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By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Thursday, Aug 28, 2008
One man's pressure is another's opportunity.
There's always pressure to win in college football. For Kent State and coach Doug Martin, the season opener provides something bigger: an opportunity.
The Golden Flashes have been mentioned as a Mid-American Conference sleeper this season, which is something coming off a 3-9 season derailed by injuries. Kent State returns its starting quarterback and leading rusher from a year ago.
The opener?
Saturday night in Cleveland, against Boston College, which will be playing without Matt Ryan, who now is a millionaire quarterback in the NFL.
Make no mistake, this will not be easy for Kent State. Boston College plays in a larger conference and won 11 games a year ago. It would be an upset if KSU were to win, but not a gigantic upset. The Golden Flashes are mere 10-point underdogs.
In a major versus mid-major meeting, a 10-point line is nearly a push.
Too, Martin took his team on the road early last season and beat Iowa State. He had Kent State at 3-2 (including another road win, at Ohio) before injuries depleted the roster.
If KSU leads or the game is close into the second half Saturday night, anything can happen.
Martin brings back 14 starters, including quarterback Julian Edelman. By year's end last season, injuries had forced Martin to use four quarterbacks.
Too, the Flashes return running back Eugene Jarvis. No returning running back in the country gained more than his 1,669 yards, and his 1,975 total yards were an eye-opening number and the reason he is on the Maxwell Award watch list.
The Flashes also return linebacker Derek Burrell, who was named to the preseason watch list for the Butkus Trophy.
Finally, KSU has a bright 45-year-old coach.
Martin has talked of knocking on the door of respectability, of changing the culture in Kent State football. There's no better place to start than with a friend.
Martin, Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski and Boston College offensive coordinator Steve Logan worked together at East Carolina, making Saturday's game a little challenging from the personal side.
At the same time, it will help a bit. Boston College and Kent State run the same offense.
''Exactly like ours, because it's the same offense Steve and I were running at East Carolina,'' Martin said. ''The terminology's the same; everything's the same. It's an advantage for us in that our defense is getting to work against a lot of plays passing game-wise that Boston College will be using.''
For KSU, every advantage — perceived or real — is a good thing, no matter how small.
Martin starts this season feeling better about his team than any other. Dix Stadium is being renovated, and his team's experience has enabled Martin to get more done in fall practice.
Boston College will start a quarterback who threw for 28 yards last season, and the Eagles lost their top running backs.
Sometimes in college football a team struggles early when it has to replace skill players.
Sometimes.
''Our emphasis is really to go into this game and not beat ourselves,'' Martin said.
Why would a school like KSU play Boston College?
Sometimes it's for the money.
Western Michigan opens its season in Nebraska for $800,000. Akron opens this weekend at Wisconsin.
But KSU is not guaranteed a large payoff for the Patriot Bowl, merely a typical gate for a home game. So they're playing because of the exposure and because of the opportunity.
A year ago, Akron beat Army in the first Patriot Bowl. Earlier that afternoon, Michigan lost at home to Appalachian State.
Games like that happen every year. Somewhere this season, someone is going to pull off a huge upset. It's never easy, and if things don't go well it easily could get ugly, too.
But some team in some state is going to pull off that upset.
As the Golden Flashes look forward, they can fairly ask: Why not us?
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
One man's pressure is another's opportunity.
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