By David Carducci
Record-Courier staff writer
Kent State put to rest the frustration of a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season by dominating Delaware State for the second straight year in a home opener at Dix Stadium.
But before fans get too excited about Saturday afternoon's 24-3 thumping over an overmatched Football Championship Subdivision program, the Golden Flashes admit they are still nowhere near where they will need to be when they open Mid-American Conference play in two weeks.
"We were glad to get a win," said KSU coach Doug Martin. "It has been a long time. We have gone through a lot in this losing streak and its good to get the monkey off our backs. But we didn't play as sharp as we would have liked. We still have the turnover plague, and until we get that fixed we are not going to play up to our capability."
After his team's sloppy play in a loss at Iowa State last week, Martin had hoped to see a clean effort Saturday.
He didn't get it, as KSU (1-2) committed three turnovers on a pair of Julian Edelman interceptions and a fumble by second-string running back Andre Flowers. The Flashes' receivers also continued to drop passes by the bunches, including freshman Andre Kirkland's mishandle of what should have been an easy 54-yard touchdown pass from Edelman in the third quarter.
Even with the interceptions, Martin had to be pleased with the improved play of Edelman, who managed to play his trademark aggressive style without fumbling the football.
Edelman lost the handle of the ball twice last week at Iowa State, but on Saturday he had only one thought in his head every time he sidestepped a sack or broke free of a tackle: "It was coach Martin's voice saying hold on to that ball."
"I had two hands on the ball the whole day," said Edelman, who capped KSU's first drive " a nine-play, 62-yard march featuring a no-huddle offense for the first time this season " by rolling untouched into the endzone from 7-yards out.
Edelman's touchdown was all Kent State needed with its defense narrowly missing a shutout of Delaware State for the second straight season.
The Hornets didn't hit the scoreboard until Riley Flickinger booted a 23-yard field goal with 3:16 to play in the game. The kick spoiled the Flashes' hopes for their first shutout since 1994. Delaware State also avoided being shutout in last year's visit to Kent State when quarterback Vashon Winton ran for a touchdown in the game's final minute.
"Getting a shutout isn't something we think about coming in ... but once we got to that fourth quarter and saw that zero on the scoreboard, we started talking about it," said KSU linebacker Derek Burrell, who recorded his seventh consecutive game of double-digit tackles with 10 stops. "We would have like to keep them from scoring ... but we still played pretty well."
Pretty well is a bit of an understatement.
KSU played its usual bend-but-don't-break style to perfection, making Delaware State work just enough to move the ball between the 20s, then stiffening in the red zone.
The Flashes led 14-0 at the half thanks to a goa-line stand just before the break that featured second and third-down stuffs of Hornets power-back Jaashawn Jones at the 1-yard line.
"After we got down to the goal line and ran two consecutive plays where we looked like Heckle and Jeckle, I thought we needed to get some points on the scoreboard," said Delaware State coach Al Lavan. "We decided to kick what amounted to a long extra point and got it blocked. That was kind of our day."
Flickinger had his 23-yard chip shop swatted back into his face by KSU's Ishmaa'ily Kitchen with just 16 seconds on the first-half clock.
Kent State played most of the day without star running back Eugene Jarvis, who twisted his ankle and did not return after running for 17 yards on five carries in the first quarter. In Jarvis' absence, Edelman rushed for 71 yards on 11 carries and Flowers totaled 54 yards on a career high 17 carries, helping the Flashes out-gain Delaware State 215-99 on the ground.
Flowers also added a 5-yard touchdown run in the the third quarter, confirming Kent State has more than just one running back capable of carrying the rushing Load.
"(Jarvis) could have gone back in the game, but there was no reason," said Martin. "We just erred on the side of caution. And that's what (Flowers) should do when he gets in there. There should be no drop off when Andre goes into the game."
Flowers only mistake was a fumble at the Delaware State 1-yard line on what should have been his second touchdown of the day. The Flashes made up for that miscue and the dropped touchdown by Kirkland by scoring 10 points on special teams. Nate Reed converted his first field-goal attempt of the year on a 43-yard kick with 8:25 to play in the game, and his holder, Leneric Muldrow, scored a touchdown on a little trickery earlier in the day when he raced 31 yards untouched to the end zone on the first play of the second quarter.