Kent State coach Dean Pees said before the season that his 2003 team, if healthy, had the potential to be the best in his six years on the job.
If Kent State's 36-16 victory over Central Florida is any indication, these aren't your daddy's Golden Flashes.
And 3-2 Kent, generally at the bottom of the Mid-American Conference food chain, is living up to that potential.
Kent is on a high entering Saturday's 2 p.m. matchup with Ball State, but the Cardinals (2-3, 1-0 MAC) hope to bounce back from another second-half collapse, this one a 53-29 defeat at Boston College.
"(Dean)'s a defensive coach by trade, and he's done a nice job with that," Ball State head coach Brady Hoke said. "He's coordinating the defense, and they're very sound in what they do."
They are also opportunistic, as eight turnovers they forced against Central Florida show. Freshman cornerback Usama Young had a hand in half of them. He intercepted two passes, recovered a pair of fumbles and earned national defensive player of the week.
On offense, junior quarterback Joshua Cribbs will worry Ball State the most. As a freshman, he passed for just 95 yards against the Cards, but he ripped them with his 147 yards rushing as the Flashes won 31-18.
Cribbs has since posted back-to-back seasons of 1,000 yards each running and passing. He has just 231 rushing so far, but Hoke said his passing has improved.
"I think they're being more patient with him and probably worked in the spring to hone his passing game, but he's got an incredible arm," he said. "He throws the ball 70 yards in the air a couple occasions, and you just go 'Wow.'"
While Hoke said his team needs to know what Cribbs can do, focusing too much on him would be counterproductive. He indicated the defense might shadow Cribbs some, like it did against Missouri's Brad Smith. That strategy played to mixed reviews, as Smith put up 229 total yards in the first half.
"At times we did a nice job with it, and other times we had breakdowns," Hoke said. "The one thing you can't do is make too much of it. If you do that, then you've got everyone on the field watching him and not reacting to the things they need to react to."
Linebacker Lorenzo Scott, one of four defenders who started against Cribbs in 2001, said the Cards should be accustomed to the dual-threat type of quarterback.
"I thought he was a great running quarterback," Scott said. "It was something that, coming from the high school to the college level, I'd never really seen. Over the past couple years, I've seen more players like that, so it's not as impressive."
Cribbs will be missing one member of his supporting cast. Senior tailback David Alston fractured a toe on Saturday and could be out for the season. Pees said he plans to use a by-committee approach to replace Alston.
Pees said he knows his Flashes can't rest on their laurels if they want to start 3-0 in the MAC for the first time since 1977.
"We've got a good group coming in here Saturday," he said. "Their three losses have been to very good teams, and they have moved the ball on all of them. We've got our work cut out for us."
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