Colorful Review
As the color analyst for Kent State football and basketball games Rob
Polinsky has seen a fair share of Golden Flashes games over the past two seasons.
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On Saturday, Polinksy was impressed with Kent State's effort at Boston
College, despite the 26-13 loss.
"I was as very impressed with the defense, especially the run defense
holding the BC running game in check for the most part," Polinsky said. "I
was worried that mammoth O-line would dominate the line of scrimmage. That
wasn't the case for the most part."
With starting defensive linemen Monte Simmons and Zach Williams out with injuries, the door was open for some of Kent State's younger
players to step up and earn more playing time.
Polinsky said sophomore Jake Dooley played well in Simmons' absence
and some of the usual suspects also turned in strong performances.
"Great play by (Cobrani Mixon) and (Brian Lainhart),
also I thought (Dorian Wood), (Quinton Rainey), (Roosevelt Nix) and (Norman Wolfe) had very good games," Polinsky
said.
Mixon led the team with 15 tackles while Lainhart added 11. Wolfe and Wood
had six stops each and Wolfe picked off a Boston College pass. Nix had a sack
and another tackle for a loss and forced two fumbles. Dooley made two stops.
Offensively, the Flashes weren't able to get much going in the running
game. That forced sophomore quarterback Spencer Keith to carry the
load.
"Keith made a couple of bad throws that were picked off, but when you
can't run the ball that is going to happen throwing as much as KSU does," Polinsky
said.
Keith completed 23-of-36 passes for 201 yards and a score. He did throw two
interceptions.
On special teams Polinsky continues to be impressed with the work of punter
Matt Rinehart and kicker Freddy Cortez.
"Rinehart and Cortez continue to excel in the kicking game," he
said. "Not only did Cortez make two long field goals, his kickoffs for
the most part pinned BC (deep in their own territory)."
He wasn't as impressed with the Flashes punt return unit, which fumbled
three punts, two of them recovered by the Eagles.
"Obviously Kent State has to find somebody who can field and return
punts," Polinsky said. "With Jarvis out of yesterday's game he
was sorely missed returning punts; three fumbles by two different returners
in his absence."
After watching the Flashes in action in Chestnut Hill, Polinsky knows just
how close the Flashes came to pulling off the upset.
"The frustrating part of (Saturday) was BC was beatable," he said. "If
(Kent State) could have sustained a drive or two on offense and been able to
field punts who knows what might have been. The defense played well enough
for KSU to get the upset, the (offense) and the special teams didn't."
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