2018 Kent State Golden Flashes football team

The 2018 Kent State Golden Flashes football team represented Kent State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Sean Lewis and played their home games at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 2–10, 1–7 in MAC play to finish in last place in the East Division.

2018 Kent State Golden Flashes football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	East Division
Record	2–10 (1–7 MAC)
Head coach	Sean Lewis (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Andrew Sowder (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Veer and shoot
Defensive coordinator	Tom Kaufman (1st season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Dix Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Mid-American Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Buffalo x		7	–	1					10	–	4
Miami (OH)		6	–	2					6	–	6
Ohio		6	–	2					9	–	4
Akron		2	–	6					4	–	8
Bowling Green		2	–	6					3	–	9
Kent State		1	–	7					2	–	10
West Division
Northern Illinois x$		6	–	2					8	–	6
Western Michigan		5	–	3					7	–	6
Eastern Michigan		5	–	3					7	–	6
Toledo		5	–	3					7	–	6
Ball State		3	–	5					4	–	8
Central Michigan		0	–	8					1	–	11
Championship: Northern Illinois 30, Buffalo 29
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
Ray Guy Award[1]	Derek Adams	P	JR
Wuerffel Trophy[2]	Matt Bahr	LB	SR

Preseason media poll

The MAC released their preseason media poll on July 24, 2018, with the Golden Flashes predicted to finish in last place in the East Division.^[3]

East Division
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Ohio	140 (21)
2	Buffalo	112 (1)
3	Miami	95 (2)
4	Akron	74
5	Bowling Green	58
6	Kent State	25

