Red Right 88

The more things change in the MAC …

… the more they stay the same.

As the weeks went by this fall and Kent State built a 10-game winning streak, it became obvious that it was just a matter of when, not if, football coach Darrell Hazell would move to a bigger stage.

Well, it looks like we now know not only the when but the where.

ESPN is reporting that Hazell will be named Purdue’s new football coach on Wednesday, replacing the fired Danny Hope.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, Purdue made the announcement that Hazell will become the school’s 35th football coach.

Purdue? Really?

Read more…

Kent State’s BCS dreams end in double OT loss

The dream died hard for Kent State on Friday night at Ford Field in Detroit.

When Northern Illinois defensive back Demetrius Stone intercepted Spencer Keith’s fourth-down pass in the end zone in double overtime of the MAC Championship game, it was finally over.

No conference title. No BCS bowl game. No national spotlight on a program that had wandered the college football desert for 40 years.

Only the disappointment of seeing your dream end, so very, very close, but just far enough away to exceed your reach.

We have all the MACtion details at The Cleveland Fan.

(Photo by The Beacon Journal)

MAC title game is biggest game in Kent State history

When the Kent State Golden Flashes take the field tonight against Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit, it will be the most important athletic event not only in the football program’s history but in school history.

Kent State, which is ranked No. 17 in the BCS Standings, No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, has the opportunity to do what was once considered the unthinkable – win a conference championship and, in the process, earn what is most likely to be a spot in either the Sugar Bowl or the Orange Bowl come January.

This game is bigger than the baseball team making the College World Series last spring and the men’s basketball team making the regional final of the NCAA tournament in 2002, and to understand why you have to know where the football program has been and where it is going.

Head over to The Cleveland Fan to find out the rest of the story.

(Photo by The Beacon Journal)