College Football

2013 Kent State football's 10 things to know: The impossible encore

Kent State returns star power in Dri Archer, Trayion Durham and Roosevelt Nix. But turnover in both the coaching staff and on the field should ensure a slow start for the Golden Flashes in 2013. Schedule, roster, projections and more below.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Mar 13, 2013, 11:01am EDT

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. No pressure, Paul Haynes

From the time Dennis Fitzgerald left town in 1977 (after seasons of 8-4 and 6-5) until the start of 2012, the glory days for Kent State football basically consisted of that one year where Glen Mason got them to 7-4 and then left (1987). In that span of 35 seasons, Kent State had a winning record twice, and won one or fewer games in a season 10 times. The program that gave Don James his first head coaching job and produced players like Jack Lambert and future coaches like Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel in the 1970s was a football wasteland for most of the last three decades, and while Doug Martin (head coach from 2004 to 2010) came really, really close to breaking through (5-7 with a pretty good defense in both 2009 and 2010), he never did.

Darrell Hazell, who coached under Jim Tressel at Ohio State from 2004-10, took over in 2011 and did not waste time putting together Kent State's best team in 40 years. His 2011 squad began the season 1-6 with three tight losses, but the Golden Flashes caught fire, winning 15 of their next 17 games, steadily improving on defense and figuring out how to run the ball really, really well.

Kent State headed into the 2012 MAC title game with an excellent shot at a BCS bowl bid; they lost both the conference title and the Orange Bowl slot in overtime to Northern Illinois, then lost Hazell to Purdue and the GoDaddy.com Bowl to Arkansas State, but that's really beside the point. This program, which hadn't won 11 games in a two-year period since 1986-87, went 11-3 and reached the doorstep of a BCS bowl. That's incredible.

Succeeding Hazell, then, is a monumental, almost impossible task, one that falls to another TresselBaller. Paul Haynes spent seven seasons (2005-11) in Columbus, mostly as Tressel's defensive backs coach, and after a year at Arkansas, he returns to Ohio to see if he can navigate a Kent State program that, for the first time in most of our lives, has an actual track record and expectations.

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 11-3 \| Adj. Record: 7-7 \| Final F/+ Rk: 48
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
30-Aug	Towson	41-21	W	19.5 - 32.2	L
8-Sep	at Kentucky	14-47	L	24.3 - 54.8	L
19-Sep	at Buffalo	23-7	W	25.8 - 18.0	W
29-Sep	Ball State	45-43	W	29.3 - 33.9	L
6-Oct	at Eastern Michigan	41-14	W	22.9 - 26.1	L
13-Oct	at Army	31-17	W	26.6 - 21.3	W
20-Oct	Western Michigan	41-24	W	30.8 - 26.3	W
27-Oct	at Rutgers	35-23	W	36.5 - 39.4	L
3-Nov	Akron	35-24	W	29.9 - 32.7	L
10-Nov	at Miami (Ohio)	48-32	W	39.3 - 37.8	W
17-Nov	at Bowling Green	31-24	W	45.3 - 30.3	W
23-Nov	Ohio	28-6	W	30.0 - 15.2	W
30-Nov	vs. Northern Illinois	37-44	L	18.1 - 26.1	L
6-Jan	vs. Arkansas State	13-17	L	24.4 - 17.0	W

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	33.1	35	24.5	45
Adj. Points Per Game	28.8	60	29.4	76

2. How did 2012 happen?

Eventually, you become your record. That's the hope for any team that is putting wins on the board but not looking particularly impressive in doing so. Riding into 2012 after a hot finish to 2011 (they won four in a row before a season-ending loss to Temple disrupted a shot at bowl eligibility), with reasonably hopeful expectations (I called for a bowl bid), the Golden Flashes were anything but impressive early. They showed gaping holes on defense in allowing 21 points to Towson and, more egregiously, 47 points to Kentucky. But they survived a trip to Buffalo and outlasted a Ball State team that was better than we knew at the time, and slowly but surely, unimpressive wins turned into pretty damn impressive wins.

