ATHENS: It's a little early yet to be branding anything with ''must win'' or ''season defining'' tags, but the stakes Saturday left Kent State feeling as if it were November already.

The Golden Flashes' resulting performance was far from clean, but it was inspired.

After letting a game slip away at Akron last week, the Flashes rebounded for a crucial road victory over defending Mid-American Conference champion Ohio 33-25.

The Flashes (3-2, 1-1) avenged the loss that cost them a shot at last year's MAC title game and remain healthy in the MAC race after two challenging road games.

As the unconventional final score would indicate, it was not your average game. It was littered with penalties and botched plays and as far as the Flashes were concerned came uncomfortably close to boasting a wild comeback.

The two teams racked up an astounding 28 penalties for 264 yards. That doesn't include one play on which four flags were dropped; the offsetting fouls erased them.

But that shouldn't have been the memorable event of the nearly four-hour contest; there was plenty of achievement to be recognized.

None was more impressive than what the shortest player on the field, Kent State running back Eugene Jarvis, accomplished. The 5-foot-5 sophomore scatback gave the Bobcats (2-3, 0-1) headaches with his speed and agility.

Repeatedly he slipped into a mass of bodies nearly twice his size at the line of scrimmage and then darted out untouched on the other side. At times it seemed no Bobcat defender could quite get his hands around Jarvis or find the proper angle of pursuit.

Jarvis rushed for a career-high 230 yards on 30 carries, the most for a Flashes running back in 10 years. He had four runs of more than 20 yards, including touchdown runs of 42 and 35 yards.

''Eugene is a special player; he's got speed, he's got vision, he's got everything,'' Kent State coach Doug Martin said. ''A lot of people can make people miss in the open field; he makes people miss in the hole.''

Jarvis has rushed for 769 yards in the Flashes' five games. He's the first Kent State back since Don Fitzgerald in 1966 to have five consecutive 100-yard rushing games. His average of 153.8 yards per game might lead the nation by today.

His success could be attributed largely to Martin's scheme and the play-calling of quarterback Julian Edelman.

Edelman didn't have a great day passing: He threw for 169 yards and a touchdown but was just 12-of-25. But he stuck to the game plan.

Often when the Bobcats were in man-to-man coverage, Edelman called a pass and usually threw deep. He hit a couple of long ones and got the Bobcats to commit six pass interference penalties.

Those plays also forced Ohio to play more zone, which led Edelman to audible to a running play. With fewer Bobcats near the line of scrimmage, Jarvis had freedom to run.

''We knew we were going to be able to run the ball,'' Jarvis said. ''Julian did a great job, and we took what the defense gave us.''

The Bobcats had a chance to come all the way back from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit, but a punt return that would have given them the ball at midfield with two minutes to play was negated because they had 12 men on the field.

''I've never been associated with a game in my career when we've been penalized 17 times,'' Ohio coach Frank Solich said. ''You're not going to get anything done doing that.''

The Flashes also got a big day from kicker Nate Reed, who tied a school record by making four field goals.