FLASHBack: Kent State Takes Frustrations Out on Rockets
11/14/2020 10:00:00 AM | Football
KENT, OHIO- It's week eleven of our FLASHBack football series powered by Ganley Chevrolet. This week we head back to 1973 when the Golden Flashes took on Toledo inside the Glass Bowl.
The 1973 season was a great one for the Golden Flashes, it was considered by many, the best Golden Flashes team to date in program history. The Flashes came into the game at 7-2 overall with losses at San Diego State and to a Miami of Ohio team that was ranked 17th overall and defeated Florida in the 1973 Tangerine Bowl.
Kent State took its frustrations stemming from the Miami loss the previous week out on the Toledo Rockets, in what should be known as the Gerald Tinker and Larry Poole Game. In 1973, Poole became just the third Golden Flash to top 1,000 rushing yards in a season totaling 1,010 yards that season.
The Flashes got things going with an 87-yard punt return for a score by Gerald Tinker, a mark that still stands as the longest punt return in school history. Tinker struck again later in the first half, connecting on a 64-yard strike to put the Flashes up 14-0. Poole would get going late in the first half, scoring the first of an eventual THREE touchdowns to put Kent State up 31-0 at the half. Poole's two second half touchdowns put the exclamation point on the 52-14 victory.
The 38-point margin was Toledo's worst defeat since Kent State thrashed them 52-6 back in 1956. Poole's three touchdown performance gave him 15 on the season, breaking Lou Mariano's record of 14 in 1954. Poole would score three more times in the season finale against Central Michigan to give him 18 scores on the season, a mark that still stands today. Poole would top 1,000 yards again in 1974 before graduating and enjoying a four-year NFL career with the Browns and Houston Oilers.
The Golden Flashes would complete a nine-win season with a 28-7 triumph over Central Michigan the following week to finish the season at 9-2. That mark stands as the second-most wins in a season in program history.
With Miami going undefeated, they got the MAC's bowl bid. Head Coach Don James politicked for a "high-level" bowl game to no avail and refused to go to anything he considered a "secondary bowl game". James would lead the Flashes to a 7-4 record in 1974, his final season in Kent before taking the Washington job.
In week 12 of the FLASHBack series, powered by Ganley, we take a look at the 2001 season and a November contest with Miami of Ohio.
