The RedHawks (2-4, 2-1) are third, with two road wins over division rivals, but RedHawks coach Chuck Martin wouldnât be a coach if he didnât remind folks of the MACâs vast upset potential.
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âWe have five MAC games left,â he said during his Monday media session. âThereâs a chance we could win every one. Thereâs a chance that we could lose every one.â
Miami is coming off an impressive 41-17 win at defending division-champion Akron , but the RedHawks lost their only conference home game â a cliff-hanging 40-39 defeat at the hands of Western Michigan â and are 0-3 this season at Yager Stadium. Kent State, in its first season under coach Sean Lewis, led Illinois late in the third quarter before losing, 31-24, in the opener. Ohio, the preseason poll favorite to win the MAC championship, needed a touchdown in the last two minute to pull out a 27-26 win last Saturday at Kent State.
âThis a crazy improved Kent State team,â Martin said. âThey shouldâve-couldâve-wouldâve beat Ohio. Theyâre playing a tough schedule, but theyâve been playing good all year. Itâs just that nobodyâs noticed. They have a new coach who likes to spread the field.â
Sophomore quarterback Woody Barrett, a Florida native originally recruited by Auburn before he transferred to a junior college and then to Kent State, leads the Golden Flashes offense.
âHeâs big and strong and really fast,â Martin said of the 6-foot-2, 236-pound Barrett. âHeâs dynamic. He wouldâve been the highest-touted recruit in our league out of high school. He can really hurt you.â
Kent State junior running back Justin Rankin leads the MAC with an average of 131.0 all-purpose yards per game, but the Golden Flashes will be meeting a Miami defense that allows an average of 123.5 rushing yards per game â the fewest in the MAC.
âThey have a new staff, and their offense is new and improved,â senior linebacker Brad Koenig said. âThey like to play fast â up tempo â and it will be a difficult challenge. Weâll have our work cut out for us.â
Meanwhile, Kent State is tied for last in the MAC with an average of 508.8 total offense yards allowed per game and 11th with an average of 318.8 passing yards allowed per game.
âTheir defense definitely can run really well, but theyâve been a little bit susceptible against the pass,â Martin concedes.
Helmet fundraiser: The response by the public to Miami's placing ribbons in nine different shades on helmets for Saturday's game, representing nine different cancer awareness efforts, was so overwhelming that the program has made the helmets available as a charity fundraiser via an online auction at 32auctions.com.
Five helmets are available through the auction. Bids start at $250 and increase in $25 increments. The auction ends on Sunday at 5 p.m. A silent auction for one helmet will be held during Saturdayâs game in the southwest corner of Yager Stadium.
Helmets are also available via âBuy Nowâ at a price of $2,000. The helmets are very limited.
Those that win the auction or purchase the helmets directly will have the option of what colored ribbon they receive on the helmets.
All proceeds go Swoopâs Stoop, a student-athlete organization that partners with Cincinnati Childrenâs Hospital to provide opportunities to children and families who are battling cancer.
The helmets also were scheduled to be part of ESPNâs weekly âGear Upâ segment on the networkâs Saturday morning âSportsCenter.â
SATURDAYâS GAME
Kent State at Miami, 2:30 p.m., 980, 1450
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