Roster

2018 Kent State Golden Flashes football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 2 Will Matthews Jr WR 10 Kavious Price Jr RB 11 Justin Rankin Jr RB 12 Darrick Edwards Jr WR 12 Raymond James So QB 13 Will Phillis  Fr QB 14 Dustin Crum So QB 15 Woody Barrett So QB 17 Marquez Glover Fr QB 18 Pyrce Taylor  Fr RB 18 Xavier Williams  Fr WR 19 Donte Ross Sr WR 20 Trey Harrell Jr WR 22 Javaughn Williams Fr WR 23 Isaiah McKoy Fr RB, WR 24 Raekwon James Sr RB 25 Craig Elmore Fr RB, TE 26 Myles Washington Jr RB 27 Isaac Vance  Fr WR 28 Mandela Lawrence−Burke Jr RB 33 Jo−El Shaw Jr TE 45 Adam Dulka So TE 46 Mitch Lengyel So OL 54 Nate Warnock Jr OL 55 Julian Sams Fr OL 62 Mike Morris Fr OL 64 Bryce Gibbs Jr OL 65 Luke Dye Fr OL 67 Nathan Monnin So OL 68 Mike Marinelli Jr OL 69 Sam Allan  Fr OL 70 Jack Clement  Fr OL 71 Eddie Brecht  Fr OL 72 Jamil Viaud Jr OL 73 Zach Whaley Fr OL 75 Adam Gregoire Jr OL 76 Chase Van Hoef Jr OL 77 Daniel Johnson Fr OL 78 Zach Corrigall So WR 80 Johnny Woods Sr WR 81 Dominic DiGioia Jr WR 83 Lon'kevious McFadden Fr WR 84 Jalil Nelson  Fr TE 85 Mark Williams Fr WR 86 Zaquon Tyson  Sr WR 87 Mike Carrigan Jr TE 88 Conor Brumfield Jr WR 89 Antwan Dixon Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 1 Nick Faulkner Jr LB 6 Matt Bahr  Sr CB 7 Jamal Parker Jr S 8 Elvis Hines So CB 10 Quan Robinson Jr.  Sr DL 11 Jordan Silva  Sr S 13 Erik Simpson  Sr S 14 John Henry Bronczek Jr CB 15 Keith Sherald Jr. So LB 19 A.J. Musolino  Fr CB 21 Montre Miller Fr LB 22 Jim Jones Sr S 25 Juantez McRae Sr DB 26 Richie Carpenter Jr. Jr CB 29 Capone Blue Fr CB 30 Darryl Marshall Sr S 31 Akeam Peters Jr LB 32 Dalton Hicks Jr LB 34 Kesean Gamble So CB 36 Jeremiah Salaam Fr LB 37 Cepeda Phillips So S 38 Jae'Vante Ray Jr CB 39 Miles Daniel So S 41 Rodley Jolicoeur  Fr DE 42 Jordan Felice  Fr DE, LB 43 Tyler Britton So LB 44 Matt Harmon Fr NT 49 Kalil Morris  Sr LB 50 Sebastian Spear So DL 51 Connor Parks Fr LB 52 Ishmael Robinson Fr DE 53 Alex Hoag Jr DL 56 Elijah Ratliff Fr LB 57 William Luckey Fr DE 58 Theo Eboigbe Sr DL 59 Will Burns Fr DL 91 Neiman Novitski  Fr DL 92 Theo Majette Jr DL 93 Matt Bell So DL 94 Dennis Wariboko Jr DE 97 Zayin West  Fr NT 98 Dominic Hill Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 60 Dalton DeChristopher Fr K 82 Matthew Trickett Fr K 90 Colten McFadden  Fr P 94 Grant Urenovitch So LS 95 Joey Palumbo Jr P 96 Derek Adams Jr	Head coach Sean Lewis Coordinators/assistant coaches Tom Kaufman (Defensive Coordinator/Associate HC) Andrew Sowder (Offensive Coordinator) Zac Barton (Special Teams Coordinator) Colin Ferrell (Outside Linebackers) Brian Cochran (Defensive Line) Jonathan Cooley (Secondary) Matthew Middleton (Wide Receivers) Bill O'Boyle (Offensive Line) Macky MacPherson (Running Backs) Will Windham (Inside Linebackers) Dominic Clegg (Defensive Graduate Assistant) Matt Battaglia (Offensive Graduate Assistant) Matt Johnson (Offensive Graduate Assistant) Dan Conwell (Defensive Graduate Assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	12:00 p.m.	at Illinois*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 24–31	31,898
September 8	3:30 p.m.	Howard*	Dix Stadium Kent, OH	ESPN+	W 54–14	15,242
September 15	12:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Penn State*	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	FS1	L 10–63	106,528
September 22	12:00 p.m.	at Ole Miss*	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS	SECN	L 17–38	50,417
September 29	3:00 p.m.	at Ball State	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN+	L 24–52	9,367
October 6	3:30 p.m.	Ohio	Dix Stadium Kent, OH	ESPN+	L 26–27	20,062
October 13	2:30 p.m.	at Miami (OH)	Yager Stadium Oxford, OH	ESPN+	L 6–31	5,003
October 20	3:30 p.m.	Akron	Dix Stadium Kent, OH (Wagon Wheel)	ESPN+	L 23–24 OT	18,774
October 30	8:00 p.m.	at Bowling Green	Doyt Perry Stadium Bowling Green, OH (Anniversary Award)	ESPNU	W 35–28	13,131
November 6	7:30 p.m.	at Buffalo	UB Stadium Amherst, NY	ESPNU	L 14–48	15,078
November 15	6:00 p.m.	Toledo	Dix Stadium Kent, OH	CBSSN	L 34–56	5,387
November 23	12:00 p.m.	Eastern Michigan	Dix Stadium Kent, OH	ESPN3	L 20–28	6,125
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source:^[4]

Game summaries

At Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	7	0	24
Fighting Illini	3	0	21	7	31

See also: 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	0	0	14	0	14
Golden Flashes	16	10	21	7	54

See also: 2018 Howard Bison football team

At Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	3	0	0	10
No. 11 Nittany Lions	21	7	21	14	63

See also: 2018 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

At Ole Miss

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	0	7	10	0	17
Rebels	7	0	17	14	38

See also: 2018 Ole Miss Rebels football team

At Ball State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	7	0	24
Cardinals	21	14	7	10	52

See also: 2018 Ball State Cardinals football team

Ohio

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	0	7	13	27
Golden Flashes	14	3	6	3	26

See also: 2018 Ohio Bobcats football team

At Miami (OH)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	0	0	0	6	6
RedHawks	0	21	10	0	31

See also: 2018 Miami RedHawks football team

Akron

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Zips	7	3	7	0	7	24
Golden Flashes	3	7	7	0	6	23

See also: 2018 Akron Zips football team and Wagon Wheel (trophy)

At Bowling Green

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	7	7	14	35
Falcons	3	10	0	15	28

See also: 2018 Bowling Green Falcons football team and Anniversary Award

At Buffalo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	0	0	0	14	14
Bulls	21	13	14	0	48

See also: 2018 Buffalo Bulls football team

Toledo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rockets	14	14	21	7	56
Golden Flashes	7	10	10	7	34

See also: 2018 Toledo Rockets football team

Eastern Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	14	7	0	28
Golden Flashes	10	0	7	3	20

See also: 2018 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team