Kent State’s defense dominated in a 40-6 victory over Bowling Green Wednesday. 

This is the team’s first road win of the season. Kent State improves to 4-6 on the year and 3-3 in Mid-American Conference play. 

Bowling Green is 5-5 overall and 4-2 in the MAC. 

It was a scoreless first quarter. 

On the opening kick-off, the Flashes recovered a fumble at the Bowling Green 24 after a short kick that bounced out of the hands of the Falcons. Kent State went three-and-out and sophomore kicker Andrew Glass missed a 37-yard field goal.

On KSU’s third possession of the night, senior inside linebacker DJ Taylor intercepted the ball after redshirt junior quarterback Collin Schlee’s pass hit off a Kent State helmet. The Falcons still could not score. 

Four seconds into the second quarter, Schlee faked a quarterback draw and then threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior running back Bryan Bradford – this was his first receiving touchdown of the season. KSU now had the lead, 7-0. 

Starting at Kent State’s 30, the Flashes brought the ball down to the four-yard line in 13 plays. Schlee had run it in for four yards out to put Kent State up 14-0 with 4:43 left in the half. 

A seven-yard punt by freshman Sami Sir set the Flashes up at the KSU 49 with just 3:05 left in the half. Kent State scored again with a 21-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Devontez Walker. 

Walker returned after leaving the last game against Ball State with a torso injury. Going into Wednesday, he was second on the team in receiving yards with 630. 

KSU then went for the two-point conversion but failed. The Flashes were up 20-0 at 2:02. 

Schlee finished the half with 133 yards passing, two touchdown passes, a touchdown run and an interception. 

Redshirt junior wide receiver Dante Cephas returned after missing last game. Before Wednesday, he ranked 28th nationally in receiving yards with 731. 

Senior wide receiver Ja’Shaun Poke led the team in receiving yards at the half with 54. Junior running back Marquez Cooper had 69 rushing yards. 

On the first drive of the third quarter, the Falcons went for it on fourth down with a fake punt, but they were stopped for the fourth time on fourth down. 

Kent State gained possession at the Bowling Green 48. 

Sophomore kicker Andrew Glass capitalized off the good field position with a 26-yard field goal, bringing his team’s lead to 23-0 at 8:41. 

With 4:29 left of the quarter, BGSU’s senior quarterback Matt McDonald threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tyrone Broden. 

Bowling Green failed the two-point conversion, making it a 23-6 game. The team did not score the rest of the game. 

Kent State scored in three of its four fourth-quarter drives. 

Just under one minute into the fourth quarter, Kent State redshirt junior linebacker CJ Harris intercepted a pass from McDonald. 

KSU scored on the next drive when Schlee threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Walker, extending the lead 30-6. This was Walker’s second touchdown of the game. 

Glass kicked a 27-yard field goal with 6:35 left. 

On the next drive, graduate student linebacker Marvin Pierre scored off a pick-six off of Bowling Green back-up quarterback junior Camden Orth. 

Kent State won the battle 40-6. 

Schlee finished with 214 passing yards and three touchdowns. Walker was the leading receiver with 86 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper had 93 rushing yards in the game. 

The Flashes had five sacks, 12 tackles and two interceptions. 

Jacob Hansen is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].