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Well, it’s come to this point: the final game of the regular season.
At 5-6, Kent State has to win this game in order to become eligible for a bowl game after coming up with two down-to-the-wire wins. At 6-5, Eastern Michigan has to win this game in order to get a guarantee at being picked for a bowl game. I suspect there are going to be a bunch of 6-6 teams that won't get picked for bowl games, so every victory counts.
The Kent State offense is lead by quarterback Dustin Crum who has a 68 percent completion rate for an average of 194 yards per game. In Kent State’s victory against Ball State, he alao led the rushing attack, picking up 101 yards. The two leading rushers of that game were Will Matthews with 85 yards and Xavier Williams with 84 yards. Dustin Crum has two main targets in the form of Isiah McCoy and Mike Carrington.
The Golden Flashes face an Eagle defense that has given up 198 yards/game on the ground, but have been fairly stingy in the air by only giving up 228 yards/game. The Eagles have a total of 11 interceptions and eight fumble recoveries. Given that Kent State has given up 37 sacks, I expect Eastern Michigan to add to their total of 20 sacks so far.
The Eastern Michigan defense is led by Kobie Beltram with six tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries and five pass break ups. There is also Vince Calhoun with 5.5 tackles for loss and one interception. Brody Hoying leads the Eagles with 4 interceptions. Based on all of that, I don’t expect Kent State to have an easy time of things.
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The Eastern Michigan offense is led by Mike Glass III, he has a 67 percent pass completion rate for an average of 247 yards/game, throwing 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He's been electric lately, completing over 80 percent of his passes over the last two games, with an average of 9.8 yards per pass.
The Eagle rushing attack has been led by Shaq Vann who has been bumping up his rushing average in the past few games. Currently, he stands at 74 yards per game. Given that Kent State has been pretty porous against the run, I think he will have a break out game. The top three receivers for Eastern Michigan are Arthur Jackson III, Quian Williams and Mathew Sexton. All three have roughly equal numbers in the way of receiving yards, making it a difficult matchup for the defense.
The Eagles face a defense that has given up an average of 261 yards per game on the ground and 206 yards per game in the air. They have four interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. They also have 20 sacks. They are led by Qwuantrezz Knight with 8 tackles for loss and Theo Majette with 7 tackles for loss.
So what does all of this mean? I expect that Eastern Michigan will finish their season with a game similar to their game against Northern Illinois. I’m not sure if it’s going to be a blow out but that could happen.