KENT, OH- Monmouth University suffered its first loss of the 2016 season, falling 27-7 to Football Bowl Subdivision foe Kent State (1-2) on Saturday afternoon.
Golden Flash quarterback Mylik Mitchell ran for 77 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns to wideout Nick Holley to earn KSU its first win of the 2016 season.
Kent State held a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on a 22 yard field goal, but the Golden Flashes' defenses proved to be impenetrable, allowing just one yard in the frame. Monmouth drove deep into KSU territory late sparked by a 23 yard Cody Williams (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) to Darren Ambush (Dickerson, MD/Urbana) pass. The Hawks drove down to the KSU 13 but could not get a field goal attempt off after the snap was high and the halftime score rested at 13-0.
Mitchell moved the chains again with his feet then capped off the Flashes' first drive of the second half with an eight yard TD pass to Holley. The Flashes drove deep on their next possession but Mike Basile (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) blocked his third kick in the last two weeks to keep the score at 20-0. With 5:53 left in the game Zach Welch (Middletown, MD/Middletown) creased through the line untouched to get MU on the board trailing 20-7. KSU would throw a touchdown pass with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter to finish the scoring at 27-7.
Â
Notes and Quotes
§ Monmouth is now 0-2 against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents
§ The Hawks, which ranked first in the NCAA with four blocked kicks coming into the game and now have five total
§ Welch is the only Monmouth player to score a touchdown in both FBS games the Hawks have played
§ Darren Ambush moved into 10th all-time in receptions with 86, passing former Hawk RB David Sinisi
§  Kent State's first quarter FG were the first points given up in the first half all year by MU
§ Darnell Leslie recovered a fumble for the second time in two games
§ Kent State finished with five sacks on the day, MU had allowed just one coming into the game
"I thought our players played hard. We were able to get them in third down situations on defense but were unable to get off the field. Their quarterback hurt us in the first half, pulling the ball down and running on pass plays. We weren't as effective with our pressures as we needed to be. Our defense was on the field a lot in the first half and we never had the time catch our breath so to speak. Once we got into a situation where we had to throw the ball they were able to just lay back and come after us and it was difficult to do anything from a protection standpoint." Head Coach Kevin Callahan
Â
Crunching the numbers
§ KSU held a 343-199 advantage in total yardage with 235 coming on the ground
§ Monmouth's longest first half drive went 10 plays for 63 yards
§ Basile finished with a game-high 16 tackles, one shy of his career high
§ Kent State's fourth quarter interception was the first MU turnover since the first half of the Lehigh game
§ Linebacker Diego Zubieta finished with a season-high six tackles
§ Welch led the Hawks on the ground with 51 yards on 13 carries
§ Monmouth was 2 of 15 on third down while KSU was 8 of 16
§ KSU held a 31:25-27:38 advantage in time of possession
Next Up
Monmouth continues a tough stretch, hosting Charleston Southern next Saturday at 1 pm. The Hawks will follow that up by hosting Fordham on October 1st. Both games will air on ESPN3.
