The Kent State Golden Flashes started off the Sean Lewis era with a little more swagger in their step. They lost a close game to Illinois before an impressive win against an over matched FCS opponent. Then they hung around with Penn State early, before being blasted. Up next is an Ole Miss team that also got blasted, their kicking came against Alabama.

Game Details

When: Saturday, Sept. 22, Noon EST

Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Mississippi

Watch: SEC Network

Line: Ole Miss -29, per vegasinsider.com

Prediction

Kent State has shown a lot of promise under first year coach Sean Lewis, at least on offense. The defense has looked terrible against a solid offense, bad against a bad offense, and good against a bad FCS team. Well, Ole Miss is a good offense. Actually, they are pretty great.

The good news for Kent fans, and football fans in general, is that Ole Miss is not very good on defense. Sure, a lot of teams can give up north of 60 to Alabama, but not a lot of FBS teams are going to give up north of 40 to Southern Illinois. Plus, there is the added bonus that LSU is up next for the Rebels. I wouldn’t expect Ole Miss defenders to be completely focused on this game in practice, nor will they likely be ultra fired up on a Saturday at noon against Kent. Woody Barrett is the type of quarterback that can punish a defense not completely motivated. The Kent State rushing attack is also prone to punish teams that don’t properly fill their gaps.

I do think Ole Miss can potentially cover the 29 point spread, but this game could be a lot of fun getting there. And by that I mean, I would not be shocked if the half time score is something like 35-28.