Heroics by Holley and Rankin not Enough in Loss to Zips

Saturday, October 1

3:30 p.m.

Kent State University

1-4 , 0-1

University of Akron

3-2 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Akron

Kent State

Heroics by Holley and Rankin not Enough in Loss to Zips

10/1/2016 8:02:00 PM | Football

Box Score

KENT, Ohio – Heroic efforts by Nick Holley and Justin Rankin were not quite enough to return the Wagon Wheel to Kent State as Akron leapfrogged the Golden Flashes in the closing seconds for a 31-27 win in Saturday's Homecoming Game at Dix Stadium.

Making the move from running back to a surprise start at quarterback, Nick Holley rushed for 117 yards on 34 carries and added another 285 yards on 19-for-35 passing, including a fourth-down, backhanded flip to Rankin for a 9-yard touchdown that put Kent State ahead 27-24 with 1:02 to play.

Akron answered in a four-play, 57-yard drive, reclaiming the lead for good on Mykel Traylor-Bennett's 3-yard touchdown run with 20 seconds on the clock.

"It's very disappointing to lose a game like that, but I'm very proud of the way our guys fought," said Kent State head coach Paul Haynes. "(Holley and Rankin) made a lot of plays and kept us in the game … We kept it hush with what we were doing with Nick, moving him to quarterback. It's something we worked on like crazy and something we will move forward with."

After watching first-string quarterback Justin Agner suffer an injury in the season opener at Penn State and then losing week-two-and-three starter Mylik Mitchell for the season at Alabama, KSU's coaches put their heads together during the flight back from Tuskaloosa, Ala.

Holley was called to Haynes' office on Sunday and asked if he'd like to take a shot at playing quarterback – the position he played at Whitmer High School in Toledo.

"Instantly I got butterflies," said Holley, who has played running back and wide receiver since during his freshman and sophomore seasons. "I'm thankful he gave me a shot."

The Flashes are confident they have found some new life on offense after the move along with Rankin's emergence as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. The freshman running back's 181 receiving yards were the most by a Kent State player since 2009.

"This gives us confidence in our offense that we can move the football," said Haynes. "It causes problems on a defense when you have guy who can throw it and run it … Anyone who watched our offense in week one, two or three and then saw this game has to be happy with there this offense can go."

The offense helped Kent State to a 17-10 lead at halftime behind a 13-yard touchdown run by Holley and an 18-yard scoring pass from Holley to Ernest Calhoun. The defense, meanwhile, forced three first-half turnovers, including the first two interceptions of Jerrell Foster's career.

Kent State out-gained Akron 423-to-378.

Tra'Von Chapman led Akron with 237 yards on 11-for-28 passing, including touchdown passes of 27 yards to Van Edwards in the third quarter and 23 yards to Austin Wolf in the fourth.

Kent State visits Buffalo next week and Miami on Oct. 15 before returning home to face Ohio at Dix Stadium on Oct. 22.

Postgame Notes

Junior Nick Holley became the first player to have over 400 yards of total offense (402) since Josh Cribbs in 2004.

Holley became the first Kent State player since Julian Edelman in 2008 to have 100 yards passing (285) and 100 yards rushing (117) in the same game.

Holley recorded his first rushing touchdown of the season and completed his first collegiate pass in the first quarter.

Holley was the first player to rush for over 100 yards since September of 2015. He has caught a TD, rushed for a TD and thrown a TD on the season. His 285 yards passing were the most by KSU quarterback since 2014.

Freshman Justin Rankin finished with 181 yards receiving, the most by a Kent State player since 2009 (Tyshon Goode).

Rankin's 10 catches were the most by a Kent State player since 2014. He finished with 298 all-purpose yards.

Rankin's 54-yard catch was the Flashes' longest offensive play of the season, going 54 yards.

Junior cornerback Jerrell Foster made the first two interception of his career in the first half.

Junior safety Kevin Bourne got his first career start today and made a career-high six tackles.

