Coming off a week of celebration and milestones, the Kent State football team was blown out in its second game of the season against No. 21 ranked Texas Tech 62-14 Saturday.
With the loss, the Flashes drop to 1-1 (0-0) after the first two weeks of the 2025 season.
The Red Raiders dominated all facets of the game from the opening kick, scoring on each of its first three drives. By the end of the first half, the game was all but sealed as TTU led 48-0.
“Disappointing loss for sure — not the way we wanted to start,” Coach Mark Carney said. “Uncharacteristic mistakes, substitution errors, communication errors got us behind early, and we weren’t able to recover.”
The Flashes were only able to put up 229 yards of offense against a star-studded Texas Tech defense and had three lost possessions due to an interception, turnover on downs and fumble.
KSU’s defense, the flagship unit from last week’s win against Merrimack, was wrecked by Texas Tech’s high-powered offense. In total, the Flashes allowed 601 yards from scrimmage against Coach Joey McGuire’s offense.
Recap
Texas Tech showed off its offensive prowess early, airing the ball out on the first drive when senior quarterback Behren Morton, who dealt with injury concerns all week, launched a pass to senior wide receiver Reggie Virgil on busted coverage for a 35-yard touchdown. This opened up the running game for the Red Raiders and sophomore running back Cameron Dickey, who capitalized on a KSU turnover on downs for his first rushing touchdown of the day on a two-yard scamper.
Morton threw another touchdown pass, this time to junior wide receiver Coy Eakin on a 42-yard bomb to cap off the first quarter. Texas Tech would later kick a field goal and tack on another Dickey rushing touchdown midway through the second quarter.
The Flashes had a solid scoring chance with the ball inside Red Raider territory with 8:46 on the clock, but redshirt senior quarterback CJ Montes threw a pick-six on a pass meant for redshirt junior running back Gavin Garcia to make it a 38-0 deficit for KSU.
Texas Tech rinsed and repeated on offense with back-to-back scoring drives to end the first half, the first being the team’s second field goal of the day, and then another passing touchdown to Virgil.
Heading into the second half down 48, the Flashes would climb into an even deeper hole when TTU freshman backup quarterback Will Hammond fired a 38-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Bryson Jones. The pass came with 5:15 left in the third quarter, the final quarter of the game, without a Flashes touchdown.
Early in the fourth, redshirt freshman quarterback Dru DeShields scrambled 10 yards out from the end zone for the Flashes’ first score of the game. The Red Raiders would fumble on the next possession, and DeShields delivered once more when he found redshirt freshman wide receiver Cade Wolford for a 16-yard score. This was Wolford’s third touchdown in two games; he’s still the only KSU player with a receiving touchdown this season.
“DeShields is growing up day by day,” Carney said. “I think every day he gets better.”
The play of the two quarterbacks was night and day, with Montes finishing with a quarterback rating of 2.2, 49 passing yards and one interception. Although he did not face most of the starters Montes did, DeShields performed well in the second half, putting up a stat line of 116 passing yards, one touchdown and a QBR of roughly 60.
With a little less than seven minutes left in the game, Hammond scored his second and final touchdown of the game, a 13-yard rushing touchdown up the middle to put Texas Tech up 62-14.
By the game’s end, the Flashes had just 10 first downs compared to TTU’s 27. The Flashes were also severely out-gained on the ground and in the air with 64 yards rushing (1.9 yards per carry) and 165 yards passing.
DeShields was the Flashes’ leading rusher with 29 yards, and Garcia finished right behind him with 27. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ardell Banks was the leading receiver with 49 yards on two catches. No Flashes player had more than two receptions in the game.
Moving ahead
The Flashes will return to the friendly confines of Dix Stadium as the team begins Mid-American Conference play in week three against Buffalo. Kickoff is set for noon on Sept. 13.
“I think this team’s built different than years past, and I’m excited to get on to MAC play,” Carney said.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.
