August 31, 2012

Jeremy Birmingham
KentStateReport.com Staff Writer

Last night in front of 15,151, Kent State opened its 2012 football season with a 41-21 victory against Towson State at Dix Stadium. The game featured sloppy offensive performances from both teams, but it was the Tigers' generosity of spirit that set the tone and paved the way for Kent State to start the season off on the right foot.

Towson State turned the ball over six times to Kent State's highly-ranked defense, allowing the Flashes to start the game with three straight series inside the Towson State 40-yard line. The offense was by no means dynamic for Darrell Hazell, but they were able to take advantage of the Tigers' miscues and put up the game's first 17 points. The six turnovers were the most caused by a Golden Flashes team since 2008, when they also forced six against Miami in Oxford.

Perhaps more importantly for Kent State was not the turnovers they forced, but the turnovers they avoided. Senior quarterback Spencer Keith, much maligned a year ago for bouts of inconsistency and poor decision-making, avoided making any critical errors and did not turn the ball over. He was not asked to do much, only completing 7 of 14 passes for 82 yards in three quarters of play, but managed to score his eighth career rushing touchdown. His seven completions were enough to move him into second place on the schools all-time career completion list, trailing only Flashes legend Josh Cribbs. As stated, the lack of turnovers for Keith might be the most important statistic: Kent State is 10-2 in his career when he doesn't throw an interception.

Dri Archer made an immediate impact in his return to the Kent State football after missing a year due to academic issues, becoming the first player to score three touchdowns in a game since 2008 when Julian Edelman, now of the New England Patriots. Archer's 98-yard kickoff return tied for the second longest in the program's history; he finished with two returns for 155 yards. The three scores bring Archer's career total to nine, but they were his first since October 30, 2010 against Ball State. He finished the game with 217 all-purpose yards.

Defensively for Kent State, it was senior Norman Wolfe and juniors Luke Wollet and Roosevelt Nix who led the charge. Wolfe forced a fumble on the Tigers' first drive of the game and also recorded his ninth career interception, all of which have come in his last twenty games. Wollet led the Golden Flashes with nine tackles, and also recorded an interception - his fifth in the last ten games - from his safety position. Nix, the 2010 MAC Defensive Player of the Year looked sharp in his first game of the season after nagging injuries hampered his production in 2011. "Rosie" had four tackles for loss and eight tackles. His 41 career tackles for loss is good for sixth all-time at Kent State.

In what was perhaps a nod to the future, junior college transfer David Fisher took all the fourth quarter snaps for Kent State, and he made the most of his chances. Fisher connected with redshirt freshman Josh Boyle on screen pass with his first pass attempt - the first play of the fourth quarter - and Boyle took it 63 yards for score. For the night, Fisher finished 3-3 passing and 84 yards. Boyle, from Venice (Fla.), led Kent State in catches (3) and yards (95). Towson State's high-powered offense struggled to maintain any consistency because of the turnover bug, but still managed to outgain Kent State for the game 336-267. The rushing attack of Towson State, usually their strength, failed to ever get going as they faced large early deficits. Sophomore Terrance West had 14 carries for only 31 yards. Kent State's own sophomore starting tailback, Trayion Durham, also struggled to get unhitched. Durham had 20 carries but only finished with 54 yards.

With the first game under their belt, Kent State will head south to Lexington, Kentucky to face the SEC's Kentucky Wildcats next Saturday at 7:30pm. Stay tuned to KentStateReport.com for news and notes as it becomes available.