Director of New Media
The Golden Flashes are at UMass today in an important game to keep pace in the Mid-American Conference East Division race. At the start of the day, Ohio University and Bowling Green were the East's lone undefeated teams, followed by Kent State and Akron at 1-1 with Buffalo, UMass and Miami all looking for their first conference wins.
As I type this, Ohio trails Western Michigan 7-0 just before halftime while Bowling Green and Akron kickoff just before the Flashes at 3 p.m.
Today's KSU vs. UMass game is interesting in that it matches up two units that have generally played well this season in the Flashes defense and the Minutemen offense. After talking with head coach Paul Haynes this week, he is convinced that it will come down which "work in progress" play better between the KSU offense and UMass defense.
Injuries and other issues could have an impact on a Kent State offense that ranks 12th out of the MAC's 13 teams this season at 18.5 points per game.
UMass is just 10th, offensively, but at 25.2 points per game and boasting a passing game that features the MAC's No. 2 passer in Blake Frohnapfel (324.6 yards per game) and its No. 1 pass catcher in 6-foot-3 Tajae Sharpe (138.4 yards per game), the Minutemen have some dangerous weapons.
The Flashes will not try to match up either Demetrius Monday or Najee Murray against Sharpe. I talked with Haynes about that idea earlier in the week, and he said that's mostly an NFL strategy due to the narrow hashmarks. KSU cornerbacks play field and boundary.
On this week's radio show, Haynes said a decision at quarterback between Colin Reardon and George Bollas will be made at gametime. Both are expected to play, however.
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