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KENT STATE VS IOWA STATE

9/6/08

Not all games make our Key Releases. But most times a member of our staff will feel strongly about several games that so we'll try and bring as many of those to you as possible each week, aside from our regular Key Releases. This is one such game, between Kent State and Iowa State this coming Saturday.

Kent State +7 Over Iowa State...Kent State travels to Ames to battle Iowa State on Saturday night. Iowa State is off a blow-out win of South Dakota State and Kent is off a loss at Boston College. Kent marched into Ames last year and dominated the cyclones 23-14. Kent returns 14 starters from that team including RB Eugene Jarvis who ran all over the cyclone D last year. Kent's D held BC scoreless from the 2nd quarter into the beginning of the 4th quarter. I see Kents D playing a big part in keeping this close right up until the end. Their offense sputtered against a tough BC Defense that held them to only 260 total yard and 12 first downs. QB Edelman, also threw one INT. They won't find as tough this week against a weaker ISU D. I see Jarvis controlling the ground game against an inexperienced Cyclone D-Line.

The Cyclones dominated the score board last Thursday night against South Dakota State. SD State threw 5 INT's to help the cyclones put it away early. A late, long TD run gave them their final score to make it closer than it actually was. The offense did not seem to be totally in sync and the D played well but looking at the competition, it was not as impressive as it seemed. Without even half the SD State INTs, I think this would have been a closer game than it was.

The speed of the game increases this week for ISU and I think they come out a little shell-shocked as Kent was playing at a much quicker, more competitive speed last week against BC. Along with that, the Cyclones have their 'national championship' game of the year at Iowa the following week. I know for a fact they are looking ahead to that even though Kent is no pushover. Revenge is on Iowa State's side as the embarrassing loss from last year lingers, plus it will be a loud, drunken atmosphere in Ames since it is a night game. But I still see Kent having a shot to win this SU on the road, being that they are a bit more battle tested than the Clones. The line opened at +7.5 and currently sits at 7. I think that is plenty on a live dog. Iowa State 24, Kent 21