The Kent State Golden Flashes and the Ball State Cardinals meet in college football MAC-tion from Scheumann Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Kent State Loses 7th Straight

The Kent State Golden Flashes come into this one losers of 7 in a row after a 49-19 loss to Bowling Green last time out. Tommy Ulatowski has thrown for 721 yards, 7 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 51.4% passing while Gavin Garcia has a team-high 431 rushing yards with 2 TDs and Jaylen Thomas has 414 rushing yards and 2 TDs. Chrishon McCray has a team-high 41 receptions for 610 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. Trell Harris has 335 receiving yards and Luke Floriea has 284 receiving yards with 3 TDs and another pair of Golden Flashes have 100+ receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Bryce Sheppert has a team-high 61 total tackles while Kent State’s defense as a whole has combined for 11 sacks and 6 interceptions this season.

Kent State Golden Flashes Team Facts

• The favorite has won each of Kent State’s last 10 games.
• The favorite has covered the spread in each of Kent State’s last eight games.
• Kent State has lost the first half in five of its last six games against conference opponents.
• Each of Kent State’s last six November games as an underdog against non-AP-ranked teams have gone OVER the total points line.

Ball State Takes Out NIU

The Ball State Cardinals come into this one looking to build on their 20-17 win over Northern Illinois to improve to 3-7 on the year. Layne Hatcher has thrown for 565 yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception on 64.2% passing while Kadin Semonza’s thrown for 480 yards, 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions on 61% passing and Kiael Kelly has thrown for 415 yards, a touchdown and an INT on 52.7% passing while also rushing for 500 yards and 5 TDs. Marquez Cooper leads the Cardinals with 767 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns while Qian Magwood has a team-high 37 receptions for 335 yards to lead Ball State in receiving. Two more Cardinals have 250+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Keionte Newson has a team-high 69 total tackles while Sidney Houston Jr. has a team-high 5.5 sacks. As a unit, Ball State’s defense has combined for 20 sacks and 3 interceptions this season.

Ball State Cardinals Team Facts

• Ball State has lost each of its last seven matches when playing with a rest advantage.
• Ball State has covered the spread in each of its last four games.
• Eleven of Ball State’s last 12 November games against non-AP-ranked teams have gone UNDER the total points line.

Chris’ Pick

I’m going to roll with Ball State here. This one is tricky because you have two teams playing for nothing but pride at this point, but at least Ball State is being competitive in their games as of late while Kent State continues to get steamrolled by whoever is put in front of them, and a lot of the results have been blowout losses. Ball State is by no means a world-beater, but I think they’re good enough in a spot like this to go out and get the win and cover, even if it’s a fade of Kent State more than anything else.