After a bye week, the Kent State football team was unable to get into the win column, falling to the Ball State Cardinals (2-4, 1-1) by a score of 37-35. Kent State now has a losing streak of 15 and a record of 0-6 (0-2) on the season, but the tight score against the Cardinals was enough to bump the Flashes up one spot in the CBS Sports’ College Football rankings.
“I’m disappointed in the loss. We fell short of coming back and trying to close that game,” coach Kenni Burns said. “We have to keep growing and play better, learn from each game that we play. We can see we’re getting closer and closer, but we have to put it all together. I think that’s part of it. We have to put it together and figure out how to close a game.”
As they have done in every game this season, the Flashes started slow and fell into a deficit in the first quarter. Against Ball State, the team found themselves down 10-0 by the start of the second quarter. Burns took responsibility for the early-game struggles.
“We have to make sure they’re ready to play when they step on the field. We’ve had slow starts all year long, and that’s on me,” Burns said.
On Saturday at 3:30 p.m., the Flashes will play their first road conference game when they face off against the Bowling Green Falcons (2-4, 1-1). The Falcons’ two wins came against FCS Fordham (0-7, 0-2) and Akron (1-6, 0-3).
Bowling Green’s lone conference loss came last week against Northern Illinois (4-2, 1-1). The Falcons and Flashes have a common opponent in Penn State (6-0, 3-0). Both teams lost, Bowling Green by a score of 34-27 and Kent State by a score of 56-0.
The road trip to Bowling Green will be the first road game in Mid-American Conference play for Kent.
Quarterback
Against the Cardinals, junior quarterback Tommy Ulatowski outdid his career highs that he had set just one game before when he threw for 394 yards and four touchdowns.
Ulatowski has the most passing yards in the last two weeks in the MAC along with the highest quarterback rating in the conference among quarterbacks with at least 30 attempts.
His 394 yards are the third-most by a Kent State quarterback since 1997 and the sixth-most in program history. Ulatowski has eight touchdowns and two interceptions this season.
“Your team is showing you what they can do, and we obviously can throw the ball around, but also, we’re taking what the defense is giving us. There’s more intentionality to stop the run since we’ve been in league play, and it’s created some one-on-one matchups for Chrishon to make explosive plays,” Burns said.
Bowling Green will have an upper hand in quarterback experience, as the number of schools sixth year quarterback Connor Bazelak has played at in his career is more than the amount of starts Ulatowski has in 2024.
Bazelak has thrown for over 10,000 passing yards during his time at Missouri, Indiana, and now Bowling Green. This season, Bazelak has thrown for 1,331 yards, which is fourth in the MAC. He has a completion percentage of 67.23% and has thrown six touchdowns and four interceptions.
So far, he has the highest quarterback rating of his career.
Running back
The running game for the Flashes was again not the main focus. The team averaged just 2.2 yards on 30 carries for a total of 67 yards. Those 67 yards brought the team average up from 57.6 to 59.16, moving the Flashes ahead of Florida State (1-5, 1-4) and out of dead last in the FBS in rushing yards per game.
Senior running back Ky Thomas picked up 67 yards on 17 carries for an average of 3.94 yards per carry against the Cardinals.
Burns acknowledged the run game has not been prominent, but cited the defensive looks the team has faced.
“People are looking at the running numbers and saying ‘Oh man they’re not running the ball very well.’ Well, we’re running the ball against a loaded box,” Burns said. “There are nine guys near the box trying to stop the run and the quarterback run, so it’s leaving one-on-one matchups down the field. We’re in play action, and then we’re able to get one-on-one with him (Chrishon McCray) and Luke, and there are big chunks out there.”
Though they are not dominant in the run game, the Falcons place more of an emphasis on the run game than Kent State does. Just as it does in passing yards per game, Bowling Green finds itself sixth in the conference with 139.33 rushing yards per game.
The Falcons have two backs that account for 75% of the team’s carries in redshirt junior Terion Stewart and senior Jaison Patterson. Both backs are top-15 in the MAC in rushing yards.
Stewart is eighth in the MAC with 334 rushing yards on 60 attempts. Among carriers with at least 20 carries, Stewart is 10th in the MAC in yards per carry with 5.57. Stewart is also tied for third in the conference with four touchdowns.
Patterson ranks 15th in the MAC in rushing yards with 223 on 58 attempts. He has scored three times on the ground, as well. Patterson is also the 10th-leading receiver among MAC running backs with 60 yards on six receptions.
Receivers
One game after setting a new career-high in receiving yards, redshirt sophomore receiver Chrishon McCray set a new career-high in receiving yards and touchdown receptions. Against Ball State, McCray caught eight passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns.
McCray currently sits at third in the MAC in receiving yards with 522 and tied for first in touchdowns with seven. His seven touchdowns have him tied for fifth in the FBS.
No MAC receiver has more yards or touchdowns than McCray in their last two games.
Graduate student receiver Luke Floriea also set a new career-high in receiving yards with 130 on six receptions. Floriea also pulled in a touchdown reception. He is now seventh in the MAC in receiving yards with 421 and fifth in the conference in touchdowns with four. Only three receivers have more yards than Floriea in their past two games.
McCray and Floriea have more receiving yards than any other pair of receivers in the conference. The two are tied for the most receptions on the team with 25 each.
Over half of Bazelak’s passing yards and over 40% of his completions have gone to junior tight end Harold Fannin Jr. 50 of Bazelak’s 119 completions have been to Fannin Jr., and he has caught 701 of Bazelak’s 1,331 yards. His 50 receptions and 701 yards both lead the MAC.
He is tied for fourth in the FBS in receptions, sixth in yards, and 22nd in touchdowns.
Last week, the Flashes had to handle another effective tight end when they went up against junior Tanner Koziol. The Kent defense held him in check, keeping him to 43 yards on eight receptions.
Burns spoke on last week’s matchup against Koziol helping the team this week.
“I thought we did a solid job on the tight end last week,” Burns said. “You’re never going to keep those guys in a box. They’re going to have their plays. They do a good job coaching and creating space for them, but you really want to limit the explosive plays with those guys. We have to do a good job with that this week and improve on what we did last week.”
Defense
The Flashes defense gave up a season-low in yards and points against FBS teams against Ball State, but they still gave up 406 yards. They have yet to hold any opponent under 400 yards.
Kent State still ranks last in the FBS in yards allowed per game with 553.17 and points allowed per game with 49. The defense has shown improvement in each of its last four games, giving up less yards and less points per game each time.
Burns spoke on both the positives and negatives of his defense.
“The thing about Saturday that was encouraging is that it wasn’t as many guys falling off the deep end. It was a lot of guys playing really good football on our football team, and that was encouraging to see,” Burns said. “A lot of our younger guys took a step forward, but it takes 11 guys on defense to make you go. If you have corners that aren’t playing well but the linebackers and D-line are, then you have problems, so everybody’s got to do their job.”
The Falcons are fourth in the conference in yards allowed with 363.17 yards per game and points per game allowed with 24 points. In its two conference games, Bowling Green has given up an average of 18.5 points per game.
“We have to let these kids keep growing up. They’re getting better each week. I think people can see that as they play more manageable competition,” Burns said. “I told them to get obsessed with the process, not obsessed with the result, and keep changing your process to make it better throughout the week to give yourself a chance on Saturday. That’s all you can do.”
Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
