Penn State Football is refreshed after a bye week on the heels of a scare against Bowling Green, but now have another MAC opponent on deck as Kent State comes to Beaver Stadium this weekend.
Happy Valley Insider takes a first look at the Golden Flashes ahead of the matchup on Saturday afternoon.
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Game/Broadcast Details:
Where: State College, Pennsylvania
Stadium: Beaver Stadium (Official capacity of 106,572)
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Television: Big Ten Network
Odds: Penn State opened as a 49-point favorite, over/under is 54.5 points.
Flashes in dark times:
The last two years at Kent State have brought a new level of struggles to the program. Following the departure of former head coach Sean Lewis, Kenni Burns took over the Golden Flashes and has had a rough start to his tenure.
The Kent State program has struggled historically, with just three winning seasons since the turn of the century, 2001, 2012, and 2019. The most recent of which came under the direction of Sean Lewis, who departed to be the offensive coordinator at Colorado, before heading to San Diego State, where he is in his first season as head coach in the Mountain West.
After going just 1-11 a year ago, with the lone win coming against Central Connecticut State, it appears to be another tumultuous campaign in Kent. Heading into Saturday, the Flashes are 0-3, with losses to Pitt, Tennessee and FCS St. Francis. The most recent of which was a 71-0 defeat at the hands of the Volunteers.
Those struggles will likely continue as they head for State College to take on a top ten Nittany Lion squad this weekend.
Numbers show a new low for Kent State:
Not only is Kent State at the bottom of the college football world in the win column at 0-3 to start the year, but a deeper dive into the numbers gives even less optimism.
The Golden Flashes are dead last in scoring defense (49.7 points per game) as well as total defense (570 yard per game). Offensively, it's not much better either. They are last in total offense (201.3 yards per game) and 127th out of 133 in scoring offense (13.7 points per game).
Despite running the ball 32 times per contest, the Golden Flashes are without a 100 yard rusher through three games and starting quarterback Devin Kargman has been stifled to start the year as well.
It is evident Kent State is one of the worst teams in FBS in 2024, but the numbers behind the Flashes arguably make matters worse. Penn State is not playing the same caliber of opponent as they did against Bowling Green, who fought valiantly, and go into Saturday with an opportunity to pick up momentum heading into what could be a ranked showdown against Illinois the following weekend.
Brief and successful history:
Saturday will mark the sixth meeting between Penn State and Kent State all-time, with the Nittany Lions having the upper hand in the series, five games to nothing. Unsurprisingly, Penn State has been rather dominant over those five matchups, as the closest game in the series was the first, which was a 32-10 victory for the Nittany Lions.
James Franklin is 2-0 against the Golden Flashes, with both wins coming early in his Penn State tenure. The most recent matchup was a 63-10 Penn State win, as Trace McSorley threw two touchdowns and ran in three more.
Penn State under Franklin has also scheduled MAC opponent with regularity, having just moved to 11-0 against the conference with the win over Bowling Green two weeks ago.
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