KENT: A record-tying day by Eugene Jarvis wasn't enough to help Kent State shake its losing ways.

Going with a new quarterback might not be, either.

The Golden Flashes (3-5 overall and 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference) dropped their third consecutive game Saturday this time 31-20 to visiting Bowling Green (4-3, 2-1) at Dix Stadium and lost their starting quarterback along the way.

With 168 yards on 33 carries, Jarvis tied the record set by Don Fitzgerald (1966) and Eric Wilkerson (1987) for Kent State running backs to reach 1,000 yards in the fewest number of games (eight) in a season.

Jarvis clinched the record on the first play of the second quarter with a 6-yard rush, helping him record his fourth 100-yard half of the season.

But Jarvis' big day was first overshadowed by a lesser-known running back and then even more so by the news that KSU starting quarterback Julian Edelman will miss the remainder of the season with a broken arm.

First, Bowling Green surprised by switching from being a pass-happy offense to an effective ground team with little-known Willie Geter making like Jarvis by rushing for a game-high 203 yards.

''They're both quick, little, elusive guys,'' Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon said of Jarvis and Geter. ''Willie's going to be a great player before he's through. He's a tough kid. Sometimes I look at him and go, 'Are you sure you're just a freshman?'''

Entering the game with just 88 yards on the season, the 5-foot-8, 170-pound freshman ripped the Flashes for 22 carries and a 4-yard touchdown that put Bowling Green on the board in the first quarter.

''They really did a nice job of changing their offense drastically from what they'd done this whole season and kind of caught us off-guard,'' Kent State coach Doug Martin said.

But as much as the Falcons' newfound ground attack and Geter's career day hurt the Flashes, the news immediately after the game of Edelman's injury put a dark cloud over an already frustrated team.

Playing hampered by a torn ligament in his left knee suffered during the Kentucky game on Sept. 8, Edelman broke the radius bone in his right arm on a play with less than three minutes left.

The game started with Flashes' backup quarterback Anthony Magazu on crutches with an ankle injury, leaving Martin and his staff to decide by this afternoon whether they will remove the redshirt from freshman recruit Giorgio Morgan.

Despite moving the ball up and down the field in the first half, the Flashes were limited to a pair of field goals until Edelman sneaked into the end zone on a 3-yard quarterback keeper with 1:16 left in the first half.

Yet even with their continued red-zone struggles, the Flashes trailed just 14-13 at the half.

But as has been the pattern, Kent State's defense allowed Bowling Green to score on its opening possession of the second half. In pushing their lead to 21-13, the Falcons became the fifth of eight Kent State opponents this year to score on their opening possession of the third quarter.

''Coach tries to emphasize that we have to get a stop coming right out of halftime and not let them move the ball,'' safety Jack Williams said. ''But for some reason we have trouble doing that.''

Yet it was of little concern compared with the red-zone penalties two holding calls, two false starts and an illegal motion that short-circuited three of five potential KSU scoring drives.

''The penalties in the red zone are killing us,'' Martin said. ''They're really destroying our scoring offense. We're an offense that should be scoring 30 points a game. But we can't get it done because the penalties continue to hamper us down there.''

The coach isn't the only one up in arms over the inopportune mistakes.

''We showed we can move the ball on any defense all season,'' Jarvis said. ''But it's the little things we've got to get back and correct. . . . It's people jumping off sides and little stupid stuff that we shouldn't be doing.''

Before the injury, Edelman hit wide receiver Rashad Tukes on a 32-yard touchdown strike with just six minutes to play to pull within eight points. But the Falcons put the game away with a 49-yard field goal booted by Sinisa Vrvilo.