For the fifth game this season, senior safety Nate Holley led the Flashes in tackles (12).

Senior Terence Waugh has 15.0 sacks and 21.0 tackles for loss in his last 15 games played.

Senior Ernest Calhoun made his first touchdown grab of the season.

Postgame Press Conference

Quotes

Head Coach Paul Haynes:
Disappointing, very disappointing, especially losing like that, but I'm super proud in the way that they fought. Especially these two guys on the side of me (Holley and Rankin). These guys made a lot of plays for us and kept us in the game. So, I commend them for that, and again, we kind of kept it hush on what we were doing this week with Nick moving to QB, but something we worked on like crazy and something we will move forward with, so very proud of them and very proud of this team and we'll continue… it's been tough we've had two tough losses, especially like that in overtime and this one is tough and difficult, but our guys will stick together and we'll win a lot of games here, probably should have had.

Q: Keeping the QB change under wraps, assumption George was going to start. What led to the decision and how he played?
A: I think he played unbelievable and kind of going about into that decision is what we got. This is, what are we feel you know you put your best player you know touching the ball as much as possible and that's what we did.

Q: When was decision made?
A: We made the decision when we landed after the Alabama game in Cleveland.

On Holly getting so many touches.
I mean, we gave him some options as far as run-pass, you know options I think made it simple for him and sit up there and read, but I mean he scrambled like crazy on a couple, but as those plays came to us, and they kept giving them to us, so we kept on calling them and they were calling them, so we kept on grinding it out.

On end of game, what was going through coaches' mind,
A: Yeah we were in our bracket, you know coverage one to take their 2 best wideouts and they found 3 and 4 and their kid made a play.

Q: Kickoff's being short, thoughts on the process.
A: Yeah, we didn't do a good job in our coverage and kick it to them deep so they could take it all of the way back so we tried to hard squib it, but their guy did a good job of taking it on the 40, you know compared to where we were getting it you know in previous and again we still had our chances still at the end and he made a good play.

Q: 2^nd half defense and Chapman's numbers in the first half were bad, and got it going in the 3^rd quarter, any difference there in what happened?
A: We knew that they were a vertical passing team and we knew they were going to pass it deep and we took our chances on playing man because we felt we could cover them and they made a couple plays, but they missed a couple you know also too. The one I forget what happened on the one, but the one 3^rd down, but he hurt us in the second half for them getting out of it in the second half and third down so he did a little bit more with his feet then he did throwing the football.

Q: Were you Surprised by a few throws Nick Holley made?
A: It was seen in practice and he toys all the time throwing around and I mean he looked like he did throwing the football around. I mean he looked just his senior year of high school his senior year and that's why they went to the state finals and won a bunch of games. But the biggest thing is his heart. I mean that's why that move was made. It was not something it was just a decision that he's got a big heart and he's going to give us our best shot to win and he did it and he's going to lay it out on the line and do whatever he possibly can to win the game and that's exactly what he showed on film and that's exactly what we got coming. He gave us a chance to win.

On a new offensive identity
A: I think it's huge. I think it gives us confidence in our offense and we can move the football and do some different things and I think it causes problems for defenses and you know when you have someone who can throw and run it. I'm sure when we first went out there on the first series everyone is calls that type of wildcat a little bit. I think they hiked the box and tried to stop the run and then you sit there and spread them out and nickel and dime them and in our RB room I mean we have a lot of RB's in our room which causes us to flex them out and do different things with them. It only benefits us so we got a lot of playmakers that we can spread the ball around and I don't know how many guys he threw the ball too, but there's a lot of guys who he got it out and threw to so I think again who watched us from week 1 to week 2 to week 3 and they saw this game, I think they have to be with where the offense can go.

Quarterback Nick Holley
On what he saw during his touchdown pass that gave Kent State the lead with 1:02 on the clock…
"I went to scramble. Number 2 was right there. I knew if he came up, I was going to dump it off. He came up so I just kind of flicked it and Justin made something happen."

