I'm looking at this game with 3:13 in the 3rd quarter and Kent State is 1-11 on third down completions and Minnesota is 8-15 while the score is only 10-7 in favor of Minnesota. What it says to me is its the same old Kent State with athletic defense that will find a way to pull out 3-4 MAC wins.

I like that Ohio has cut down on penalties this week short of the chop block late in the second quarter. What you like to see is improvement of a club from week to week and with the last two defensive performances you are getting a sense of consistent improvement. Sebastian Smith and Heitzman will have to make some big plays at Minnesota to give Ohio a chance.

Kent played really good D but Minn had a bunch of penalties that took away big gainers and at least one TD. They also missed a 44-yd FG. I think they looked at Ill putting up 52 on Kent and thought it would be a cakewalk. They didn't look sharp at all. I don't expect that Minn team to be on the field next week. Still, unless something really bad happens in our game, we should be even money to win next week.

On the other hand, Kent continues to struggle vs B10 teams. In their last seven games vs B10 Kent's offense has scored no TDs and two FGs. Their only score today was a really nice forced fumble and an 80-yd scoop-and-score by Monday. He also had both Kent picks. Should be MAC East POW.

Sure, 9 is better than 11 but it's still too many.