Kent State Golden Flashes

The Kent State Golden Flashes are an NCAA Division I FBS team competing in the Mid-American Conference.

## History

### 2016 Season

Main article: 2016 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2016 season was the first season for the Golden Flashes. Under killernjm, they went 3-7, failing to make the postseason.

### 2017 Season

Main article: 2017 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2017 season was the second season for the Golden Flashes under killernjm. They went 3-9, again failing to make the postseason.

### 2018 Schedule and notes

Main article: 2018 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
Kent State came into 2018 with a true freshman, John Garland, starting at quarterback. After their 4th week loss to Purdue, paperllamasunited was brought in as the new head coach. Immediately, he instilled confidence in the team, saying that he'd be surprised if any MAC team could put up a better fight with the #9 team in the country, and he said he was impressed by Garland's record-setting performance.

That confidence would be shattered over the next two games, as Kent State fell to #12 Minnesota and 3-1 Miami (Ohio). Garland tossed 9 interceptions to just one touchdown in these games.

The team regrouped for a Thursday night matchup at Central Michigan, with ImposterCauster's Chips even trailing Kent State at one point. Unfortunately, the Golden Flashes were unable to hold their lead.

Over the next month of the season, things were a mess in Kent. paperllamasunited announced an indefinite leave of absence following the loss to CMU due to "personal reasons", naming KSU-alum Marcel Weeks as the interim coach. The team was on bye. The next week, both llamas and Weeks co-coached the team to a loss to Bowling Green. A week 11 Open Date allowed llamas to regain total control of the team, and there was a massive overhaul of the Kent State offense. At one point, John Garland was to be benched for fellow freshman Louis Milner, and was even slated to be the backup runningback. However, Coach llamas retracted the depth chart move, and named Garland the starting QB. He also named freshman fullback Harrison Mullin the starting running back for the rest of the season, a nod to Eastern Michigan playing FB Mark Macleod as RB, and replacing senior RB William Banks, who had been ineffective to that point.

Kent State again took a lead during Week 12 against Western Michigan, with Harrison Mullin dominating in his debut, scoring 3 TDs. The Kent State team managed to score 49 points, but three John Garland interceptions, two returned for touchdowns by Western Michigan phenom Sean Taylor, along with allowing stud senior back Emmanuel Fields to score 4 TDs of his own, doomed them in.

Kent State finally won a game in Week 13, beating Buffalo 28-24. John Garland managed to not turn the ball over, while Mullin pounded the Bulls for 3 TDs.

Kent State continued to dominate and upset, beating Ohio in Week 14.

After falling to New Mexico in Week 15, the Golden Flashes capped off their season and beat Akron in Week 16, winning 3 games in a season yet again.

paperllamasunited subsequently resigned from Kent State as head coach following the season to take the same job at Central Michigan.

### 2019 Season

Main article: 2019 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The Golden Flashes were without a coach until Coach Danr took the helm after Week 6 of the season. Unfortunately, Danr quickly resigned due to personal issues and was replaced by Coach Stretch72hornet after Week 9.

### 2020 Season

Main article: 2020 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
After a difficult year for the Golden Flashes, coach Tazerman was hired to right the ship and begin to build a future for the program after a poor recruiting class in 2019. Kent State became bowl eligible for the first time, but lost to Utah State 23-27, finishing 6-7 overall and 5-3 in conference.

## Season-by-Season Records

### 2016 Season

Main article: 2016 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2016 season was the first season for the Golden Flashes. Under killernjm, they went 3-7, failing to make the postseason.

### 2017 Season

Main article: 2017 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2017 season was the second season for the Golden Flashes under killernjm. They went 3-9, again failing to make the postseason.

### 2018 Schedule and notes

Main article: 2018 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2018 season started with killernjm as head coach, and the Golden Flashes went 0-3, until killernjm resigned, and paperllamasunited took over, going 3-6.

paperllamasunited subsequently resigned from Kent State as head coach following the season to take the same job at Central Michigan.

### 2019 Season

Main article: 2019 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The Golden Flashes were without a coach until Coach Danr took the helm after Week 6 of the season. Unfortunately, Danr quickly resigned due to personal issues and was replaced by Coach Stretch72hornet after Week 9.

### 2020 Season

Main article: 2020 Kent State Golden Flashes Season
The 2020 season was the first season under new Head Coach TazerMan. With upset victories over Bowling Green, Akron and Miami (OH), Kent State became bowl eligible for the first time in program history. John Garland had his best season, setting single game records for yards, touchdowns, yards per attempt and passer rating, and single season records for touchdowns, yards and passer rating.

## Bowl History

Kent State became bowl eligible for the first time in 2020, and played in the St. Petersburg Bowl the Utah State Aggies, who were also appearing in there first bowl.

## Notable Achievements

### Weekly

* **MAC Offensive Player of the Week**

Emmett Spears (1) - (Week 6, 2017)
Emmett Spears (2) - (Week 14, 2017)
John Garland (1) - (Week 14, 2018)]
John Garland (2) - (Week 2, 2019)
John Garland (3) - (Week 9, 2020)
John Garland (4) - (Week 15, 2020)

* **MAC Deffensive Player of the Week**

Ryan White (1) - (Week 7, 2017)
David Garcia (1) - (Week 10, 2017)
Julius Cooke (1) - (Week 9, 2019)
Quinn Benson (1) - (Week 2, 2020)
Quinn Benson (2) - (Week 5, 2020)
Quinn Benson (3) - (Week 15, 2020)
* **MAC Special Teams Player of the Week**

Leonardo Blunt (1) - (Week 12, 2017)

## Record Book

Records before 2020 were mostly not noted, and if they were, many season totals were only from part of the season. Unless the records were in the record book below, the 2020 season will be the starting point for record collection.

### Individual

#### Single-Season

TO EDIT (Records up to date with 2018 stats, find 2019 and check with 2020)

#### Career

TO EDIT
Player marked with a \* are still active. All defensive stats are currently unofficial.