The Kent State football team dropped its first conference game Sept. 29 against Eastern Michigan (4-1, 1-0) but played one of their statistically best games so far this season.

Despite their losing streak pausing at 14 games due to a bye week, the Flashes still remain at the bottom of the CBS Sports’ College Football rankings. 

Coach Kenni Burns explained that during the bye week, the coaches took time to do what he called a “self scout.”

“We looked at everything from what we’re calling, when we’re calling it, how many practice reps we’re running against the looks that we see,” Burns said. “Make sure that we’re giving them the looks they’re actually seeing in games and finding every way to make this team better. I thought the coaches and the players embraced it.”

Saturday, Kent State will play the Ball State Cardinals (1-4, 0-2) noon in Dix Stadium. The Flashes will enter the matchup 0-5 (0-1) in a five-way tie for last in the conference.

“Their record doesn’t give them enough credit,” Burns said. “I think they’re a talented football team; they have a lot of good players and coaches who are just trying to figure out how to finish a game and win it.” 

The Cardinals are currently seven-point favorites over the Flashes. The Cardinals’ lone win came over FCS’s Missouri State (3-2, 1-0), and their two non-conference losses came against No. 6 Miami (6-0, 2-0) and James Madison (4-1, 0-1).

Ball State has been outscored by a total of just six points between its two conference losses to Central Michigan (3-2, 1-0) and Western Michigan (2-3, 1-0).

Quarterback

In his first start this season, junior quarterback Tommy Ulatowski went 15-of-28 passing for a career-high 345 yards along with three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown.

Prior to the game against Eastern Michigan, Ulatowki was just one-for-seven with nine yards and one touchdown. 

He threw for more yards than any Kent State quarterback had since 2022, but Ulatowski struggled in the turnover department, throwing an interception, as well as fumbling once.

Redshirt freshman Kadin Semonza has been the starter through five games for the Cardinals, throwing for 1,133 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Against conference opponents, Semonza is 51-for-74 with 592 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.

“He (Ball State coach Mike Neu) doesn’t put him in situations to really take the shot down the field – there are a lot of high percentage passes where the ball is in and out of his hands,” Burns said. “I think they do a really good job of moving their pieces around to put them in advantageous situations on offense.

Running back

Had it not been for a bad snap that went down in the stat book as -24 rushing yards, Kent State would have had its best game statistically in terms of rushing yards gained against Eastern Michigan.

Senior running back Ky Thomas averaged 5.83 yards per carry against the Eagles while freshman running back Ayden Harris averaged 4.5 yards per carry, season highs for both backs.

The only running back on Ball State that has more than 50 yards on the season is senior Braeden Sloan, who has racked up 347 yards on 77 carries. Sloan has scored twice on the ground this season.

Sloan ranks fourth in the Mid-American Conference in rushing yards and 15th in yards per carry among players with at least 15 carries.

Receivers

Redshirt sophomore receiver Chrishon McCray had a career-high 188 yards on five receptions against Eastern Michigan. McCray also tied his career high with two touchdowns. 

He leads the team in receiving yards with 309 on 17 receptions, as well as touchdowns receptions with four. Only two players in the MAC have more receiving touchdowns than McCray.

So far, graduate student receiver Luke Floriea has the edge over McCray in receptions with 19 and is close on McCray’s tail with 291 yards and three touchdowns. Floriea is tied for fifth in the conference in receiving touchdowns. Only Toledo has a receiving duo that has combined for more touchdown receptions than McCray and Floriea.

Ball State has five pass-catchers with at least 100 yards, but the top two are not wide receivers. The leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns for the Cardinals is junior tight end Tanner Koziol. He has 38 catches for 391 yards and three touchdowns.

“They have a really talented tight end. Their tight end is one of the best in the league, if not the best in the league. You have to know where he’s at,” Burns said. “They do a great job of hiding him and putting him in positions where he moves around everywhere so you can never really get a good grasp of where he’s at. He can play receiver, he can play tight end, he goes in motion, he goes a lot of places and it really forces you to keep your eyes in really good spots. We’ve struggled a bit up to this point covering tight ends so we have to do a way better job and we addressed that in the bye week.”

Koziol’s 38 receptions put him second in the MAC, and his 391 yards lands him at third among all pass-catchers.

Sloan is the second-leading receiver for Ball State with 17 receptions out of the backfield for 201 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Cam Pickett leads the BSU wide receivers with 23 receptions for 185 yards and a touchdown.

Junior wide receiver Qian Magwood has also been impactful with 145 yards on 14 receptions and a pair of touchdowns, as has senior Malcolm Gillie, who also has caught two touchdowns on 10 receptions for 119 yards.

Defense

Against Eastern Michigan, the Flashes defense struggled, but not as much as it did in the prior two weeks, giving up over a combined 1,400 yards. The 486 yards and 52 points given up against the Eagles did not do enough to lift them from last place in the conference in points and yards allowed per game. 

Within the conference, it is slightly better. Ten MAC teams have played one conference game while the other two have played two. When only factoring in conference games, Kent State ranks last in the MAC with 52 points per game given up. The 486 yards have them at 11th. 

The only team behind them in yards per game allowed is Ball State, who has allowed an average of 494 yards through their two conference games. Ball State is 10th in the MAC, allowing an average of 41 points per game against MAC teams.

“This is still a really, really hungry football team that’s getting better week by week,” Burns said. “We’re still a very young football team. We embrace that. We don’t run away from that, and I think we are getting better.”

Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].