Kent State football closed out non-conference play by taking its game into Sunday morning, when the Flashes lost to Fresno State 53-10.

This is the second time in four games Kent State has given up more than 50 points in a game.

“A lot of credit to Fresno State, they’re a great football team,” coach Kenni Burns said. “They’re going to do great things. I’d be shocked if they don’t win the Mountain West. They played hard, they played together – that’s something we’re striving for as a football team.”

KSU dropped to 1-3 on the season but is tied for third place in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division with Akron and Bowling Green.

The Bulldogs won its 13th consecutive game, the second-longest streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), behind the defending champions Georgia.

Fresno State improves to 4-0 following the victory, putting the team in third place in the Mountain West conference. 

“We have a lot to learn from, and there’s a lot to get better at,” Burns said. “This was the first game that we didn’t take a step in the right direction as a football team. They’ll get back to work, and we’ll learn, and we’ll see what went wrong today, and we’ll try to beat Miami next week.”

Fresno State came out hot in the first quarter by scoring 22 points.

The first touchdown came on a 40-yard pass from redshirt sophomore Mikey Keene to senior wide receiver Erik Brooks. A two-point conversion attempt made the score 8-0.

On the following Fresno State drive, a trick play saw senior wide receiver Jaelen Gill throw a 32-yard touchdown to junior running back Elijah Gilliam.

“They were able to do some stuff schematically that put some guys in conflict,” Burns said. “They had a couple of trick plays, and we didn’t respond very well to it.”

Kent State would trim the lead on an 18-yard rushing touchdown by graduate student running back Xavier Williams, making the score 15-7.

It was Williams’ first touchdown of the season.

Fresno closed out the first quarter with a two-yard rushing touchdown from Gilliam.

Kent State responded on the next drive with a 46-yard field goal from junior kicker Andrew Glass. Glass has made six of his seven field goal attempts this season and has converted on all his extra-point attempts.

“The offense made some strides today against a very good defense, so there are some positives to this game,” Burns said.

The Bulldogs would close out the game by scoring 31 unanswered points.

The team scored two touchdowns in the second quarter, coming on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Keene to redshirt freshman wide receiver Jalen Moss and a one-yard rush from Gilliam.

The momentum carried over into the second half, as Fresno State scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter.

Both touchdowns came from Keene passes. Junior tight end Tre Watson caught a 2-yard score, and Gill caught a one-yard touchdown.

Fresno finished off the scoring with a 40-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Dylan Lynch, making the final score 53-10.

Keene had an efficient 24-31 passing with 325 yards, four touchdowns, zero turnovers and a 197.4 rating.

With the game out of reach, Keene was taken out for the fourth quarter and was replaced by junior Logan Fife, who scored the two-point conversion play.

The team’s rushing attack was led by junior running back Malik Sherrod, who ran 10 times for 71 yards, but Gilliam contributed with 25 yards and two touchdowns on seven touches.

Moss was the best receiver on the day, as he caught seven balls for 120 yards and one touchdown.

For KSU, redshirt junior quarterback Mike Alaimo threw for 102 yards and zero turnovers on 8-15 passing.

Williams and sophomore running back Gavin Garcia ran the ball 28 times and combined for 105 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Jameel Gardner had two receptions for 49 yards, the most of any receiver for the Flashes.

The Fresno offense exploded for 513 total yards for the game – 370 yards came through the air and 143 on the ground.

KSU only came up with 231 total yards, with 102 passing yards and 129 rushing yards.

Fresno State ran 15 more plays than Kent State and had 27 first downs. The Flashes had 11 first downs.

“Third downs crushed us today,” Burns said. “We were good on first and second downs, and on third down, we couldn’t get off the field. We have to look at what we’re doing schematically – seeing if we’re putting our guys in the best situations, and then we have to do our job.”

The Bulldogs had nine drives that were completed. The team scored a touchdown on the first seven drives and had a field goal on the eighth.

Burns noted penalties hurt the team throughout the game. The Flashes had 11, accounting for 72 yards.

“We don’t let circumstances dictate our behavior,” he said. “We didn’t play sound football today – That’s what it was about. We got penalties in critical situations; we weren’t disciplined enough. The details are what we missed today, and we’ll find out why we did that as coaches. We have to coach better, we have to play better, and I have faith that we will.”

Looking ahead

“This is just one game,” Burns said. “The biggest disappointment was that we didn’t get better, but we’ll find out why we didn’t as coaches, and we’ll attack next week.”

KSU will open conference play for the first time this season against Miami (OH).

Miami is a spot above Kent State in the MAC Eastern Division with a 3-1 record.

This will be the 70th match-up between the programs. Miami has won 51 of the games, but each team has won five of the most recent 10 competitions. 

Kickoff will be at Dix Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We have to keep doing our job and getting better,” Burns said. “I still have complete faith in this team. They work hard enough, and they understand what they have to do. We’ll put it together, and we’ll find ways to win games.”

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].