On why he was able to have success in his first game at quarterback since high school…
"To me, it's all about your preparation and having coaches that believe in you. Coach Haynes believed in me and gave me a shot. How can I go out there and not give everything I've got for this guy right here?"

On when he learned that he would play quarterback…
"I got a text on Sunday that said the head man wanted to see me, so I thought I was in trouble or something. But I came in and he asked if I wanted to play QB. Instantly, I had knots in my stomach, was nervous, had butterflies, but I couldn't have been happier and thankful that he gave me a shot."

Running back Justin Rankin
On his touchdown catch with 1:02 on the clock that gave Kent State a lead…
"Right when he threw the ball, I tripped. But I was looking him straight in the eye the whole time. As soon as he threw it, I just looked at the ball and looked it in."

On his 54-yard reception in the second quarter that he made 9 defensive players miss before being tackled…
"I knew the play would work. It was a fake, fake run. I fake block, then go out and catch the ball. Nick threw a good ball—a perfect ball—after that, I just did what I knew I could do. I should've scored. I took it back in and should've gone out."

Akron head coach Terry Bowden

How much of wildcard was it seeing Nick Holley Quarterback?
They had a great strategy. They had one of their best players touching the ball every time. They came here playing to win. They were going to run the football after watching the Appalachian State game and they were going to control the clock. And as they saw us going with a new quarterback who had to get the feel.

I can't praise our team enough for the stop right before the half and then to come back out and stop them and score. For Tra'Von Chapman for not to get down on himself, he has such great talent and if there's a game ball or an MVP I think everyone on our team would say its Tra'Von Chapman.

They score at 1:02, what did you think in that moment?
As I've done this many years, I was thinking about that terrible press conference and what I was going to say to you all. That's kind of what you do, on the outside you get your players excited for that last minute, on the inside, how do you say the right things? But the main thing you say is kids let's take it down the field win. We have worked very hard, we haven't had a good one-minute offense, not just last year but for a few years.

Did anybody talk to Chapman at halftime?
I saw a lot of older players patting him on the back and saying this isn't your deal, it's not all your fault. He took a lot of responsibility on himself. If there's a good lord in heaven, he knew there was a story that had to be written for Tra'Von Chapman.

Do you think he felt more pressure because he played high school football in this town?
He may have been the most recruited player in this city when he came out. He's had to play back-up while we all talk about Tommy Woodson and he has taken incredible poise, with class as team player. Most players would not be able to do that as we saw at Alabama, most players would've packed up and left. We have no problem playing Tra'Von at quarterback going forward.

Can you tell us what's wrong with Woodson?
He had a bruised shoulder. He tried to go, he tried to throw some this week. We were willing to even wait until pregame warm-ups because he's our number one guy. He couldn't go. I thought that was best, not having Tra'Von sleep on it all night, thinking he might go.

Tra'Von Chapman on long pass to JoJo Natson
Before the one-minute sequence started, Coach Milwee knew the post would be open. JoJo gave a move off the line, he kept it high and nobody in the nation can guard him so I just tried to give him a good ball and he got separation and that was it.

JoJo Natson on the catch
Coach said we needed a play. It started with Tra', he gave me a pass, he did a good job putting the ball out there and I made a play for my team.

What were you thinking having one catch before that reception?
JoJo- "You know, teams watch film they know what I'm capable of. I never get frustrated that just means more opportunities for my teammates.

Tra'Von on playing football in the town where he's from
I don't think I was nervous. I was really excited; I was really anxious. The same people that saw play in high school were the same people that saw me play in high school so I was anxious to prove them wrong.

Were you too anxious?
Definitely, you know that first half was forgettable. Football is a four-quarter game and we came out and it was a new team.

What came to mind after the touchdown with a minute left?
Honestly, I wasn't nervous. The whole time I was over there praying to God, hoping we could make a miracle happen. I know I have the best playmakers in the MAC if not the country so I'm not trying to be superman, just give them a chance