Adj. Points Per Game (first 5 games): Opponent 33.0, Kent State 24.4 (minus-8.6)
Adj. Points Per Game (next 4 games): Kent State 31.0, Opponent 27.4 (plus-3.6)
Adj. Points Per Game (last 5 games): Kent State 31.4, Opponent 25.3 (plus-6.1)

By the time Kent State headed to face undefeated, 18th-ranked Rutgers on October 27, the Golden Flashes were becoming a confident, interesting team with an above-average offense and a defense that was beginning to show the form it was supposed to show. Against Rutgers, they picked off two first-half passes, returned one for a touchdown, built a 28-10 lead midway through the third quarter, then just kept right on forcing turnovers. At the end of the game, they had forced seven (six picks and a fumble), running backs Trayion Durham and Dri Archer had combined for 210 yards in 40 carries against a good defense, and KSU had knocked off a Top 20 opponent, 35-23. And then they started to become their record. They handled Miami (Ohio) and Bowling Green on the road, then just dominated a decent (and banged up) Ohio squad, and despite being outgained significantly, they came oh so close to winning the MAC.

On paper, this team was good but not great; it ranked just 48th in the F/+ rankings, but over the last half (or so) of the season, it was a legitimate Top 25-35 squad. It survived early and thrived late. You'd rather dominate all year, but it doesn't usually happen that way.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	74	75	107	62
RUSHING	18	37	74	17
PASSING	114	113	116	108
Standard Downs		56	90	43
Passing Downs		106	116	100
Redzone		90	103	78

Q1 Rk	103	1st Down Rk	67
Q2 Rk	66	2nd Down Rk	66
Q3 Rk	82	3rd Down Rk	118
Q4 Rk	49

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Spencer Keith

183

333

2,021

55.0%

0.0%

6.1

David Fisher

6'0, 220

Sr.

*** (5.6)

230

60.9%

0.0%

10.0

Colin Reardon

6'0, 190

RSFr.

** (5.3)

Nathan Strock

6'4, 195

Fr.

*** (5.5)

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Trayion Durham	RB	6'0, 250	Jr.	*** (5.5)	276	1,316	4.8	4.3	14	-7.0
Dri Archer	RB	5'8, 175	Sr.	** (4.9)	159	1,429	9.0	11.5	16	+65.9
Spencer Keith	QB				56	303	5.4	3.5	5	+3.6
Julian Durden	RB	5'7, 170	So.	*** (5.5)	27	131	4.9	7.8	1	-0.8
David Fisher	QB	6'0, 220	Sr.	*** (5.6)	14	69	4.9	7.7	0	-0.5
Anthony Meray	RB	5'7, 185	Jr.	** (5.3)	7	1	0.1	3.2	0	-3.8

3. Where did you come from, Dri Archer?

A recruiting after-thought, a two-star recruit from Laurel, Florida, brought to Kent by Doug Martin, Dri Archer averaged just 3.9 yards per carry in 2009-10 and didn't play in 2011, Hazell's first year in charge. He had shown potential as a kick returner and had scored four touchdowns through the air, but there was absolutely no reason to think that Archer was the key to a sudden offensive breakthrough for a team that hadn't scored even an average number of points since 2004. But he was an outright revelation, a part-time running back, part-time slot receiver and perfect complement to punishing power back Trayion Durham in the Kent backfield.

A player like Archer is why the Highlight Yardage measure was created. The idea of highlight yardage is to attempt to separate credit for yards between a line (full credit given for the first five yards or a loss, 50 percent credit given for up to five yards beyond that) and a runner (everything else); basically, anytime the line did its job and opened up space for Archer, he averaged a gain of almost 12 yards on his own. That's absurd.

2012 Highlight Yards Per Carry (>49 carries)
1. Dri Archer, Kent State (11.5)
2. Tavon Austin, West Virginia (11.2)
3. Ja'Terian Douglas, Tulsa (10.3)
4. Kerwynn Williams, Utah State (10.0)
5. James White, Wisconsin (9.9)
6. Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin (9.8)
7. Keith Marshall, Georgia (9.7)
8. Brian Kimbrow, Vanderbilt (9.4)
9. Damien Williams, Oklahoma (9.0)
10. Orwin Smith, Georgia Tech (9.0)

In somewhat open field, Archer, a complete unknown heading into 2012, was the most devastating runner in the country. And he chose to return for his senior season, which means great things for a skill position lineup that also returns Durham (as the thunder to Archer's lightning), four of last year's top five receivers (including Archer).

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Matthew Hurdle

333

42.2%

4.0

24.2%

49.4%

3.9

29.7

Dri Archer

RB/SLOT

5'8, 175

Sr.

** (4.9)

561

59.1%

8.5

19.2%

57.6%

8.5

50.0

Tyshon Goode (2011)

6'1, 185

Sr.

*** (5.5)

316

47.1%

6.2

15.3%

54.9%

N/A

Chris Humphrey

6'0, 190

Jr.

