Kent State coach Paul Haynes didn’t say much about his season opener against Ohio on Aug. 30, but he said enough to make Bobcat fans cringe.
When asked his thoughts on redshirt junior Derrius Vick, Ohio’s projected starting quarterback, Haynes smiled before delivering a crushing reality check to the program.
“I have no idea who that is, to be honest with you,” he said.
And while it may be a quote Vick hangs from his bulletin board for motivation, it offers an honest answer with a month and change prior to the regular season kickoff.
“Right now, I’m more worried about who our quarterback is going to be,” Haynes said. “We need to focus on ourselves and how we’ll play.”
Hayne’s message was simple: it’s too early in the year to try to guess how teams will finish in the conference—ironically happening the same day as the pre-season polls were released.
In that poll, Bowling Green topped the MAC East, with Akron, Ohio and Buffalo following suit.
“The standings don’t matter to me,” said Joe Licata, Buffalo’s redshirt junior quarterback. “(The media) gets paid to make those, but our job is to prove them wrong and be back here in Detroit come Dec. 5 ... That’s all that matters.”
Even at Ohio, which ended the program’s winningest class by losing four of its last five games, players were quick to brush off the predictions and focus more on the upcoming matchups to dictate the future.
“At the end of last year, things didn’t go the way we hoped it would be,” Lucas Powell, a redshirt junior center, said. “We’re a young team with new people and we want to go out there and show people this is what we can do and change Ohio football. We’re excited.”
One message that was apparent, however, was the Bobcats seeking revenge from last November’s 44-13 thumping from Kent State at Peden Stadium. Ohio will have the chance for redemption week one, jumping to the top of the MAC East table with a victory in the season opener.
“We definitely remember last year’s loss,” said redshirt senior safety Josh Kristoff. “It only adds more fuel to the fire. They were on our home turf and took it to us. We’re hoping to repay the favor at their place.”
Or, in the eyes of Haynes, it’s about wiping the chalkboard and starting over. While the Bobcats dwell on past misfortunes, the Flashes are more focused on a positive start out of the blocks.
“Last year’s game doesn’t really matter,” Haynes said.” We won’t approach preseason camp differently. We’re just going to focus on us. But there’s definitely excitement starting off this way.”
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohiou.edu.
