FOURTH QUARTER
1:55 ... Kent State turnover on downs at the Miami 21 after Reardon on 3rd-and-1 comes up short and Holley stuffed for no gain on 4th and inches.
As I type, Miami picks up a first down. RedHawks will escape with a 10-3 win.
Disappointing day for the Flashes. The offense had chances, but watched too many drives stall in Miami territory.
4:49 ... Reardon keeper on 1st play of the drive looked like it was going nowhere, but the KSU quarterback somehow found some daylight as he avoided a tackle, then scrambled for 13 yards and a first down at the Miami 41.
5:27 ... The clock is ticking as Miami comes on to punt.
A short kick lands dead with 4:58 to play at the Kent State 48.
9:04 ... Colin Reardon just walked off the field under his own power after absorbing a big hit while throwing the football on a 1st-and-10 play from the Miami 18.
Nathan Strock is in at quarterback for the Flashes, who have put together a nice march highlighted by throws by Reardon to Pierce, Humphrey and Calhoun, all to move the chains.
12:15 ... Kent State's defense has done its job today.
As I type, Miami picks up a first down. RedHawks will escape with a 10-3 win.
Disappointing day for the Flashes. The offense had chances, but watched too many drives stall in Miami territory.
4:49 ... Reardon keeper on 1st play of the drive looked like it was going nowhere, but the KSU quarterback somehow found some daylight as he avoided a tackle, then scrambled for 13 yards and a first down at the Miami 41.
5:27 ... The clock is ticking as Miami comes on to punt.
A short kick lands dead with 4:58 to play at the Kent State 48.
9:04 ... Colin Reardon just walked off the field under his own power after absorbing a big hit while throwing the football on a 1st-and-10 play from the Miami 18.
Nathan Strock is in at quarterback for the Flashes, who have put together a nice march highlighted by throws by Reardon to Pierce, Humphrey and Calhoun, all to move the chains.
12:15 ... Kent State's defense has done its job today.
Miami just punted the ball back to the Flashes after Najee Murray and Marques Moore sandwiched Jared Murphy on a third-down throw by Hendrix, jarring the football away from the Miami receiver.
Hendrix is just 11-of-28 for 120 yards.
Flashes have the ball back at their own 26 after the punt.
Slant throws to Humphrey and Brooks have moved the chains to open the drive.
Slant throws to Humphrey and Brooks have moved the chains to open the drive.
THIRD QUARTER
0:00 ... The Flashes will face a 3rd-and-7 from their own 34 when play resumes in the fourth quarter.
0:40 ... Miami 10, Kent State 3
The RedHawks have extended their lead on a 41-yard field goal by Kaleb Patterson.
Kent State's defense has done its job. After allowing a 39-yard throw from Hendrix to Jared Murphy, the defense held firm, holding the RedHawks to a field goal attempt thanks in large part to blitzing freshman linebacker Dustyn Moore. His hit on Hendrix on 3rd-and-3 forced a wild throw.
Kent State's offense has moved the ball between the 20's in the second and third quarters, but it only has 3 points to show for it.
2:35 ... Another drive into Miami territory ends at the RedHawks 32 after Reardon was forced to throw the ball away under pressure on a 4th-and-3 throw.
The first two drives had Kent State in position for field goal tries of 42 and 49 yards if not for the interception and the turnover on downs. Instead, the Flashes have come away with no points on two fairly long drives.
10:39 ... A promising drive for Kent State to start the third quarter ends with disappointment as Miami's Heath Harding picks off Reardon at the RedHawks' 5-yard line. The Nick Holley-led drive started to stall on first down at the Miami 27 after another sweep give to Calhoun was blown up by Miami for an 8-yard loss.
0:40 ... Miami 10, Kent State 3
The RedHawks have extended their lead on a 41-yard field goal by Kaleb Patterson.
Kent State's defense has done its job. After allowing a 39-yard throw from Hendrix to Jared Murphy, the defense held firm, holding the RedHawks to a field goal attempt thanks in large part to blitzing freshman linebacker Dustyn Moore. His hit on Hendrix on 3rd-and-3 forced a wild throw.
Kent State's offense has moved the ball between the 20's in the second and third quarters, but it only has 3 points to show for it.
2:35 ... Another drive into Miami territory ends at the RedHawks 32 after Reardon was forced to throw the ball away under pressure on a 4th-and-3 throw.
The first two drives had Kent State in position for field goal tries of 42 and 49 yards if not for the interception and the turnover on downs. Instead, the Flashes have come away with no points on two fairly long drives.
10:39 ... A promising drive for Kent State to start the third quarter ends with disappointment as Miami's Heath Harding picks off Reardon at the RedHawks' 5-yard line. The Nick Holley-led drive started to stall on first down at the Miami 27 after another sweep give to Calhoun was blown up by Miami for an 8-yard loss.
Two plays later, Reardon tried to make a difficult throw on 3rd-and-8, backing away from a collapsing pocket and throwing late over the middle off of his back foot. An easy pick for Harding.
