Kent, Ohio — Signage in Dix Stadium pronounces it as, “The House that Hazell Built.” Ohio could do nothing to demolish it, or the Golden Flashes’ season Friday.
No. 23 Kent State’s defense appeared to be the game’s only unit not suffering from somewhat of a tryptophan-induced hangover, as it swarmed Ohio’s backfield on more plays than not — bringing down Ohio redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton eight times en route to a 28-6 victory.
The personnel unit guarding Tettleton was more makeshift than usual, as the Bobcats (8-4, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) lost offensive linemen Ryan McGrath, a redshirt junior, to a broken leg and redshirt seniors Eric Herman and Vince Carlotta to an elbow injury and concussion, respectively, in the opening half.
The depleted offensive line undoubtedly led to the Golden Flashes’ hearty sack totals — the most Ohio has allowed since surrendering seven to the same opponent in 2010.
“When you are playing with inexperienced linemen, you're playing a very good defense and they're blitzing you, you're probably going to have your fair share of sacks,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said.
The Bobcats started off strong, as redshirt junior running back Beau Blankenship strung together three carries for 23 yards on the game's first four plays. Kent State (11-1, 8-0 MAC) senior linebacker C.J. Malauulu, however, stripped his next carry, and junior safety Luke Wollet took it 50 yards for the game’s opening touchdown only three minutes into the game.
After a relatively stagnant opening drive, Kent State sophomore running back Trayion Durham bounced off would-be tacklers and found the end zone from 15 yards out on Kent State’s second possession of the game.
Tettleton’s play early in the game was reminiscent of a quarterback whose team has lost four of its last five. He was sacked on third down for a 14-yard loss on Ohio’s third possession of the game and was intercepted by Malauulu for a touchdown on the next.
“The early part or the game was disastrous for us,” Solich said. “The two turnovers getting points on the board for them of those were tough. It was a poor start by us.”
At the six minute mark, Blankenship resumed his hard-nosed running style and became Ohio’ single season rushing leader, passing Kalvin McRae’s mark of 1,434, which was set in 2007.
After six runs from Blankenship, redshirt senior kicker Matt Weller nailed a 33-yard field goal to make the score 21-3 with 2:45 left in what could be classified as a nightmarish first quarter for the Bobcats.
After the two squads exchanged possessions for the majority of the second quarter, Ohio senior linebacker Jelani Woseley snatched a bobbled pass that was broken up by sophomore cornerback Larenzo Fisher to add a third interception to his season ledger on Kent State’s next possession.
The pick set Ohio with a two-minute drill to close out the half and provide it with an opportunity to improve its prospects before halftime.
Tettleton strung together four completions and a 10-yard scamper to the Kent State 14-yard line, but back-to-back incompletions and a 10-yard loss on a sack forced the kicking team onto the field for a 41-yarder with 15 seconds left in the half.
“We just killed ourselves with turnovers and we got stuff going but we couldn’t finish, we couldn’t put it in the end zone,” Blankenship said. “It’s upsetting to end the season like this.”
Ohio forced Kent State to punt on its first possession of the second half after only four plays, one of which was a 38-yard completion to redshirt junior running back Dri Archer. Ohio took over inside its own 20-yard line, but could not make anything of its possession and put its defense in less than ideal position after Venham shanked a 23-yard punt.
But the defense remained stalwart with its back against the wall, as redshirt freshman cornerback Ian Wells recovered a fumble from Archer to keep Kent State off the board while within dangerous striking distance.
“We realized when we had a chance to make a tackle we had to make a tackle or (Archer’s) going to take it to the house,” redshirt senior defensive lineman Corey Hasting said. “I think we did a great job of that today,”
The Bobcats squandered the turnover with a quick three-and-out, however.
Ohio and Kent State continued to trade possessions in the third quarter and neither allowed the other to mount a prolonged drive.
Kent State senior quarterback Spencer Keith broke through the malaise by finding senior wide receiver Eric Adeyemi in the back of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown to effectively seal the game with a 28-6 lead with 11:44 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Ohio needed to play with urgency if it had any hopes of defying the deficit, but couldn’t muster the wherewithal — particularly on fourth and long in its final play of the game, where Tettleton scrambled, scanned the field for open receivers and ran out of bounds well short of the first down marker.
“He’s saved us so many different times throughout the year so to say he should have done whatever on that one play is not fair to him,” Hasting said. “The reason we say he should have done more is we’ve seen him do more. That’s the thing. He’s a great player and you can’t blame him for anything he’s done.”
Hasting still believes Ohio is bowl-bound team coming from a conference that has six teams with bowl-eligibility.
Ohio will have to wait, though, until Dec. 2 to learn its fate. Kent State will compete against Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship Friday.
“We had a slide, but we were still the first bowl eligible team, we are still a really good football team,” Hasting said.
nr225008@ohiou.edu
