With less than a week until the Kent State football team meets Boston College in Cleveland Browns Stadium, Kent State coach Doug Martin is confident about his team’s preparation.

At the team’s first weekly press conference today, Martin said the team still needs to do one thing to be successful this season:finish.

“The rallying cry is still the same – (it’s) to finish,” Martin said. “When you look at us, even the(2006) team could have been in a bowl game had they finished the last game against Ball State. And then last year’s team certainly started out well – but didn’t finish.”

Junior defensive back Brian Lainhart said this season’s team still is looking forward to playing Bowl Championship Series teams this season after beating Iowa State last year.

“I know in the past Kent State has really just tried to keep it close, make it a competitive game (and) stay healthy,” Lainhart said. “(Now) we expect to win no matter who we play.”

Junior running back Eugene Jarvis said the team played well against Iowa State and Kentucky because of Martin’s coaching, and he expects another strong effort from the coach.

“It all comes down to the game plans,” Jarvis said. “In (last season’s games against BCS conference teams) coach had a real good game plan as far as running the football, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to have one for this game also.”

The Flashes take on the Eagles at 7:30 p.m. at Cleveland Browns Stadium Saturday. The two teams have never met in the past.

Contact sports reporter Thomas Gallick at [email protected].