Next up in our Penn State preseason schedule preview is another Mid-American Conference program, the Kent State Golden Flashes. The Nittany Lions will face back-to-back MAC opponents this September in Bowling Green and Kent State to wrap up their non-conference schedule.
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2023 was a tough season for the Golden Flashes. Following a very successful 5-year stint as Kent State's head coach, Sean Lewis left to become the offensive coordinator at Colorado. This led to a lot of roster turnover and changes around the program.
This is no knock on Kent State, but they are not a program built to withstand losing a coach of Lewis' caliber. Lewis led the Golden Flashes to two of their five bowl berths in program history and their only bowl victory.
After going 22-21 from 2019-2021, a great accomplishment for Kent State, the wheels fell off in 2023. Kent State went just 1-11 last season getting outscored 387-176 in the process.
HEAD COACH PROFILE: Kenni Burns
Salary: $527,100
Overall Record: 1-11
Record at Kent State: 1-11
Record against Penn State: 0-0
Burns was named the 23rd head football coach in Kent State history on December 14th, 2022. Before being hired at Kent State, Burns had spent the previous seven seasons coaching under PJ Fleck's tutelage at Western Michigan and Minnesota. Burns was the running backs coach at Western Michigan in 2016 and held the same role at Minnesota from 2017-2018 before adding the assistant head coach title before the 2019 season.
During his collegiate career, Burns played in the Big Ten. He was a running back for Infiana from 2003-2006. He began his coaching career in 2008 as a tight ends coach at Southern Illinois. Burns then spent four years coaching wide receivers at North Dakota State and a year coaching the position at Wyoming before joining Fleck at Western Michigan.
Offensive Coordinator: Mark Carney
- Points Per Game: 14.7
- Yards Per Game: 270.5
- Passing Yards Per Game: 163.8
- Rushing Yards Per Game: 106.7
Defensive Coordinator: Kody Morgan
- Points Allowed Per Game: 34.6
- Yards Allowed Per Game: 390.6
- Passing Allowed Yards Per Game: 214.5
- Rushing Allowed Yards Per Game: 176.1
LAST TIME PENN STATE MET KENT STATE
Penn State and Kent State last met in 2018 when the Nittany Lions racked up 643 yards of total offense in a 63-10 shellacking of the Golden Flashes. Trace McSorely threw for 229 yards, rushed for 54, and scored 5 total touchdowns. John Thomas, Mark Allen, and Ricky Slade all rushed for a touchdown. In mop-up duty, Sean Clifford hit Daniel George for a school-record 95-yard touchdown pass.
The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series between the two programs 6-0 having outscored the Golden Flashes 207-39, including a pair of shutouts. Additionally, James Franklin is 2-0 in his career against Kent State.
Kent State lost a lot off of an already poor defense. As we will get to, they attempted to address that through the transfer portal. Former Southern Columbia standout Gavin Garcia will return as the catalyst in the run game for the Golden Flashes, and quarterback Tommy Ulatowski will look to take over on a full-time basis under center.
Wide receiver Ardell Banks and linebacker Luke Fulton will join the Golden Flashes after transferring in from Kentucky. Both players will be looking for an expanded role with Kent State after failing to crack the field in the SEC last season.
In addition to multiple defensive back reinforcements, the Golden Flashes have also brought in multiple transfer wide receivers who will look to help jumpstart the offense this season.
The biggest portal loss for Kent State was defensive lineman CJ West. West was the team's best defensive player last season, recording 40 tackles and leading the team in both sacks (2) and tackles for a loss (7).
Other notable losses are tight end Justin Holmes (Marshall) who caught 20 passes last season, wide receiver Trell Harris (Virginia) who had 399 yards and a score last season, and defensive back Capone Blue (Wake Forest) who had 11 pass breakups in 11 games played.
2024 SIGNING CLASS / TOP SIGNEES
Kent State signed a top-100 class nationally featuring 24 commitments, it was ranked fourth in the MAC.
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