The Kent State football team was tied with Eastern Michigan after two and a half quarters of play during Saturday’s Homecoming game. The score was 21-21 before EMU was able to blow the game wide open.
With the rain pouring down on Dix Stadium, the Kent State offense gifted Eastern Michigan multiple chances by fumbling the ball three times in five plays.
Eastern Michigan took advantage of the mishaps and scored 17 straight points to take an untouchable lead late in the game, and Eastern Michigan was able to travel back home winners in a 52-33 game.
“It came down to two things: turning the ball over and penalties,” coach Kenni Burns said. “We didn’t play disciplined enough today to win the football game, that’s the bottom line.”
Kent State had gone scoreless in two straight games but was able to put up 33 points in its conference opener. The defense, however, was unable to keep the Eastern Michigan (4-1, 1-0) offense in check.
The loss drops the Flashes to 0-5 (0-1) on the season and pushes the nation’s longest losing streak to 14. They have not beaten an FBS team since Nov. 26, 2022.
After quarterbacks Devin Kargman and JD Sherrod went down against Penn State with season-ending injuries, junior Tommy Ulatowski was named the starter.
Ulatowski set a career-high with 345 pass yards and matched a career-high in passing touchdowns with three to go along with a rushing touchdown. The 345 passing yards are the most by a Kent State quarterback since Collin Schlee Oct. 1, 2022.
Though Ulatowski had a career day, he committed two turnovers – an interception and a fumble.
“Tommy came out, and he played confident and in control. I think the one thing with Tommy is he’s got to protect the ball better,” Burns said. “I liked the way the offense kept coming back and responding no matter where the game was or what the score was. That’s the sign of an offense starting to mature.”
The offense played its best game this season statistically, gaining 422 yards and scoring 33 points. The 422 yards is the most Kent has gained against an FBS team since Oct. 22, 2022, while the 33 points are the most scored against an FBS team since Nov. 9, 2022.
The first quarter touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 stopped a 134-0 scoring run by Kent State’s opponents.
Though the Flashes’ third down percentage against the Eagles was about twice as much as their percentage on the year, they were still just 3-10.
The offense tied its season high with three third down conversions, and even though its 30% conversion rate against Eastern Michigan wasn’t high, it’s a big improvement from the second-best conversion rate this year (18.75%).
“It comes down to the situation.,” Burns said. “We made a conscious effort to really try to be better on first and second down to getting manageable third downs. This week, we did a better job of it, but we were still in third downs where it was too long.”
Turnovers, which have not been an issue for the Flashes this season, played a role in the loss to EMU. Entering the conference opener, the offense had turned the ball over three times all year, but against the Eagles, it committed four.
Redshirt sophomore receiver Chrishon McCray had a breakout game with five receptions for 188 yards and two touchdowns. His two touchdowns went for 65 and 68 yards.
“I challenge Chrishon every single day, every single hour of every day, and he’d be the first to tell you that,” Burns said. “I thought he came out and had one of his better games this year for sure.”
McCray has now overtaken graduate student receiver Luke Floriea for the most receiving yards on the team with 309 and most touchdowns on the team with four. Floriea, who had three receptions for 77 yards against the Eagles, still leads the team in receptions with 19.
The running game was still slow, despite two players averaging over four yards per carry. As a team, the Flashes averaged 2.26 yards per carry.
Freshman running back Ayden Harris picked up 63 yards on 14 carries for an average of 4.5 yards, while senior running back Ky Thomas racked up 35 yards on six carries, running for 5.83 yards per attempt.
Statistically, the defense improved after giving up 1,458 yards over the last two weeks but still gave up 486 yards and 52 points.
Of EMU’s 52 points, 24 of the points came off of turnovers set Eastern Michigan up inside Kent State’s 35 and a turnover on downs, which set the Eagles up at Kent’s 45-yard line, leading to another seven points.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Cole Snyder was very efficient for Eastern Michigan, completing 26 of 33 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown with zero interceptions, while the Eastern Michigan running game more than doubled up the running attack of Kent, averaging 5.46 yards per carry for a total of 273 yards
The Flashes defense has faced some injuries this season that have hurt its overall performance.
“We have to get healthy on defense,” Burns said. “That’s the biggest thing on defense. We are depleted on defense a little bit with our health.”
The team had only recorded 11 penalties all year but were called for 12 against Eastern Michigan this week.
“I always look at penalties as discipline,” Burns said. “You have got to be disciplined and you have to be able to play loose and aggressive but not play undisciplined.”
Kent State will take a bye week next week before playing at home again, this time against Ball State (1-3, 0-1) Oct. 12 (time TBA).
“We have to get better; we have to get back to work,” Burns said. “You saw some individual performances that were good, but until we get all 11 on O and D doing their job, it’s going to be tough to put a win together in this league.”
Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