SECOND QUARTER
HALFTIME ... Miami 7, Kent State 3
Some halftime numbers ... total yards, first downs and time of possession have almost evened out after Kent State won the second quarter.
For Kent State, Colin Reardon is 9-of-16 for 86 yards. He has also suffered from a few drops from his receivers.
Miami's Andrew Hendrix is 7-of-19 for 65 yards, but he leads all rushers with 55 yards on 8 carries, including the 19-yard touchdown run.
The Flashes hope that failing to score on 1st-and-goal from the 5 and 2nd-and-goal from the 2 does not come back to haunt them.
0:41 ... Miami is set to punt the ball back to Kent State.
The RedHawks' top receiver, David Frazier also just ran off of the field with an apparent injury to his right shoulder. Frazier has almost twice as many catches and more than twice as many receiving yards than anyone on the Miami roster.
1:36 ... Miami 7, Kent State 3 ... The Flashes were forced to settle for a 28-yard field goal after a long 13-play, 70-yard drive stalled inside the Miami 5.
The Flashes picked up a 1st down at the 5 on a nice 14-yard catch and run by Nick Holley.
Holley then picked up 3 yards to set up 2nd-and-goal at the 2. But a drop of a tough catch at the goal line by Holley followed by a fumbled inside handoff by Reardon to Ernest Calhoun (losing 8 yards) led to the field goal try.
Need to get touchdowns instead of field goals on 1st-and-goal opportunities like that.
3:44 ... Big first down for the Flashes on the 3rd-and-12 throw as Reardon steps up in the pocket and fires a strike over the middle to Boyle to the Miami 20.
4:08 ... Not much other than punting for most of the second quarter ... although Kent State is on the move now thanks to a 17-yard run by Anthony Meray and a 15-yard waggle pass from Reardon to Pierce.
The Flashes are now at the Miami 36, but facing a 3rd-and-12 thanks to a false start penalty. The Flashes have called timeout to discuss it.
12:37 ... The Kent State offense is struggling here in the first half.
Some halftime numbers ... total yards, first downs and time of possession have almost evened out after Kent State won the second quarter.
For Kent State, Colin Reardon is 9-of-16 for 86 yards. He has also suffered from a few drops from his receivers.
Miami's Andrew Hendrix is 7-of-19 for 65 yards, but he leads all rushers with 55 yards on 8 carries, including the 19-yard touchdown run.
The Flashes hope that failing to score on 1st-and-goal from the 5 and 2nd-and-goal from the 2 does not come back to haunt them.
0:41 ... Miami is set to punt the ball back to Kent State.
The RedHawks' top receiver, David Frazier also just ran off of the field with an apparent injury to his right shoulder. Frazier has almost twice as many catches and more than twice as many receiving yards than anyone on the Miami roster.
1:36 ... Miami 7, Kent State 3 ... The Flashes were forced to settle for a 28-yard field goal after a long 13-play, 70-yard drive stalled inside the Miami 5.
The Flashes picked up a 1st down at the 5 on a nice 14-yard catch and run by Nick Holley.
Holley then picked up 3 yards to set up 2nd-and-goal at the 2. But a drop of a tough catch at the goal line by Holley followed by a fumbled inside handoff by Reardon to Ernest Calhoun (losing 8 yards) led to the field goal try.
Need to get touchdowns instead of field goals on 1st-and-goal opportunities like that.
3:44 ... Big first down for the Flashes on the 3rd-and-12 throw as Reardon steps up in the pocket and fires a strike over the middle to Boyle to the Miami 20.
4:08 ... Not much other than punting for most of the second quarter ... although Kent State is on the move now thanks to a 17-yard run by Anthony Meray and a 15-yard waggle pass from Reardon to Pierce.
The Flashes are now at the Miami 36, but facing a 3rd-and-12 thanks to a false start penalty. The Flashes have called timeout to discuss it.
12:37 ... The Kent State offense is struggling here in the first half.
The best play of the day for the Flashes was a 7-yard pickup early in this quarter that saw tight end Casey Pierce catch the ball in traffic, turn to run, then fumble the ball forward. Josh Boyle fell on the football amid a mob of RedHawks defenders for a first down at the Miami 38. But that's when the drive stalled.
Anthony Melchiori having another good game punting the ball for the Flashes, following a 51-yard boot in the first quarter by pinning Miami at its own 5 here early in the second.
FIRST QUARTER
0:00 ... An 8-yard pass from Colin Reardon to Ernest Calhoun followed by a 3-yard run by Nick Holley gave Kent State its first 1st down of the game with just 41 seconds to go in the opening quarter.
Kent State will face a 3rd-and-7 from the Miami 49 when the second quarter begins.
4:12 ... Miami 7, Kent State 0
It has been an ugly start for Kent State so far here in Oxford.
With its drive kept alive by a questionable overturn via instant replay, Miami has grabbed a 7-0 lead on a 19-yard touchdown run by Andrew Hendrix.
