Kent State Loses Final Game of the Season, Falls to Akron 24-14

By: Dan Lukas

Kent State continued their losing ways tonight, falling to Akron 24-14 and finishing the season on a five-game losing streak. The Kent State offense once again struggled in a game where both George Bollas and Dustin Crumm took snaps behind center.

Akron wasted no time getting the scoring started, marching down the field on their first drive when quarterback Kato Nelson found his receiver Kobie Booker for a 25-yard score to make it 7-0 Akron. The Kent State offense struggled throughout the first quarter and was unable to move the ball well. Akron was able to put more points on the board as kicker Nick Gasser connected from 45-yards out to make it 10-0 Akron heading into the second quarter.

Kent State was able to close the gap early in the second quarter after a Demetrius Monday interception was able to set up a Justin Ranking 8-yard touchdown rush just three plays later. That score made it a 10-7 game. The game wouldn’t remain close for long as turnovers were very costly for the Golden Flashes. First, a Bollas interception set up Manny Morgan touchdown rush to make it 17-7. Then with just 17 seconds left in the first half, Jamal Davis II stripped Kesean Gamble setting up a 40-yard scoop and score by Ulysees Gilbert III to make it 24-7 Akron heading to halftime.

The second half started off poorly for the Golden Flashes offense as Bollas threw his second interception of the game, ending his night as Crumm took over for the remainder of the game. Crumm was able to put a nice long scoring drive together for Kent State ending with a little trickeration as Ranking threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Chalfonte Butler to make it 24-14. This would be the last scoring of the game as each team had nothing but punts for the remaining drives.

In their final game of the season, the Golden Flashes defense held tough and did all the good to try and help their team get a victory. After four straight games of allowing 40 plus points, it was important for this defense to finish the season strong.

Kent State finishes a disappointing season with an overall record of 2-10 and a MAC record of 1-7. Kent State will miss the College Football Bowl Season for another year, having not made it since 2012 when they played in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.