While the national media expects very little from Kent State, Phil Steele is somewhat bullish on the Golden Flashes. College Football’s contrarian expects them to finish third in their division and bounce back from their lousy 2007.
Since Steele specializes in his own formulas, facts and figures and skips some of the narrative fluff that fills the other preview magazines, I thought I would share the data that stood out to me.
Nuggets and notes of interest
-- Kent State has decent experience: eight offensive starters return and eight defensive starters return. They also have 43 other lettermen returning.
-- They had a -11 turnover margin last year meaning they were somewhat unlucky last year and potentially better than their 2007 record.
-- They’ve been awful in odd numbered years (3-9 in 2007, 1-10 in 2005) and decent in even numbered years (6-6 in 2006 and 5-6 in 2004).
-- The Golden Flashes return their top three rushers, their top three receivers and three of their four leading tacklers.
-- The MAC school is 1-7 vs BCS teams
-- They haven’t played a neutral site game in eight years
-- Steele projects KSU to be among the most improved in points scored (15th in his ranking)
-- Steele’s strength of schedule formula has them at 111th nationally
-- They are 82nd in his power rankings
-- They were 82nd in his 2007 special teams rating
BC connections: Their Head Coach Doug Martin coached with Jags and Logan at East Carolina. Their backup Quarterback is Anthony Magazu – brother of current BC wide receiver Dom Magazu and son of former BC offensive line coach Dave Magazu.
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1 comment:
I suspect Steele's optimism about Kent State is correct, and I expect this to be a tough opening game. In the end, however, I like our chances against KSU, as we match up well given their offensive strengths (the RB) and weaknesses (passing game).
The bigger question is how to get to the game/weekend only packing carry-ons (and avoiding the $25/per bag ripoff fee from the airlines).
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