Linder's Look - Volume II
10/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Each week, the Voice of the Flashes, Ty Linder, will provide insight into the KSU athletic department by recapping the previous week's headlines and looking ahead to upcoming events.
INSTANT CLASSIC
This one would have made even M. Night Shyamalan proud.
This was a 58-minute movie we had all seen before. Kent State makes plays up and down the field to go toe-to-toe with arguably the most impressive team thus far in the Mid-American Conference football season. A two-score lead with just half of the final quarter left to play.
Then, like a bad horror movie sequel, the ending everyone knew was coming happened. Ball State used its spectacular air attack and a fluke turnover to take a 43-42 lead; effectively breaking the hearts of the 21,657 fans who packed Robert C. Dix Stadium. The biggest non-Akron crowd since the 20th Century had been burned again.
But, like the presumed dead killer who always fights back for one last quick scare, there was senior Spencer Keith trotting out onto the field turf with two minutes left. And perhaps the scare he put into the stunned fans was the first sign that maybe, just maybe this ending would be different.
On the first play from KSU's own six-yard line in the against-all-odds drive, Keith rolled right and hit the receiver between the two and four of his jersey. His white jersey. Cardinal safety Jeffery Garrett was on his way back to Muncie with a pick-six and a 4-1; 2-0 record. When the ball fell harmlessly to the turf signifying new – albeit still supported life – you sat back and thought, hmm, usually those are caught and turned into decisive touchdowns against us.
The third time was the charm for Keith in finding Matthew Hurdle for a 13-yard gain, which – at the very least – gave everyone a chance to take a breath. Before we had a chance to collectively exhale, though, there was second-year man Chris Humphrey making another all-pro catch and move to advance the ball to Kent's 33-yard line. Flashes football fans – so burned by history through the years, yet longing for a winner started doing the arithmetic in their heads. For Freddy to have a realistic chance…
Then, out came the resuscitation machines. At the ready when Kent State faced a fourth and 10 from that same 33, I recalled something head coach Darrell Hazell said adamantly the day he was hired. He insisted everything about KSU Football going forward needed to be positive; to leave the negative thoughts at the door.
I remembered this vividly on that fourth down play when the huge crowd stood as one to voice its support for a very low-percentage play. They cheered as Keith approached the center to take the snap. They roared when his perfect spiral hit Hurdle's outstretched hands for a 15-yard first down.
With the sand sinking from the hourglass, Keith again found his target – in more ways than one. Eric Adeyemi made the catch in Cardinal territory and with footwork even Fred Astaire would blush at, tapped his feet inside the stripe to stop the clock. With each passing, positive moment, the fans' voices grew a little louder. And when rookie Josh Boyle's nifty 20-yard catch-and-run set the good guys up at the Ball State 25, you couldn't help but look at the fan next to you in his or her gold shirt and say, is one of these finally going to go our way?
It appeared as if KSU was prepared to take a couple end zone shots as it lined up in the spread with half a minute to go. But out of that spread formation thundered Trayion Durham, who, at 6' 250 pounds barreled into the secondary for a first down to stop the clock.
Only the clock didn't stop.
It couldn't because the physical Durham was still going. Carrying several Cardinal defenders and perhaps the weight of a long-suffering fan base on his huge frame.
When he finally succumbed to the resistance, the ball was at Ball State's five. There was a roar off Summit Road few had heard before. And it only grew louder when the helpless BSU coaching staff took a desperate time out.
Keith then dove into the middle of the field to allow Freddy Cortez the chance to make every kicker's dream a reality. Normally at KSU, a special teams kick of any kind is cause for anxiety. But here, Cortez' extra point-sized field goal seemed a mere formality. But when his boot split the north uprights perfectly, the throng of partisans erupted again anyway.
And when Keith Wenning's desperation heave pinballed to the ground and the clock showed 0:00 it was official. It sealed a win KSU had seemingly clinched much earlier yet also showed the power of a senior quarterback. The Flashes were 3-1 – a record they hadn't seen since President Ronald Reagan was challenging Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
The beauty of sport is what makes the remaining two-thirds of this football season so intriguing. No one knows what is going to happen. The Flashes are halfway to bowl eligibility. The true measurement of how big this comeback was won't likely be known for some time. It was just one game.
One game with a surprise twist ending that has a lot of people looking forward to the sequel.
-TL
