Kent State University
Northern Illinois University
Flashes Ready for Rocket Mortgage MAC Championship
12/3/2021 9:57:00 AM | Football
KENT, OHIO- The Golden Flashes (7-5, 6-2) are set for the program's first Mid-American Conference championship game since 2012, taking on the Northern Illinois Huskies (8-4, 6-2) at Ford Field on Saturday afternoon.
Kick time from Detroit is set for 12:07 p.m. and will air on ESPN and the Kent State Radio Network. Coverage for Saturday's championship game will start with our radio pre-game at 11 a.m.
SETTING THE STAGE
The Golden Flashes clinched the East Division with a thrilling 48-47 overtime win over Miami last Saturday inside Dix Stadium. The Flashes' defense had a goal line stand late in the fourth quarter to force overtime. In the extra frame, Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Dustin Crum scored on a read option to put Kent State up 48-41 after the extra point. After Miami's offense scored on their first possession of overtime, Montre Miller broke up the ensuing two-point conversion pass, sending the Flashes to Detroit.
Northern Illinois clinched the West after a 33-27 overtime win over Buffalo two weeks ago. Like the Golden Flashes, the Huskies went 6-2 in MAC play. NIU won the tiebreak over Central Michigan thanks to a dramatic 39-38 victory over the Chippewas on October 23rd.
This will be a rematch of the November 3rd matchup at Dix Stadium, won by the Golden Flashes 52-47. It's also a rematch of the 2012 championship game, won 44-37 in double overtime by Northern Illinois, it is the only title game to go into overtime in MAC history.
ABOUT THE FLASHES
The Flashes boast the top offense in the Mid-American Conference averaging over 38 points and 500 yards of offense per game against MAC opponents. It is a very balanced attack with the Flashes averaging 260 yards per game through the air and a MAC-best 252 yards per game on the ground.
Leading the offense is Dustin Crum, who took home only the second Vern Smith Leadership Award, given to the MAC's MVP, in school history and the second quarterback to earn first-team all-conference honors. He is closing in on becoming the first Kent State to throw for 3,000 yards in a season and has been responsible for 26 touchdowns so far this season.
Marquez Cooper and Xavier Williams are two of the top-12 rushers in the conference and have combined for over 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns. Williams is coming off a career best 168-yard, two touchdown game last week and Cooper has topped 100 yards in three of his last four games.
Dante Cephas leads a receiving corps that has four players with 20+ catches on the season. Cephas became the first Kent State player with over 1,000 yards receiving last week and seven of his eight touchdown catches have come in MAC play.
The Kent State defense has thrived on forcing turnovers, ranking among the FBS' best with 15 interception, 14 forced fumbles and 9 fumbles recovered. It's been a team effort with nine different players recovering a fumble this season. Defensive backs Elvis Hines and Montre Miller lead the way with 13 passes defended each.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois brings the conference's second-best rushing attack with them to Detroit, averaging nearly 240 yards per game on the ground. The tandem of MAC Freshman of the Year Jay Ducker and All-MAC fullback Clint Ratkovich headline the ground game.
Rocky Lombardi threw for over 500 yards against the Flashes back in November and has tossed 8 touchdown passes in MAC play while completing 58 percent of his passes. Trayvon Rudolph leads the Huskies' receiving corps with an 89 yards per game average in MAC play.
First team all-MAC defensive back C.J. Brown leads the NIU defense and has averaged nearly nine tackles per game in MAC play. Brown's backfield-mate Jordan Gandy led the defense in fumbles recovered and parlayed that into a third-team all-MAC nod. The Huskies had four members of the defense receive all-conference honors.
NOD TO THE PAST
The Golden Flashes will sport gold helmets with the logo of the 1972 team on Saturday. The 1972 squad is the lone Mid-American Conference champion in program history.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Flashes will find out their bowl fate on Sunday as the announcement of all the bowl games will come out on Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned to KentStateSports.com, @KentStFootball and @KentStAthletics for full details and information. Â