** (5.2)

319

60.5%

7.4

12.5%

37.2%

7.3

28.4

Tim Erjavec

6'1, 250

Sr.

181

51.4%

4.9

10.8%

40.5%

4.6

16.1

Josh Boyle

SLOT

5'9, 170

So.

** (5.2)

338

80.0%

9.7

10.2%

57.1%

9.8

30.1

Eric Adeyemi

242

58.1%

7.8

9.0%

64.5%

7.6

21.6

Trayion Durham

6'0, 250

Jr.

*** (5.5)

181

81.0%

8.6

6.1%

47.6%

9.0

16.1

Kyle Payton

6'2, 245

Jr.

** (5.3)

63.6%

3.5

3.2%

81.8%

5.0

3.4

Sam Miller

6'0, 190

Jr.

** (5.3)

66.7%

5.3

0.9%

33.3%

5.6

1.4

James Brooks

5'9, 195

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Brice Fackler

6'3, 220

RSFr.

** (5.4)

Kyle Crum

6'4, 230

RSFr.

** (5.4)

Brock Macaulay

6'7, 240

Fr.

** (5.4)

Kris White

6'1, 206

Fr.

** (5.4)

Chris Overton

5'9, 160

Fr.

** (5.4)

4. The passing game has almost no choice but to improve.

You have to give it to Spencer Keith for this: the Kent State quarterback came up big at big times. He threw for three touchdowns in the tight win over Ball State, he was mistake-free (14-for-21 with two touchdowns) against Rutgers, and he led a couple of perfect, long scoring drives in a fourth quarter comeback against NIU in the MAC title game. But he was also limited, completing 56 percent of his passes in four years as a (mostly) starter and throwing 40 interceptions alongside his 45 touchdown passes. He was the quarterback of Kent State's best team in 40 years (and either best or second-best ever), and that means something. But Kent State ranked 113th in Passing S&P+ in 2012; that also means something.

In minimal action, likely 2013 starter David Fisher, a well-coiffed senior who came to Kent State via Palomar Community College in San Marcos, California, acquitted himself perfectly fine. He completed seven of 13 passes (with a pick) versus Buffalo and completed five of six combined (for 117 yards and a score) versus Towson and Eastern Michigan. We don't know what he'll do in a full season of work, but with a low bar and a receiving corps that combines experience with higher-upside youth (quite a few intriguing freshmen and/or redshirt freshmen could work their way into the rotation), it's hard to imagine he can't at worst duplicate Keith's effort.

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	107.8	3.16	3.19	40.1%	73.5%	19.0%	115.3	3.8%	6.3%
Rank	32	27	63	52	32	64	48	45	62

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Brian Winters	LT				50 career starts; 2012 1st All-MAC
Josh Kline	LG				38 career starts; 2012 2nd All-MAC
Kent Cleveland	RT				36 career starts
Phil Huff	C	6'2, 290	Sr.	NR	17 career starts
Pat McShane	RG	6'4, 301	Sr.	*** (5.5)	14 career starts
Terrell Johnson	LT	6'3, 290	Jr.	** (5.2)	5 career starts
Tom Pizzurro	C	6'2, 290	Jr.	** (5.4)	3 career starts
Jason Bitsko	LT	6'3, 290	So.	** (5.2)
Max Plunkett	LG	6'7, 310	Sr.	** (5.2)
Jake Witucki	OL	6'4, 275	RSFr.	*** (5.5)

5. Holes on the line

So Archer and Durham return, and the passing game should expect to improve at least marginally. That's good. Less good: The line must replace two three-year starters and a four-year starter. Brian Winters, Josh Kline and Kent Cleveland had combined for 124 career starts by the end of last year, and despite the fact that the line still returns four players with starting experience (39 career starts), it's hard to imagine Kent State avoiding a dropoff here. This was a pretty good line that made life easy for Archer, Durham and Keith in 2012; the line will at least need to find competence to keep the engine rolling.

