Recordpub.com - Wagon wheels fall off for Kent State

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

Lose the battle in the trenches, you will lose the war.

It’s one of the age-old truths of football.

Kent State lost so much more as the University of Akron dominated both lines of scrimmage in a 28-20 upset of the Golden Flashes on Saturday at InfoCision Stadium.

With its third consecutive loss to their neighboring rival, KSU missed another chance to re-claim possession of the Wagon Wheel Trophy.

More importantly, the Flashes’ hopes of winning a Mid-American Conference East Division championship and reaching their first bowl game since 1972 took a potentially critical blow.

“The difference in the game was up front,” said KSU head coach Doug Martin. “Their inability to run the ball was very key for them. We didn’t stop the run all night. And our inability to run the ball, which made us a one-dimensional offense, was really the difference in the game.”

With the exception of a 25-yard run by Jacquise Terry on the first play of the game, the Zips completely shut down any hope KSU entertained of running the football. Even with that quick 25-yard burst, Terry finished with just 18 total yards before leaving the game after suffering a knee injury on the first play of the Flashes’ second possession.

The Flashes finished with just 38 rushing yards on 21 attempts, but they only dared to run the football 11 times after the first quarter. And with freshman quarterback Spencer Keith slinging the ball 59 times — at one point throwing the ball on 25 consecutive plays in the second quarter — playing defense became easier for the Zips.

“When you make a team one dimensional, you always know what the situation is going to be,” said Akron defensive back Miguel Graham. “That makes it a whole lot easier. We just played smart.”

Keith racked up some impressive numbers, throwing for 377 yards, while completing 30 of his 59 attempts. While those statistics look nice in a final box score, they didn’t tell the whole story.

The Zips’ defense managed to keep the Flashes’ receivers in front of them all day long as they avoided giving up the big play. They also managed to keep KSU out of the end zone on five straight throws from inside the Akron 5-yard line in the closing seconds of the first half.

Even after picking up a first down at the Zips’ 2 on a pass interference with 34 seconds to go before the break, KSU misfired on three straight plays before settling for a field goal.

Instead of going into the break with a lead and momentum, the Flashes trailed 14-10.

“We still had the momentum. They had to catch us,” said Akron head coach J.D. Brookhart.

Kent State couldn’t do it.

The Zips built their lead with a quick-strike offense, turning a short field into a 1-yard Alex Allen touchdown run on their first possession of the game, then adding a 59-yard touchdown pass from Alan Nicely to Jeremy LaFrance on a one-play drive early in the second quarter.

Akron extended the lead in the second half by controlling the football.

Akron’s offensive line kept Nicely on his feet against the No. 1 pass rush in MAC. The true freshman was never sacked and rarely pressured as he completed 19-of-34 passes for 261 yards, adding his second touchdown pass of the day and giving the Zips a commanding 28-13 lead on a 6-yard toss to LaFrance with 12:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“That was huge,” said Brookhart. “You are talking about a team that is high up in the nation and No. 1 in the league with 30 sacks coming into this game. And we’ve been a little susceptible to pressure. The kids played wel. They kept them off the quarterback.”

LaFrance finished with eight catches for 126 yards and Andre Jones added six caches for 93 yards. Jones also scored on an 8-yard touchdown run as a wildcat quarterback midway through the third quarter.

Akron had just as easy a time running the football in the second half. After rushing for a respectable 52 yards on 14 first-half carries, the Zips exploded for 116 yards on 26 carries after the break. With Broderick Alexander and Joe Tuzzle leading the way with 42 rushing yards each, Akron had five different runners net more than 20 yards on the ground.

The Flashes put together a late threat, cutting the Zips’ lead to one possession when Keith lofted a 9-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Kendrick Pressley with 5:36 to play, then forcing a punt to get the ball back with 2:29 still on the clock.

When that punt was downed inside the Flashes’ 1-yard line, Keith needed to march his team 99 yards for a chance to send the game to overtime.

The drive reached midfield with a little less than a minute on the clock, but dropped balls by Spencer Keith and Tyshon Goode on back-to-back plays led to a game-clinching interception by Mike Thomas at the Akron 40.

“We ruined them, and we win the Wagon Wheel,” said Nicely. The freshman called both accomplishments “equally awesome.”

In winning, Akron (2-7, 1-4) ended Kent State’s three-game winning streak, while ending its own 10-game losing streak to Football Bowl Subdivision opponents and seven-game losing streak in the MAC. The Zips hadn’t knocked off a FBS team in more than a year, dating back to a Nov. 5, 2008 trip to Toledo.

For Kent State (5-5, 4-2), Saturday was eerily similar to a 42-14 upset loss at Buffalo in 2006. The Flashes entered that game with the same 4-1 conference mark and a chance at a division title and a bowl bid very much within their reach. Like Akron, Buffalo was still in search of its first conference win.

According to Martin, this year’s Flashes still have plenty to play for in their final two games.

“We are still right at the top of the MAC East, even after this game,” said Martin. “We need a little help now, but Temple and Ohio still have to play each other. So somebody is getting a loss right there. We have two losses, and we still get to play Temple.”

Kent State now sits in third place in the East, one and a half games behind Temple and a half-game behind Ohio. After a trip to Temple in two weeks, the Flashes close the season at home against Buffalo.

“Everything is still in front of us as far as what we want,” said Martin. “We can still be a seven-win football team. I said all along this would be a winning football team and this team would be in a bowl game. By God, that’s where we are going to be. These kids are going to get that done. They will bounce back. I know what is in their heart.”

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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com