2011 Kent St. Golden Flashes Gambling Odds | Predictions

2011-2012 Football Previews – MAC Conference – Kent St. Golden Flashes

Darrell Hazzell took over the Kent State program after being a top assistant at Ohio State for years, but he was a late hire. In fact, he had just six weeks to get his first recruiting class put together.

Mid American Conference 2011-2012 Football Previews: Kent State Golden Flashes
Head Coach: Darrell Hazell
2010 Record: 5-7
Kent State Gambling Odds from JustBet to win BCS: +15,000 (Part of Field)
Kent State Odds from JustBet to win MAC Championship: +2,000
Kent St. Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2011 Schedule –>

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Hazzell is seen as one of the best recruiters in the country, and hopes are high that he can help Kent State get going in the right direction.

Kent State’s defense ranked in the top ten in the country last year, but the team was only able to go 5-7. The offense sputtered and often made costly mistakes in the red zone. Spencer Keith is a two-year starter at quarterback, but the new coaching staff has said the quarterback position is wide open right now.

Can the defense keep up its impressive play despite graduating several key players? Can the offense start to convert on its opportunities?

Team Strengths:

The Golden Flashes are very strong up front defensively. Roosevelt Nix led the team with 10 sacks in his freshman season last year. Both defensive tackles are back to continue to clog up the running lanes. In all, Kent State returns seven letterwinners from a defensive front that was the best in the MAC last year.

Kent State’s offensive front has a chance to be the best in the MAC as well. They return 89 starts among their offensive linemen. This is a fairly big front that is extremely athletic compared to the average offensive line. Look for Kent State’s pass protection and run blocking to be very good in 2011.

Josh Pleasant and Norman Wolfe are both high quality cornerbacks that return for Kent State this season.

These two give the Golden Flashes one of the best cornerback tandem’s in the conference.

Team Weaknesses:

Spencer Keith is expected to end up winning the quarterback job once again this year, but he has to start making better decisions on the field. Keith threw 8 touchdowns and 11 interceptions a year ago. He has the mobility to keep a play alive, but sometimes he is indecisive and holds onto the ball too long. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

Kent State must replace two high quality linebackers that graduated from last year’s team. Two seniors are expected to take over in the starting role, but these are guys who haven’t seen much of the field in the past.

The Golden Flashes got a lot of productivity out of this position last year, but that production might dip a bit this year.

The running game was non-existent most of last season. The offensive line should be good this year, and they have some pretty good backs, but it just didn’t click in 2010. If Kent State is going to move up in the standings, it will need an increase in production from the running game.

2011-2012 Kent State Football Prediction: 6-6

I think Kent State made a very good hire when they picked up Hazzell. It will be difficult to judge him on his first year, but I think they’ll make a small amount of progress.

The defense should still be pretty good, and I think the offense will be noticeably better than last season. The schedule is difficult in the beginning, but if Kent State can keep it together they could finish off the year with some momentum.

I think the Golden Flashes make it to six wins in 2011.

2011 Kent State Golden Flashes Schedule

9/3/11 12:00 PM ET @OHIST
9/10/11 12:00 PM ET TEM
9/17/11 12:00 PM ET @CIN
9/24/11 12:00 PM ET VMI
10/1/11 12:00 PM ET @EMICH
10/8/11 12:00 PM ET FLINT
10/22/11 12:00 PM ET OHIO
10/29/11 12:00 PM ET CMICH
11/3/11 7:30 PM ET @MIAOH
11/12/11 12:00 PM ET KENST
11/19/11 12:00 PM ET @BUFF
11/25/11 12:00 PM ET @WMICH