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	75	55	55	60
RUSHING	34	41	34	43
PASSING	108	70	92	69
Standard Downs		59	50	66
Passing Downs		61	76	56
Redzone		80	82	73

Q1 Rk	23	1st Down Rk	85
Q2 Rk	94	2nd Down Rk	72
Q3 Rk	56	3rd Down Rk	44
Q4 Rk	121

6. If Kent State had a step on you athletically, you were toast

Covariance gives us a hint regarding which teams played best against lesser opponents and which raised their games against better teams. Kent State was more the latter; the Golden Flashes were dominated statistically by Kentucky and Northern Illinois, two of the more athletic teams on the docket, but took full advantage of lesser offenses. The TresselBall ethos relies on superior defense, and Kent State's has been mostly strong in recent years. We'll see if that continues now that the head coach has changed. The Golden Flashes were particularly good when given time to plan -- they were great in the first quarter and good in the third but pretty poor in the second and fourth -- strong depth and youth could help them as a half progresses in 2013.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	109.4	2.70	3.31	39.7%	58.7%	20.9%	139.2	6.0%	6.6%
Rank	27	29	68	69	12	38	11	25	58

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Roosevelt Nix	DT	5'11, 245	Sr.	** (5.2)	14	47.5	5.9%	15	6	0	2	3	1
Dana Brown, Jr.	NT				13	38.5	4.8%	9	5	1	3	1	0
Jake Dooley	DE				13	37.0	4.6%	9	7	0	0	0	1
Zack Hitchens	DE	6'1, 240	Sr.	** (5.3)	14	20.5	2.6%	3	1.5	1	0	1	1
Mark Fackler	DE	6'3, 255	Sr.	** (5.4)	14	18.5	2.3%	5	1.5	3	0	0	1
Richard Gray	DE	6'2, 260	Sr.	** (5.2)	12	12.5	1.6%	8.5	4.5	1	1	0	0
Nate Terhune	DT	6'3, 260	So.	** (5.4)	14	10.0	1.2%	0.5	0	0	1	0	0
Chris Fairchild	NT	6'2, 310	So.	** (5.4)	10	6.0	0.7%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clay Miller	DE	6'4, 245	So.	NR	12	4.0	0.5%	1	1	0	0	0	0
Nate Vance	DE	6'1, 240	Jr.	NR	10	3.0	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Andrew Christopher	DE	6'4, 261	Sr.	NR	14	2.5	0.3%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Colton Kmetz	DE	6'5, 220	RSFr.	** (5.4)
Tyson Reinke	DT	6'3, 260	Fr.	** (5.4)

7. Roosevelt Nix is still one of the most interesting players in college football

Looking at stats alone, one would think that Roosevelt Nix is a mid-major Ndamukong Suh. From the tackle position, he has logged an incredible 52 tackles for loss in three seasons at Kent State, logging at least two in a game 14 times in his career. He is as disruptive a force as one will ever see from the tackle position. He's also 5'11, 245 pounds. The average lettering linebacker at Alabama is 6'3, 245.

It is amazing that he has had this level of success, even at the mid-major level, and while it makes sense that a lot of his best games have come against teams with inferior athleticism -- 4.0 tackles for loss versus Towson in 2012, 4.0 versus Eastern Michigan in 2011, 3.5 versus Akron and Bowling Green in 2010 -- he still serves as the face of an aggressive, disruptive defense as a whole. He has a chance to reach 70.0 tackles for loss in his career, which is a video game total and is made more amazing by the fact that this will be his third head coach in four years.

Linebackers

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Luke Batton	MLB				14	111.5	13.9%	8	3.5	2	5	1	4
C.J. Malauulu	WLB				14	55.5	6.9%	2.5	0	1	3	2	0
DeVante' Strickland	SLB	6'1, 220	Jr.	** (5.2)	12	14.0	1.7%	2	1	0	1	0	0
Matt Dellinger	MLB	6'0, 215	So.	** (5.3)	14	13.5	1.7%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Andre Parker	SLB	6'1, 219	Jr.	** (5.2)	12	8.0	1.0%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Danny Gress	MLB	5'11, 235	Sr.	** (5.2)	13	7.5	0.9%	0	0	0	0	0	1
J.J. Sanders	LB	5'11, 209	So.	NR	7	3.5	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nick Conrad	WLB	5'11, 225	Jr.	NR
Darius Redmond	LB	6'1, 210	Fr.	** (5.4)
Kentrell Taylor	LB	6'0, 230	Fr.	** (5.4)
Terence Waugh	LB	6'2, 220	Fr.	** (5.4)

