture. I talked to our captains about it, they said, ‘Absolutely not.’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ It’s just not who we are as a football program. No way.”
Looking ahead
The Flashes will try to regroup and hit the road again to one of the largest stadiums in the country.
KSU will take on the No. 8 Nittany Lions of Penn State (2-0, 0-0) Saturday in its final non-conference matchup.
“We have to get better and learn from this,” Burns said. “We have a really young football team, and they saw today how far away they are from where they need to be to compete at the highest level.”
Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
