Great win. Did exactly what we should have done to this abysmal Kent State team. They are one of the worst teams I've seen in the MAC ever. And they have some good players on defense and RB. They should be better.

Rourke continues to run the option like a champ. He is a natural. I'm a bit disappointed in our WRs. Papi had a big play but we had some drops that need to be corrected. Mason Morgan was great in the RedZone and Mangen was a beast in run blocking as usual. RBs dominated. Fun 2nd half!

Kent was really overplaying Rourke on the option and every time the late pitch made them pay.

I know it sounds funny when we hung 48 on them but I don't think their defense is that bad. Their offense doesn't even look like an offense. It is hard for the defense to do anything when it is on the field most of the game with bad field position.

A funny thing is that in most of the 1-130 rankings out there Kansas and Massachusetts are rated behind ALL 12 MAC teams. KSU, BGSU, and BSU are all pretty bad but rarely bottom 10. Most of the bottom 10 are still SB and CUSA teams. At any rate we have played five teams that would be on the level of bottom 25 FBS teams (Hampton even at 5-2, Kansas, UMass, Bowling Green, and Kent) and Miami is bottom 25 in most cases. If we beat them we will be 7-2 but only 1-2 against teams with a heartbeat (Purdue, EMU, CMU) heading into a real test against a legit top 50 team who is probably better than Purdue. But we do now have a QB and will get Toledo at home. We won't be a big underdog.

+1

Kent is not great, but they are not bad on a epic scale.  After all they beat the mighty Howard Bison, something that UNLV couldn't accomplish. 

Jason Arkely, as always, knocks it out of the park with his Bobcat Blog Kent St. Wrap-up (free): http://www.athensmessenger.com/blogs/bobcat_blog/final-ohio-kent-state/article_6f8c49e4-d144-5bec-9ff3-886ece61dc31.html

Lots of good stuff, but how about these two:

Ohio has scored 96 points in its last two games despite substandard passing numbers and a poor third-down conversions percentage. Both were evident despite the blowout against Kent State. Ohio completed just 9 of 20 passes against the Flashes (45 percent) and converted just 1 of 9 on third downs (11.1 percent). In the last two games, Ohio has converted just 3 of 20 (15 percent) of its third downs.

Over the final 42 minutes of game time, the Flashes ran just ONE play on the Ohio side of the 50. That one play? It turned out to be a five-yard sack in the fourth quarter.

Kent is epically bad. C'mon. Anyone that has watched more than 20 seconds of them knows that.

That win over Miami was nice ... but let's remember, Miami is without their starting QB.

Billy Bahl might have engineered a win over UB last wknd ... but he was 0-6 as a starter last year for Miami.

Miami is a much different team with a healthy Ragland (let's hope he stays "not healthy" until next Wednesday)

That does NOT take anything away from Ohio's a**-whooping they put on Kent in the 2H last week ... but let's be honest ... would Ohio have pulverized them with Quinton Maxwell at QB? I think it still would've been a win ... but Ohio has molded their offense around Rourke and his ability to run and that has led to some impressive things. I don't think Maxwell would thrive in the offense that we see now. He struggled running it before it went more run heavy early in the year.

Losing your starting QB is rough ... especially in a league like the MAC where depth is an issue.

And yes ... I know Kent is without their starting QB (Holley) and the offense was geared around his ability to run .... so that doesn't help them.

But that was a baaaaaaad football team. They are, without question, the worst team in this league and I don't think it's even a debate.

Their defense might be considered okay ... but when your offense can't generate ANYTHING you'll get tired and run out of steam almost every week. That's what Ohio did to them Saturday.

Ohio was the much, much better team last Saturday ... and will be for quite some time. Kent is a total rebuild.

The real measure of Ohio will be next Tuesday vs. Miami (assuming Ragland is healthy) and on Nov. 8 vs. Toledo.