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Luke Wollet	SS	6'0, 195	Sr.	** (5.4)	14	92.5	11.5%	6	1	4	4	1	1
Sidney Saulter	CB				14	67.0	8.3%	4	0	1	5	1	2
Darius Polk	CB	5'11, 185	Sr.	*** (5.7)	14	50.5	6.3%	3	3	2	9	1	1
Norman Wolfe	CB				10	36.5	4.5%	1	0	2	6	1	0
Leon Green	FS				14	28.5	3.5%	0	0	3	4	0	1
Calvin Tiggle	S	5'9, 195	Jr.	*** (5.5)	6	26.5	3.3%	0.5	0	1	2	0	0
Dylan Farrington	CB	6'0, 190	Jr.	*** (5.6)	14	21.5	2.7%	0	0	0	6	0	0
Jordan Italiano	FS	5'10, 200	So.	** (5.4)	13	18.0	2.2%	0	0	1	1	0	0
Malcolm Pannell	CB	5'10, 165	Sr.	** (5.3)	14	7.5	0.9%	0	0	0	1	0	0
Keenan Stalls	CB	6'0, 175	So.	** (5.2)	8	5.0	0.6%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fabrice Pratt	FS	6'1, 185	Sr.	** (5.2)	13	3.5	0.4%	0	0	0	1	0	0
Adam Maxie	CB	6'1, 170	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Demetrius Monday	DB	5'11, 185	Fr.	*** (5.6)
Eric Church	DB	5'10, 172	Fr.	** (5.4)

8. Depth: the Golden Flashes have it

Darrell Hazell set the table nicely for 2013. His 2012 unit was laden with impact seniors -- linebackers Luke Batton and C.J. Malauulu, safety Sidney Saulter, corner Norman Wolfe, end Jake Dooley, tackle Dana Brown, Jr. -- but his ultra-young second string got plenty of rotation time. As a result, leaders like Nix, safety Luke Wollet and corner Darius Polk are joined by an influx of interesting underclassmen like corner Dylan Farrington, linebacker DeVante' Strickland, sophomore tackles Nate Terhune and Chris Fairchild (at 310 pounds, Fairchild could be a lovely, hefty complement to Nix), and some interesting freshmen and redshirt freshmen.

Now, these young guys have to prove that they can produce when given more responsibility, but they proved quite a bit in limited action last year, and that's all you can ask for in advance.

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Anthony Melchiori	5'11, 185	So.	72	42.6	5	27	28	76.4%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Freddy Cortez			86	60.9	34	39.5%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Freddy Cortez			58-58	14-15	93.3%	5-10	50.0%
Anthony Melchiori	5'11, 185	So.	0-0	0-1	0.0%	0-0	N/A

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Eric Adeyemi	KR			21	16.7	0
Dri Archer	KR	5'8, 175	Sr.	16	36.9	3
Josh Boyle	KR	5'9, 170	So.	6	13.3	0
Eric Adeyemi	PR			6	7.0	0

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	2
Net Punting	13
Net Kickoffs	56
Touchback Pct	51
Field Goal Pct	59
Kick Returns Avg	62
Punt Returns Avg	99

9. Special teams wins games

Kent State and Buffalo were reasonably similar on offense and defense last year. Kent State was certainly better, mind you, but not by as much as their respective records (11-3 to Buffalo's 4-8) would suggest. A big difference came on special teams, where Kent State was destructive (second in the country) and solid while Buffalo was just ... self-destructive (119th). It probably makes sense, then, that in the regular season Kent State went 2-0 in one-possession games (and 9-1 in games with a larger margin), and Buffalo went 2-3 (and 2-5). The Golden Flashes will have to replace Freddy Cortez, who was good on kickoffs and automatic inside 40 yards on place-kicks, and their punt return game could stand to improve. But with the return of Archer and punter Anthony Melchiori, the components are in place for another explosive, TresselBall-friendly Kent State special teams unit.

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2012 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
29-Aug	Liberty	NR
7-Sep	Bowling Green	67
14-Sep	at LSU	3
21-Sep	at Penn State	24
28-Sep	at Western Michigan	93
5-Oct	Northern Illinois	50
12-Oct	at Ball State	84
19-Oct	at South Alabama	119
26-Oct	Buffalo	101
2-Nov	at Akron	120
13-Nov	Miami (Ohio)	106
19-Nov	at Ohio	83

Five-Year F/+ Rk	94
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	95
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	+20 / +15.2
TO Luck/Game	+1.7
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	12 (7, 5)
Yds/Pt Margin**	-5.0

10. The encore will be acceptable

Kent State is not going to win 11 games in 2013. The Golden Flashes will be both breaking in new starters on defense (and on the offensive line) and getting up to speed with a new coaching staff, and most of their tougher games come in the first half of the season (at LSU, at Penn State, Northern Illinois).

A relatively slow start is reasonably likely, but the back half of the schedule is loaded with marshmallows, and a team built to improve as the year progresses should roll through most of them. I think a return to bowl eligibility and a potential 7-5 or 8-4 record is likely. That should always be suitable at Kent State, no matter what happened last year.

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