Since Kent State is bringing its "team of national distinction" to the Music City, I thought I would come up with 10 things that Kent State fans should know about Vanderbilt.

1. No tattoos. Although the Flashes have a lot of ink, to their surprise they won't see any on the Commodores.

2. Vanderbilt has two McDonald’s All-Americans (Darius Garland and Simisola Shittu).

3. Vanderbilt signed a heralded 2018 recruiting class that the 247Sports Composite ranked as the 13th-best in the nation.

4. Vanderbilt is off to its best start since 2015 after a 79-70 win over visiting Liberty on Monday at Memorial Gymnasium.

5. Darius Garland scored 33 points on 12 of 18 shooting against Liberty.

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6. Vanderbilt has hit at least one 3 in 1,035 straight games.

7. Simisola Shittu is averaging 9.8 rebounds per game.

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8. The Commodores have won five straight home non-conference games.

9. Vanderbilt's home attendance after three home games is 8,691.

10. All walk up tickets for the Kent State game can be purchased for $10.

From Stat Salt:

I will back the Eagles in this instance as they have certainly rebounded to to make their season very special. For this matchup, they will look to end the season on a strong note while looking forward to the postseason that approaches as they will have won seven games all season with a victory over Kent State. Look for them to continue to pound the defense of the Folden Flashes as the defensive unit for the Golden Flashes have not shown the ability to stop the run at all this season. In fact, Kent State has not shown that they can even stop the pass as they are ranked 104th in the nation in this area. In all, expect the Eagles to come out with a solid win over a Golden Flashes team that it gives up too many points.

Prediction: Pick: Eastern Michigan Eagles -13.5

https://statsalt.com/games/ncaaf/11-23-2018/eastern-michigan-vs-kent-state-prediction-4871/

11 points

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/teams/team-page.cfm/team/kent-state

I'm really happy for Stefano Millin. As a Pitt grad transfer from Kent State, Millin came in and immediately cemented himself as the team's strongest player and leader of the Panther offensive line at left tackle. With the highest bench press total among the Panthers, Millin, at 6 feet 5 inches, 305 pounds, maxed out close to 500 pounds, but more important, did 32 reps of 225 pounds in fall camp.

And now all his hard work has finally paid off. As the anchor of the offensive line, the Panthers are leading the ACC Coastal Division with a 5-1 conference record. And with Wake Forrest and Miami left on their schedule, the Panthers will probably be facing Clemson for the ACC Championship. Although Clemson will be considered the heavy favorite, Pitt could give the Tigers a good game because the Panthers nearly defeated Notre Dame in South Bend. Pitt led for almost the entire game. Moreover, Pitt had chances to extend its lead with 47-yard, and 36-yard field goals that would’ve put Pitt up 20-12 if both had gone through, but neither did. Despite the loss to the Irish, the experience of playing in Notre Dame Stadium in front of 77,622 screaming fans will be one Millin will never forget.

Other games with lasting memories include the Panthers overtime win over Syracuse (see video below, Millin is # 70), a 23-13 win against #23 ranked Virginia, and a 52-22 win over Virginia Tech.

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One of the biggest differences in playing in a power-five conference compared to the MAC is game-day attendance. In the Panthers final home game of the year against Virginia Tech, 44,398 fans showed up on a day where the game-time temperature was 32, with the wind chill in the teens. In September, 68,400 fans attended the Penn State game, which was the largest crowd of the season at Heinz Field.

I'm not sure how many fans will show up at Dix Stadium this Thursday to see the Flashes play the Toledo Rockets, but if there are more than two thousand in the stands, I will be surprised.

Regardless of how many fans are present for Kent State's second MACtion midweek game this season, I believe it's fair to say most of them are happy with the FlashFast regime.

As for me, it would have been nice to see how the Flashes would have performed with Millin anchoring the offensive line and Nick Holley leading the backfield. But because the decision was made to make a coaching change we will never know how that would have played out. My guess is the Flashes would have won at least four games against Illinois, Howard, Akron, and Bowling Green, which would have been disappointing to most Kent State's fans, but it's better than the two wins the Flashes will probably finish with this season, and more than Kent State will most likely win next year.

If you don't believe Nick Holey would have made much difference, take a look at the video below. Perhaps Holley was not as elusive as Julian Edelman, but he was a dangerous runner with NFL upside as a running back. Despite not making the L.A. Rams final roster, I still believe Holley has a chance to play somewhere next year.

As for Millin's chances of playing in the NFL, I believe his performance this year most certainly improved his stock as an NFL draft prospect. And even if he doesn't get drafted by an NFL team and play professionally, his memories as a Pitt Panther will last him a life time. It's just a shame that his final year of eligibility could not have been with the Golden Flashes.

