The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

A verrrry bad thing happened today as far as this game goes, Rutgers lost to New Hampshire. :eek: I had hoped that they would overlook the Flashes, but not likely now...

Plus, 3 straight home games for a Big East school must be nice, MSU, UNH and now KSU. How do we work a deal like that?

Here is a link to the AP story on the game.

<a href='http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/09/11/sports2256EDT0925.DTL' target='_blank'>Rutgers AP Story</a>

New Hampshire is a 1AA power this year and even got the Rutger's crowd booing the home team. It also sounds like Rutgers pass defense might be a little suspect and certain formations give their D problems. Hopefully there will be plenty to exploit next week.

Here is an even better article on the Rutgers fan site.

<a href='http://rutgers.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=330185' target='_blank'>Rutgers Fan Site</a>

This will be a tough game because Rutgers was supposed to be a much improved team this year, and they
proved that by beating Michigan State. Losing to New Hampshire only only heightens their awareness that
they have to beat Kent to gauge that improvement. This is a must win for them before going into Big East
conference play. Hopefully Kent can gain some confidence that they can more than hang with Rutgers; with
Cribbs and Alston healthy, plus people making catches they should be making.... we could give Rutgers
defensive backs fits all day.


GO Flashes!!

I agree. The first thing I thought when I saw the Rutgers score was " Oh, sh**." But then, I think Martin can get these guys ready...and they are hungry for a win like this.

This is going to be a great test for the Flashes. I am really looking forward to this game. Rutgers is a team playing for redemption, KSU is playing for respect. Both teams have something to play for. This game is going to tell us a lot about this year's version of our team and more importantly the direction of the program.

Long time Flash fans know how every year, you hope against hope that somehow this year will be different. I think a lot of us want to believe that this may be a special team of destiny, but we are afraid, lest we somehow get disappointed again. I know I sure am. One thing I know for certain, that someday, somehow, if KSU plays football long enough it will happen, We will win. We may look back on this game as being the one where KSU finally turned the corner. A game that was the first step in a season that we finally break the chains of negativity that have imprisoned Kent State Football for decades.

I know I sound emtional about it and I am. My apologies to Coach Martin and the team to project such lofty expectations, as if your task is not difficult enough, but I can't help it. Somehow, I know that you expect nothing less for yourselves. To the Team and Kent fans embrace the vision of victory. Allow yourself a moment to imagine what it feels like to win a game like this. Revel in the feeling of pride and acomplishment that a win would bring. Hold that vision and set your intention. The stage is set for us, the MAC has not had a great OOC record this year. It can be our year. All of us manifest what we believe. Other teams may have greater individual athletes, but the ingredients for team greatness come from within each of you. Finally, on Saturday, believe you can win, play with pride and play for each other. Go Flashes!

Great post, Reno. You've accurately summarized what this game can mean for the Flashes.

Want a suggestion? Send this to Coach Martin. He uses this stuff to motivate the team. In a moment of petulance, I sent him a whole line of trash about the Kent State football program from the main board ( inlcuding one gem from a Marshall fan, " Kent State will be so desperate for fans that they'll count the cars driving by Dix"). Martin actually called me to tell me he shared my letter and the the "materials" with the team as, it was a sign that Kent State football needed to get some respect, starting this year.

Just think, you could be the twelfth man this Saturday!

Hey guys,

Nice crowd Sat night! It's hard enough drumming up fans to come out, let alone for a 1-AA school.
Could be the start of something good!

Kent is capable of beating Rutgers. Down the Scarlet Knights!

If you have Fox Sports Net New York, the game is being carried by them. I'm going to see how I can get it somehow!!!!

FSN New York is showing it at 11:30PM tape delayed. Nevermind...

Flash;
Thanks for the heads-up on the game. I get Fox Sports NY via Direct TV. I was hoping that the game would make ESPN Gameplan, they were on there a lot last year, but I guess after they lost to NH they fell off the espn radar.

I am actually kind of surprised at the reaction Rutgers got when they lost that game. The press and the fan blogs in NJ have been pretty tough on them. NH is a good team and to see ESPN put Rutgers in their bottom 10 listing after the loss was overkill. I also didn't want them to get any more motivation for our game. I think this is going to be a good one. I am looking for Martin to put in at least a couple of new looks on offense to shake things up.

All I could do was listen to the game on Saturday, and you guys who went might be able to add to this, but it seemd like we were not trying too many complex looks on either side ofhte ball most of the time. Perhaps we wanted to save some things for Rutgers and the MAC sched. Don't what they could tell about us offensively from the Iowa game--not much, I'm sure, and I imagine we didn't show some wrinkles because we didn't have to in the Liberty game.

On the other hand, I hope our coaches got a pretty good look at Rutgers via the MSU and the NH games. They probably had to pull out all the stops in both of those--at least everything they might use on us, saving some tricks for the BE season.

I'd have to guess that they didn't show everything that they had because

1. They didn't have to.
2. Cribbs only had a limited amount of practice time this camp and fall due to injury and suspension. Keep it simple for him.

A couple of drives stalled because the play calling seemed poor, if not odd during the game. I was surmising that they were trying to practice some things against live competition since they were up significantly and they plays just didn't work.

I expect them to try hard to win this one. Martin seems bent on making changes and conceding OOC games isn't one of them. However, I do expect some special wrinkles to be saved for 9/23!

Short turnaround for that game, too. Don't know how much prep they will get done next week.

The way the Zips defense has played so far, the forward pass may be enough of a wrinkle to confuse them.

It doesn't matter what UNH did to "anger" Rutgers. This is one game, one time. Their loss last week will have no bearing on this outcome unless Kent decides not to play at their maximum. If anything.....UNH exposed a bunch of weaknesses that the Kent coaches should exploit.

When Buffalo humiliated them a couple years ago, Rutgers spent the entire summer gearing up for their big revenge in 2003,,,,never to be beaten again by a lowly MAC team or D1-AA team at home. Well, it took a lucky 4th Qtr punt return TD for them to beat a weak UB team last year. I really think Kent St. will win this weekend. Good luck.