Recordpub.com - KSU dealing with case of deja vu

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

Kent State has been in this position before.

Just three years ago, the Golden Flashes entertained dreams of a Mid-American Conference East Division championship and a bowl berth as they prepared to play a struggling opponent in Buffalo on the first Saturday of November.

Today, the Flashes have the same high hopes as they make the 14-mile trip the University of Akron’s InfoCision Stadium.

The arch-rival Zips (1-7, 0-4) are still looking for their first Mid-American Conference win. At 1-7 overall and 0-5 in the league, Buffalo was in the same unenviable position in 2006 as it prepared to face KSU.

“It’s exactly like 2006,” said senior defensive tackle Aaron Hull, one of only a handful of KSU veterans who remember that year’s letdown. “We have the same 4-1 (conference) record we had then. Akron has almost the same record Buffalo had back then. It’s the same darned setup.”

Three years ago, Buffalo stunned the Flashes with 34 unanswered points in the second half to score a 41-14 upset win and derail KSU’s potential breakthrough season.

Kent State hopes to avoid having history repeat itself today in Akron.

“I was a freshman that year,” said Hull. “The (media) was calling us one of the top-five turnaround programs in the country, and I thought we were going to a bowl game. As soon as the last second ticked off that clock, my heart just dropped.”

Hull and his teammates, who remember that painful feeling, have a choice. They can either try to use the memory as motivation to avoid a similar letdown against Akron, or they can try to forget about a three-year-old disappointment.

“We are trying to live in the moment,” said Hull.

Thinking about anything and everything other than the moment at hand may has been KSU’s downfall in 2006. Head coach Doug Martin said he could see a letdown coming during the week of practice leading up to the fateful trip to Buffalo.

“I remember guys were a little uptight,” said Martin. “I think they might have been concentrating on all the things that could happen at the end of the season, playing in a bowl game, things like that, and they weren’t focused on just playing Buffalo.”

Learning from those mistakes, Martin has kept his team’s focus this week on trying to maintain the same workmanlike approach that has spurred KSU’s current three-game winning streak.

Players aren’t thinking about bowl games or division championships. They aren’t even thinking about the rivalry with Akron or a chance to re-claim the Wagon Wheel.

“The guys just need to keep doing what they’ve been doing, and they’ll be OK,” said injured star running back Eugene Jarvis, who was also a freshman in 2006. “Just sitting out there and watching practice, it seems like they are still focused. They are treating this game just like they did the last three games they played.

“In 2006, we lacked focus,” Jarvis said. “We were in a situation we never had been in before. We know how to handle it now.”

At least the veterans who lived through 2006 know how to handle it. So many key positions on this 2009 roster are filled with freshmen and sophomores who were in high school the last time Kent State had something to play for this late in a season.

“I think that is probably helping us a bit,” said Martin. “So many of our guys are so young, they are just enjoying playing. (Quarterback) Spencer Keith, (running back) Dri Archer and (wide receiver) Tyshon Goode, and all of these guys are true freshmen. I think they are just enjoying playing the game. I don’t think they bother to look down the road, so it may be an advantage for us.”

There is another factor to consider. When Kent State suffered its letdown at Buffalo, the struggling Bulls were simply playing out the string. Akron may have a similar record, but the Zips can find incentive in the rivalry and their desire to keep the Wagon Wheel trophy.

“There is plenty of motivation for Akron to play well,” said Martin. “They are playing at home, a conference game, the rivalry and all of that stuff. You will get their best effort. It always happens that way.”

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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com