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Dino Babers brought his “fun-n-gun” offense to Bowling Green which had the quarterback playing mainly out of the shotgun and slinging the football all over the football field. The biggest problem Babers has had at Syracuse the last two seasons is that the Orange are unable to stop opponents as he had thirteen games in which they surrendered at least 30 points. That is the trade-off when you employ the uptempo offense. Assuming Lewis implements the same offense at Kent, expect the Flashes to give up a ton of points on defense.


http://cuse.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=327

http://cuse.com/schedule.aspx?path=football

From Cappers Picks:

Prediction: Toledo 55 – Kent State 17

https://www.capperspicks.com/free-p...golden-flashes-11-15-2018-betting-prediction/

14.5 points

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/teams/team-page.cfm/team/kent-state

From Athlon Sports:

Kent State is certainly showing signs of life in Lewis’ first year, but Buffalo simply has a better team in 2018. With a showdown looming against Ohio next week, the Bulls can’t afford to look ahead and not take care of business on Tuesday night. With the Jackson-to-Johnson connection back on track, it’s tough see the Golden Flashes getting enough stops to win this contest. Look for Barrett to deliver a few big plays, but Buffalo has too much firepower and pulls away in the second half.

Prediction: Buffalo 41, Kent State 17

https://athlonsports.com/college-fo...lashes-vs-buffalo-bulls-prediction-picks-2018

The Bulls are favored by 23.5 over the Flashes.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/teams/team-page.cfm/team/kent-state

Despite the Flashes winning at Bowling Green, the FPI's for the remaining games are still very low. The FPI for Buffalo is 9.0%, against Toledo the FPI is 13.8%, and against Eastern Michigan the FPI is 17.8%.

I'm happy that the Flashes won at BG, but I'm not as ecstatic as some of the fans over on Flash Fanatics.

From a Bowling Green perspective, one Falcon fan on Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com summarized last night's game as follows:

"Pathetic, just pathetic! The worst offensive line in the MAC, and therefore in FBS. Terrible play calling. Miserable officiating. Multiple holding calls missed on Kent. Kent players jacked up the whole game, confident, aggressive. BG players--missed tackles, out of position, missed assignments.
This is the worst BG team I have ever seen since I started to school at BG in 1964; a season ticket holder since the mid-70's. The house cleaning can't come soon enough."

This year's Falcon squad has been called "a train wreck." And just because the Flashes hung on and defeated the "train wreck" doesn't necessarily mean the team has finally arrived. How they perform against Buffalo, Toledo, and Eastern Michigan will tell us a lot more about the progress this team has made since the loss at Ball State.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/fpi/_/id/2309/kent-state-golden-flashes

From Picks and Parlays:

Bowling Green has dominated this all-time series and have won five straight matchups by an average of 38 points. Look for the Golden Flashes to reverse that trend with a road victory on Tuesday night. Final Score Prediction, Kent State Golden Flashes win and cover ATS 34-27.

https://freepicks.picksandparlays.n...03018-college-football-picks-and-predictions/

As of Sunday evening, the Flashes are favored by 1.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/teams/team-page.cfm/team/kent-state

With a #182 ranking, the Flashes have a long way to go to become a team of "national distinction."

https://kenpom.com/

The quote below was taken from last Thursday's FlashTalk at Tree City Coffee.

"...besides being a father to my son, being a husband to my wife, and being a son to my parents, and a brother to my sister, I mean next to my religion, without getting too deep, being a football coach and helping young men achieve their goals and take them places that they can't get on their own defines who I am" -- Coach Sean Lewis

I appreciate Coach Lewis' priorities and can only encourage him to express his faith without reservation, despite pressure from the secular administration of the university and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, to do otherwise.

Because as Christians, we have an obligation to tell others about the saving grace of Jesus.

Matthew 28:19-. 20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Dabo Swinney is very outspoken about his faith in Christ, and Dino Babers, perhaps to a lesser extent, is also active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. That is a big part of who they are and, in my opinion, why they are both successful.

Secularism is prominent among our universities and liberal media, including ESPN (see video below), but as Christians we are obligated to follow Matthew 28:19-20 faithfully, which means to go far and wide in order to win the whole world to Christ.

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https://www.fca.org/magazine-story/2017/09/14/dabo-swinney-featured-on-fca-magazine

RK PLAYER RAW QBR TOTAL QBR
1 Mitchell Guadagni, TOL 83.6 85.4 (+1)
2 Tyree Jackson, BUFF 82.8 80.4 (-3)
3 Nathan Rourke, OHIO 78.5 76.6 (+2)
4 Jon Wassink, WMU 79.5 76.6 (-2)
5 Mike Glass, EMU 74.3 72.9
6 Riley Neal, BALL 61.8 64.7 (-3)
7 Gus Ragland, M-OH 56.9 56.6 (+7)
8 Woody Barrett, KENT 58.4 51.6 (-3)
9 Jarret Doege, BGSU 55.0 43.3 (-1)
10 Tyler Wiegers, EMU1 39.5 40.3 (-3)
11 Kato Nelson, AKRON 40.2 38.5 (-6)
12 Tommy Lazzaro, CMU 39.6 36.4 (-6)
13 Marcus Childers, NIU 26.0 30.9 (+1)

http://www.espn.com/ncf/qbr/_/group/15