The Kent State football team was once again unable to snap its losing streak, now extending the multi-season stretch to 18 games, which is three games short of a program record set from 1981-1983.
The team’s fourth quarterback of the year, true freshman Ruel Tomlinson, was unable to spark a turnaround for the Flashes, as they were defeated by the Ohio Bobcats (6-3, 4-1) 41-0. Kent State is now 0-5 in conference play.
“I’m disappointed in the loss. We didn’t play very well, we have to play better,” coach Kenni Burns said. “We have to learn from it, and we have to do better.”
The Flashes’ offense put up one of its statistically worst performances of the season, mustering 114 yards. It is their lowest in five games against Mid-American Conference matchups this season and third lowest overall in the 2024 campaign.
Junior quarterback Tommy Ulatowski was unable to play due to an injury that kept him out of practice, placing Tomlinson in the spotlight.
“He (Ulatowski) didn’t practice very much, and I didn’t want to throw him in there without the practice reps,” Burns said.
Tomlinson, who made his first collegiate start against the Bobcats, was only able to throw for 62 yards on 8-of-18 passing along with an interception. Despite rather ineffective numbers, Burns thought the performance was promising.
“He had really good poise, he didn’t get rattled. He put the ball, most of the time, where it was supposed to go,” Burns said. “His future is bright. I thought this was good for him. He’ll learn, he’ll get better.”
Tomlinson was unable to find much of a rhythm in part because of the performance of the offensive line, who gave up five sacks.
“We’re down a couple of O-linemen. Jimto (Obidegwu) didn’t play today, Cam (Cameron Golden) got hurt. We’ve been down a couple of guys for most of the year, but Jimto not playing really depleted us on the right side of our O-line,” Burns said. “We have to get healthy there. We have to play better, we know that. We have to get some bodies back.”
The defense continued its streak of giving up over 400 yards yards, allowing Ohio to gain 407, pushing the streak to 10 games.
After giving up 10 points in each of the first two quarters, the defense only surrendered seven points in the second half, in part because they were not on the field as much.
The Flashes defense was ineffective against the Bobcats’ ground game, allowing 262 yards on 42 carries for an average of 6.24 yards per carry.
Both senior running back Anthony Tyus III and redshirt freshman running back Rickey Hunt Jr. each had over 80 yards on the ground.
“I thought the defense played solid,” Burns said. “We gave them a short field with the turnover, but they held them to a field goal a couple times. They gave up one bad possession in the first half where they didn’t do what they were supposed to do.”
Junior safety Josh Baka had a career-high 18 tackles, double his previous career-high.
“I thought Josh grew up the past couple of weeks, and he played his best game today,” Burns said.
With a 20-0 deficit, the game was still slightly within reach entering the second half, however, special teams errors put the game out of reach in the third quarter.
Kent State gave up a kick return for a touchdown to start the second half, as well as a punt return for a touchdown later in the quarter, allowing Ohio to stretch the lead to 34-0.
“There were seven true freshmen on punt coverage, and six true freshmen on kickoff coverage. Two guys running, and they take a bad angle on the kickoff, and the ball spits out. That’s why you stay in your lanes and your gaps,” Burns said. “Same thing on punt coverage. I made that choice, put that on me, to play all the freshmen on special teams this week with our health issues. They have to learn from it and grow from it and get better.”
Kent State will play its first road weeknight game of the season Tuesday when it heads to Oxford to take on the Miami RedHawks (5-4, 4-1).
“A lot of guys got their first time playing and got a chance to see what it feels like to play in a collegiate game, and hopefully they take it and learn from it.”
Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