The RedHawks' drive found new life when a 3rd-and-3 throw was ruled incomplete on the field and then overturned via replay by the booth. Officials have the same ESPN3 feed we have in the press box, and the lone decent view didn't appear to show anything worthy of reversing the call.
So far, Miami is dominating time of possession 9:08 to 1:40. The RedHawks also have 8 first downs to Kent State's 0.
9:20 ... Miami's offense drove as far as the Kent State 25 yard line on the opening drive, but an ultra-aggressive call on 4th-and-5 led to a turnover on downs.
The RedHawks turned down the chance to try a 42-yard field goal attempt and instead kept the offense on the field, even after quarterback Andrew Hendrix called a timeout. A backwards pass on that 4th-and-5 play turned into to an 8-yard loss.
Earlier in the drive, Miami was bailed out on another questionable play call on 4th-and-inches. Lining up in an empty set, Hendrix threw a slant pass that fell incomplete. A pass-intereference call kept the drive alive, however.
The RedHawks found that 4th-and-inches opportunity on another Kent State penalty as a Golden Flashes player bumped into punter Christian Koch on 4th-and-6.
Kent State head coach Paul Haynes did not appear to be happy with the officials after the pass-interference call. He was on the field arguing during a timeout minutes later and pointing to the spot of the call.
The Flashes won the coin toss and chose to defer until the second half.
Miami has a very nice crowd here at Yager Stadium with most of the home stands filled on Parents Day here in Oxford. Weather is 65 and sunny.
PREGAME
LINKS:
Listen live on iHeartRadio: http://www.iheart.com/live/Golden-Flashes-Radio-6068/
Live stats: http://www.muredhawks.com/liveStats/v2/football/index.dbml?GAME_STAT_ID=1709770&db_oem_id=26100
Watch on ESPN3: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/2132626/College-Football-Kent-State-vs-Miami-(Ohio)
2:20 p.m. ... We are about 10 minutes away from kickoff here at Yager Stadium.
A few more changes to report: Terrell Johnson will move inside to right guard today after playing most of the season at right tackle. That means freshman Brock Macaulay goes back to right tackle. Freshman Nathan Puthoff, who had been the starter at right guard, will rotate in on the offensive line.
Defensively, the Flashes will adjust to Miami's pass-first offense by moving Nate Terhune from tackle to the nose. Jontay Byrd takes over as the starter at tackle. While Jon Cunningham is not in the starting lineup today, the big freshman will still see plenty of action rotating in at the nose.
1:42 p.m. ... The Golden Flashes are on the field for pre game. Darius Redmond is not warming up. The injured linebacker did not make the trip. Freshman Marques Moore will start in his place. It was good to see longtime Kent State fan Hank Dunckel hanging out at the fence in the southwest corner of Yager Stadium, just outside the Golden Flashes locker room. Based on the early showing, we could see a large contingent of Kent State fans here today. Lots of blue and gold milling about.
12:26 p.m. ... The Kent State team buses just pulled up outside of Yager Stadium and players are making their way to the locker room.
Not many changes to the lineup this week with mostly minor nicks and bruises suffered in last week's win over the United States Military Academy. Earlier in the week, sophomore linebacker Darius Redmond's availability was in doubt. He is still listed No. 1 on the depth chart at his position with freshmen Marques Moore and Dustyn Moore behind him. All three of those linebackers have been playing well. We'll get an update soon.
Terence Waugh at the Leo spot should be available to see even more action this week, as should Najee Murray, who is listed No. 2 at cornerback behind freshman Demetrius Monday on the current depth chart.
Elcee Refuge is also listed No. 1 at the Star position after being suspended for the first half of last week's game and then watching Nick Cuthbert extend his first career start at safety with big second-half minutes on his way to earning MAC East Defensive Player of the Week honors.
12:15 p.m. ... Some Miami University employees just walked into the press box and noticed that the ESPN graphics on all of the monitors have Kent State ahead 12-7
"Hey, how are we already down five points," said one of those employees.
"I'll take that," another replied.
Personally, I'd always be happy to get spotted by five points more than two hours before kickoff.
Radio voice Ty Linder wasn't quite as happy.
"Freaking extra points," he complained before breaking into a smile. "What happened? Did we miss the first and then go for two?"
It's a beautiful setting here. Rob Polinsky of the Kent State Radio Network and I were talking about the stadiums in the league during our drive down this morning, and we agreed that this and Ohio University's Peden Stadium are probably the two most picturesque settings for a football game in the Mid-American Conference.
Like Peden, Yager is getting a pretty significant upgrade with a brand new field house going up beyond the stadium's north stands. If you look at the picture to the left, you'll notice the traditional brick facade that is a staple on the Miami University campus. There is a white facade behind the crane in the picture that I'm told will remain for only a couple of years. That will eventually be torn down to create a link to a new facility that will house locker rooms, football offices and more just beyond the north end zone.
Dave, PLEASE ask the O coordinator and running back coach why Meray does not touch the ball more.
ReplyDelete4th and inches , call a timeout and leave the full back and running back who squats 460 on the sideline!
ReplyDelete