Mid American: Kent State looks to Remain Unbeaten

The Mid American Conference Kent State Golden Flashes take on the Army Black Knights. Kent State is 4-1 on the season, while Army is just 1-4. The two teams have only met twice and Army is 2-0 SU in the two game, with the last win back in 2010 45-28.

The Mid-American conference this season has Kent State leading the East division with a 4-1 overall record and a 3-0 conference record. Ohio and Miami of Ohio are trailing Kent State by one game in the conference standings. In the west division, Toledo has a 3-0 conference record and Northern Illinois is 2-0.

The game should be a terrific matchup as Army is confident after a huge upset over Boston College and Kent State is trying to build up its record for non-conference games while they try to win another MAC conference championship.

Army is tough on the ground and last week ran for 516 yards out of their total of 595. The Black Knights held onto the ball for 37 minutes and 38 seconds. Three Army runners ran for over 100 yards in the game. The Army offense is fumble prone however, and fumbled twice in the game. Defensively Army defended well against the pass, but gave up over 230 yards on the ground.

Last week in Michigan, Kent State was led by three touchdowns from Dri Archer. Archer had a touchdown rushing, receiving and on a kickoff return and the Golden Flashes sank the Eastern Michigan Eagles by the score of 41-14. Kent State received 116 rushing yards from Traylon Durham and quarterback Spencer Keith completed 12 of his 21 passes for 113 yards.

This matchup should produce lots of points between both teams. Even though Army runs the majority of the time, they have a decent passing attack, which might have to be used if Kent State can slow down the run. Kent State’s defense is neither the strongest nor the weakest. They give up 26 points per game and 150 yards a game rushing. If Army blocks as they did last week against BC, then the Black Knights should be able to run at will versus the Golden Flashes.

Kent State should be able to run against Army as well as pass. The Golden Flashes are averaging more than 200 yards per game rushing and just less than 200 yards per game passing. Look for the running game of Kent State behind power back Durham, who weights 260 lbs. to open the passing game for Keith.

Army must keep Kent State’s offense off the field by engineering long drives that consume the clock otherwise it will be a shootout and Kent State could upset the favored Black Knights.

At present, the Army Black Knights are favored by 1 ½ points. The Black Knights have a few more offensive weapons than the Golden Flashes. Smart money takes Army less the points.