KENT, Ohio – Without a doubt, Kent State’s defense has played well enough for it to win games this season, but offense has been an extreme struggle as the Golden Flashes have managed just a 4-7 record.

Hopes this season were as high as they have been for quite a while at Kent State, and with the failure to meet those expectations, Coach Doug Martin announced Sunday his intentions to resign after Friday’s season finale against Ohio, putting an end to the longest tenure as coach in the Mid-American Confernece.

Injuries have cost Martin and the Golden Flashes, who have not shown the depth the Bobcats have in overcoming some tough personnel losses. Ohio (8-3, 6-1 MAC) can clinch its second straight Mid-American Conference East Division championship and third in five years by beating Kent State (4-7, 3-4 MAC) or with a loss Tuesday by Miami to Temple.

It would be hard to pin the Golden Flashes’ struggles on their defense, which has allowed 24.5 points and 317.9 yards per game. Kent State has been especially tough against opponents’ running game, giving up just 101.5 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry.

Much of that can be attributed to true freshman defensive lineman Roosevelt Nix, who has 8.5 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles, despite having started only once in 11 games so far.

“He has tremendous quickness,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “He gets great penetration at the line of scrimmage. He has outstanding control of his body. He can get off the ball quick and twist his shoulders, get in seams that some guys can’t. You look across the board, they’re not exceptionally big, but they’re really quick and really aggressive. That’s a real good combination. You don’t have to be big to win football games. You need to be athletic. You need to be tough and you need to have quickness and speed, and he has all of that.”

Even so, Kent State’s defense has seemed to wear down some as the year has gone on, surrendering 38 points and 426 yards in last week’s 38-3 loss to Western Michigan. In the two games before that, the Golden Flashes gave up 45 points and 382 yards to Army and 28 points and 368 yards to Temple.

In its first eight games, Kent State had allowed only an average of 290.1 yards and 19.8 points per game.

Dorian Wood leads the defense with 90 tackles, and Norman Wolfe has five interceptions.

Offensively, Kent State has scored only 20.7 points per game, while gaining an average of 321.1 yards per game.

The Golden Flashes’ offense took a major hit when running back Eugene Jarvis, who had 188 yards rushing at the time, went down with a season-ending injury in the third game.

Jacquise Terry has not been nearly as good filling in, totaling just 542 yards on an average of 3.6 yards per carry.

Quarterback Spencer Keith has been mistake-prone, throwing 11 interceptions with eight touchdowns and 2,112 passing yards on the year.

Tyshon Goode (56 receptions for 685 yards) and Sam Kirkland (52 receptions for 585 yards) have shared the majority of Keith’s targets.

Kent State had one of its best games yardage-wise last week against the Broncos, racking up 431 of them, but it finished with just three points to show from it.

“You look at their total points from this last ball game and it doesn’t quite fit with the number of points on the board,” Solich said. “They’ve had some turnovers. I think they’re a little bit like us in that they’ve played really well, but there’s a little bit of time frame in there where maybe they haven’t, and that’s kind of cost them a little bit, as it’s cost us.”

On the other hand, Ohio has made the most of its yards, leading the nation in red zone touchdown efficiency at 79.49 percent.

Quarterback Boo Jackson has thrown for 1,555 yards and 15 touchdowns with 14 interceptions for the Bobcats and has added 331 rushing yards and seven scores on the ground.

Vince Davidson has rushed for 494 yards and six scores, while wildcat quarterback Phil Bates has 477 rushing yards in parts of eight games played.

Terrence McCrae has nine receiving touchdowns among his 27 catches for 436 yards to lead Ohio’s receivers.

Defensively, the Bobcats have allowed 341.1 yards and 21.2 points per game.

Defensive end Stafford Gatling has 13 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. Linebacker Chad Clemens leads Ohio with 69 tackles, and safety Donovan Fletcher has five interceptions.

Kent State will be aiming to send Martin and its seniors out with an upset victory, Solich said.

“If you look at this game and the motivation will be such that they want to end the season on a high note and to derail us the chance of the possibility of getting into a conference championship game,” Solich said. “There’s a lot of incentive there for those guys, so we’ve got to match that with enthusiasm and with a great effort and hopefully play well and get it done.”

The Bobcats and Golden Flashes play at 11 a.m. Friday at Dix Stadium on ESPNU.