As usual, Ohio is good enough to beat the bad teams in the MAC .... good enough to win or lose vs. the average teams (see EMU & CMU) ... we just don't know what they are against the good teams yet (NIU, Toledo, WMU?) ... and I'm not sure what Akron is yet. I'd say they're above average right now ... not sure I'd say they're on the level of the good, even with the win at WMU.

Boy ... this is an all-timer. BG vs. Kent .... who will Vegas favor. I can't see how in the world you could ever favor Kent vs. any FBS team ... but if there is one, it might be BG?

I'm still perplexed that BG is as bad as they are? Strictly on the eye test vs. Ohio ... BG looked much more competent. Kent looked like a mess.

With that being said ... the game is at Kent (which we all know is worth 3 points in Vegas' eyes) ... so maybe Kent opens at -1 or -1.5?

I'll be curious to see what this line opens at.

Kent is 4-12 vs. BG straight-up since 2000.

As bad as BG is ... they've scored at least 17 points in every MAC game (23, 37, 30 & 17)

Kent hasn't scored more than 17 against ANY FBS team ... and in the MAC they have scored 3, 17, 3, & 13

They've only scored a TD in two games vs. FBS teams. TWO! They've only scored 3 TDs vs. FBS teams all season .... that's 7 games?!?!? That's unreal!

I just don't see how that inept team can be favored against anyone.

I don't know what the hell happened to Ball State. They were competitive in their first four games going 2-2 and scoring points.

But since starting MAC play, they have scored 3, 3 & 9 points. They've been a disaster.

I still think Ball would hammer both Kent and BG though. Sadly they don't play, so we'll never know.

Sometimes you have to un plug the computer and look at the facts, Kent is horrid.

 

What hasn't been brought up is that we beat Kent State 48-3, whereas Louisville beat them 42-3, and Clemson beat them 56-3. Thus, we would naturally beat Louisville by six if we were to face them and would hang with Clemson right to the end, losing by just a late touchdown.

Marshall, who only beat them 21-0, wouldn't even be a challenge for us.

BG favored vs Kent (-1')

As I expected. If you've watched both teams, this shouldn't be that stunning.

Kent flat can't score ... and while their defense is somewhat respectable, they ain't the 85 Bears

I know Ball State is NOT good ... but they are better than Kent State. Sorry ... we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this.

Ball has two wins ... including one over a pretty damn decent UAB team ... and a pretty competitive loss on the road at Illinois (who, yes is the worst B1G team)

But they are also down to their 4TH STRING QB .... that's a helluva lot to overcome.

Riley Neal has missed five straight games (starting QB) ... so that has a lot to do with their struggles, especially offensively since MAC play started.

Kent is flat out horrible ... they had to rally to beat Howard (a less-than-average FCS team ... that yes, I know beat UNLV) and they beat a Miami team that was playing with a 2nd string QB (which is still inexcusable if you're Miami)

But even before Nick Holley went down, this team was dreadful on offense. They had 223 yards passing in their first THREE games ... including 1 yard passing vs. Clemson. ONE. YARD.

I know they are technically down to a 3rd string QB in Bollas ... but they didn't show any life when they had their #1 QB running the show.

Honestly....this is a pretty stupid debate (hahaha!!) .... but I just can't, in good conscious, say anyone is worse than Kent in the MAC.


That 2013 Miami team was awful ... never scored more than 17 points in a game ... but I will say this ... they played UK, UC, Marshall and Illinois in non-conf games. No FCS creampuff that both Ball and Kent had on their schedule (and recorded wins against) this year.

Again, Kent has scored 3 offensive TDs vs. FBS competition this year THREE?!?!

Ball scored 51 on UAB in a win.

Hard for me to say Ball is overall worse than Kent when they scored more in their 4 non-conf games than Kent has all season.

I know Ball defense has been pretty terrible ... but look at the MAC games they've played .... WMU, Toledo, CMU and Akron

Compare that to Kent's Miami, Ohio, Buffalo and NIU. Not exactly any real firepower on offense other than Ohio in that group.

Respectfully disagree .... but Kent is THE WORST team in this league.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! HA!

BG -2 now (at Kent)