Hello. It's Ozzie Brannigan. I'm sitting on a bench near Brady's Leap, wearing a navy-and-gold scarf I have rated, honestly, a 7 out of 10, and I'm here to tell you about Kent State football. You already know how I feel. I expected this. I always expect this. And I'm right about half the time, which, for a Kent State fan, is a pretty good number.
Part 1: Two Points, a Long Flight and a Fumbled Snap
South Florida beat Kent State 29-2 on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. We are 2-5. I expected this.
But I want you to know something, because I'm a pessimist, not a liar. For one whole quarter, Kent State led. True freshman defensive end Dion'Dre Taylor stuffed USF's D.J. Crowther in the end zone for a safety with 1:52 left in the first quarter. By The Belt reported that it was Kent's first lead against a non-conference FBS opponent since 2023. I stood up. I sat back down. I knew.
Here's what happened next. Kent State drove to the USF 1-yard... the USF 1. I can't even say it right. On third down, Dru DeShields tried a quarterback sneak, the snap didn't come cleanly, and USF's C.J. Hicks scooped it up and went 96 yards the other way for a touchdown. USF's postgame notes say it tied the longest fumble return in program history. Of course it did. If you're going to break my heart, at least make the record book.
By The Belt also said that Kent State became the first FBS team to score exactly two points since 2020. USF's notes say we drove inside its 30 four times and came away with nothing. We went 0-for-4 on fourth down and missed a field goal. We gave up a safety with 11 seconds left. And the run game managed 63 yards on 35 carries.
Now the part I'll admit through clenched teeth. The defense was good. USF ran for 78 yards, 2.4 a carry, and By The Belt counted four sacks and eight tackles for loss. Hayden Dawahare made nine tackles and a sack. Aiden Burgess had a sack. Rocco Nicholl had a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. DeShields threw for 165 yards without an interception, and Brendyn Smith caught four passes for 56 yards. If you're a defensive player at Kent State, I would like to knit you a nice sweater.
As for my weekly fourth-down rating: 0 out of 4, rated 0 out of 10. As for the uniforms: navy and gold, clean, classic, 8 out of 10. The uniforms are doing fine. The uniforms can't snap the ball.
Part 2: The Wheel Is Ours, So Naturally I'm Worried
Saturday, 1 p.m. Eastern, ESPN+, Akron at Kent State, at Dix Stadium. It's Wagon Wheel week. And something unusual is true, so let me say it slowly. Kent State has the Wheel.
Last November, Kent State beat Akron 42-35 in overtime at InfoCision Stadium, according to Kent State Athletics. That brought the Wheel back to Kent for the first time since 2022. It's been here for almost a year. I keep checking on it, the way you check on a cake in the oven, sure that it's about to fall.
Now, let's look at Akron, and let me tell you, it's helping my mood.
The Zips are 1-6 and 0-3 in the MAC. AP says they've lost five in a row. Last week, Miami (Ohio) ran for 324 yards against them, 9.3 a carry, and Rodney Nelson had a career-high 142 on just 13 carries. Akron's run defense ranks 130th in FBS at 200.4 yards a game. Its scoring defense ranks 124th, at 32.4 points a game. And Akron's turnover margin of minus-7 ranks 131st. Brayden Roggow has thrown eight interceptions this year, including four last week.
I know what you're thinking. "Ozzie, our offense ranks 138th in scoring." It does. AP lists us at 12.0 points a game, and 137th in yards. I'm aware. I'm always aware. But if there was ever a week for Kent State's running game to find itself, it's against a team that just gave up 324 rushing yards. Mason King has 202 yards this season. Wayne Harris has 396 receiving yards. And this defense has some real talent: Nicholl has three sacks and Dawahare leads us with 35 tackles.
Akron has good players, too. I'm a pessimist, so I respect every opponent. Jordan Gant has 456 rushing yards. Donelius Johnson has 67 tackles. Akron opened its game in Oxford with a 97-yard touchdown drive. Then it scored once more all day.
And here's the history, which I memorize so I can worry about it in detail. Akron Athletics says that in the spring of 1870, John R. Buchtel, an Akron industrialist, came to Kent looking for a place to build a college. His wagon got stuck in the mud, roughly where Kent State is today, and he lost a wheel. He went back to Akron and started Buchtel College, the school that became the University of Akron. The wheel turned up in 1902, when workers building a pipeline dug it out, and a Kent State dean, Dr. Raymond Manchester, made it a trophy in 1945.
So let me get this right. Akron's founder came to Kent, couldn't get his wagon through, and went home. Akron has been trying to get back to this exact spot ever since. Some programs have a spirit. Akron has unfinished business with our mud.
Tales From Two Towns
Kent. Kent is a college town of 28,215 on the Cuyahoga River. It was settled in 1805 and was called Franklin Mills for years, until it was renamed Kent in 1864 for Marvin Kent, the businessman who brought the railroad shops to town, per Wikipedia. We're "The Tree City," home of the Davey Tree Expert Company. We've got nearly 20 parks and preserves, festivals for Earth Day and folk music, and Brady's Leap, a city park named for Captain Samuel Brady's 21-foot jump across the river around 1780. And the Kent State University Museum in Rockwell Hall focuses on the history of fashion design from the 18th century to now. I rate everything I see there a 10. Even the hats.
Akron. Akron is a big city, 190,469 people, the "Rubber Capital of the World," and it has nice things, like Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and the Soap Box Derby. But Wikipedia says its name comes from the Greek word for "summit," because it was built at the high point of a canal. The high point of a canal, friends. That's like being the tallest person in a basement. And the Zips are named after the Zippers, a rubber boot made by B.F. Goodrich. Akron's football team is named after galoshes. You know what you wear galoshes for? Mud. Akron's whole identity has been about getting through Kent's mud since 1870.
Ozzie's Worry List
1. Hold onto the snap. I'm begging. 2. Run the ball against the 130th-ranked run defense, and keep running it. 3. Keep the Wheel. I've gotten used to it. You know I don't get used to things.
Do I think we'll win? I expected you to ask that. Here's the honest answer.
My call: Kent State Golden Flashes 26, Akron Zips 22.