FLASHBack Week Seven: Wilkerson Runs Wild
10/17/2020 10:00:00 AM | Football
KENT, OHIO-It is week seven of our FLASHBack series powered by Ganley Chevrolet. This week we go back to October 17, 1987 when Eric Wilkerson ran wild over the Western Michigan Broncos.
1987 was a solid year for the Golden Flashes. Led by head coach Glen Mason, Kent State would come into the game against the Broncos at 3-2 on the year, including a win over the Kansas Jayhawks. The offense was led by a strong running game, headlined by junior Eric Wilkerson. The 5-9 back led the Golden Flashes in rushing in three of his four seasons. It would be games like the one had against Western Michigan that would earn him the 1987 MAC Offensive Player of the Year.
For Western Michigan, they were coming off a shutout loss at the hands of Miami of Ohio to drop them to 3-3. But this was a Bronco program that was on the upswing and a year away from a 9-3 season and a 1988 bowl berth. On that October Saturday in 1987, they had no answer for Wilkerson.
The junior tailback would score his first of four touchdowns on the day in the second quarter. Wilkerson answered a Western Michigan score with a halfback pass to quarterback Tim Phillips. The trick play was started on what looked like a halfback sweep, but instead of turning the corner up field, Wilkerson stopped and instead fired to a wide-open Phillips who walked in from ten yards out. The teams would go to the half knotted at seven.
Wilkerson would hit another gear in the second half. He'd score his first rushing touchdown of the game in the third quarter, scoring on a 28-yard jaunt to make it 14-7. After a Broncos' field goal, Wilkerson struck back, this time from 27 yards to give Kent State a 20-10 lead. He wasn't finished, icing the game with his fourth touchdown with just over a minute remaining. The junior finished with 26-carries for 134 yards and four scores, with three coming on the ground.
The 27-13 victory for the Flashes was the only one of their six on the season that was decided by more than one score. Wilkerson backed up his 1987 season with even better numbers in 1988. His 1,325 yards in 1988 are the fourth most in school history, as were his 14 touchdowns. He would sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 1989 season and would spend time with the Detroit Lions as well as the New York/New Jersey Knights of the World Football League in his professional career.
Perhaps buoyed by the win over Kansas in 1987, Glen Mason left Kent State after the '87 season to coach the Jayhawks. He'd spend the next nine seasons in Lawrence before spending 10 seasons as head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Week eight in our FLASHback series will be our shortest trip in the way back machine. We will take a look at the 2009 Kent State victory over the Ohio Bobcats.
