Mid-American · Mark Carney, year 2 (6-8) · Dix Stadium · 25,319 · 7,887 avg in 2026
LastW 36–15 vs Wofford · Sat Sep 12 · Jaihien Roy 1 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 INT
Nextat Ohio State · Sat Sep 19 · 12 pm ET · Ohio Stadium · Ohio State by 53 · series 0-3, lost the last 3 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #122 | #16 | +35.5✗ | @South Carolina | L 0–57 120 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #113 | #198 | -10✓ | Wofford | W 36–15 125 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #132 | #1 | +53 | @Ohio State | |||
| 4 | Sep 26 | #132 | #159 | Ball State | ||||
| 5 | Oct 3 | Ohio | ||||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Western Michigan | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | @South Florida | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Akron | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | @Sacramento State | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 11 | @Bowling Green | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 18 | Miami (OH) | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 25 | @Eastern Michigan |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12 | Wofford | W 36–15 | 448 | 3 | 37:22 | +0.217 | 41.1% | 130.6% | |
| Sep 5 | @South Carolina | L 0–57 | 179 | 1 | 25:13 | -0.038 | 26.5% | 146.1% | |
| Season average (2 games) | 314 | 2.0 | +0.090 | 33.8% | 138.4% | ||||
Kent State went 1-23 across two seasons, fired its coach, and turned to the guy already on staff -- who won five games in one year and took the Wagon Wheel back from Akron in overtime to prove it.
Kent State fans have watched the program get written off as a MAC afterthought during the 1-23 stretch -- and answered with a coach promoted from the same staff that presided over it, turning the rost…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 5-7 · last season
✓ measured from 12 games · ranks are among Mid-American teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Mixed. 5-5 over the last 10, and won the last one.
Next Sep 19
vs Ohio State · away
~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-14
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Mark Carney's 5-7 turnaround capped by reclaiming the Wagon Wheel from Akron offers a rare spark for a program mired in a 1-23 slide across 2023-2024.
our readdeveloping
Carney, who led a 5-7 turnaround at Kent State, inherits an 11% production return and a program that’s been through three coaches in five years — the churn defines the challenge, not his credentials.
our readdeveloping
Gavin Garcia does NOT see a usage spike in garbage time -- his workload holds steady regardless of score.
our readbackground
Kent State enters 2025 at No. 130 in SP+ — Mark Carney's first season faces bottom-quintile production returning and a 5-7 record as the baseline.
our readbackground
Kent State: coordinator change reshaping a unit.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Kent State · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Kent State enters 2026 rated No. 130 in 2025 SP+ (-19.3). It is bottom-quintile returning production — heavy turnover entering the season. SP+ describes what the program HAS done, not what it will do. The season is the field test. The preview consensus leans in — but preseason ratings reward the recent past, not the season ahead.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
Only 9 of 48 board posts mention it — below our floor to call a community stance. Shown as texture, not a verdict.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Kent State: the fanbase's identity shifting.
The optimistic read: momentum, and the 'this is real' takes.
The analytical counter: rankings, results, and 'the hype is ahead of the tape' takes.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
Only 9 of 48 board posts mention it — below our floor to call a community stance. Shown as texture, not a verdict.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Kent State went 1-23 across 2023-2024, fired Kenni Burns in April 2025, and turned to interim-then-permanent head coach Mark Carney -- who led a 5-7 turnaround with more wins in one season than the previous two combined, capped by reclaiming the Wagon Wheel from Akron in an overtime thriller.
The program ledger
since 2025Kickoff specialist named starter
Beamer locks in Sanchez as the kicker for a #122-ranked class that can't afford dead weight at any spot — depth pressure at OT already, so getting a starter-tier answer on special teams without burning a scholarship matters more than it sounds.
Stephen Daley returns to Indiana football
Daley's injunction win sends him back to Bloomington — Kent State loses a blocking anchor from a depth class already ranked #122 nationally and sweating OT pressure heading into 2026.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
OH leads the 2026 class with 13 commits. National footprint reaching 5 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
79 signees across 14 states, 2023-2026. OH leads the pull.
That is 7.2% of every high-school FBS signee OH produced over those cycles — second only to Ohio State, 3 signees back. The full map →
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Kent State player grew up 167 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Dix Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 106 of 111 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
The penalty battle is a wash: 13 penalties committed vs. 12 drawn on opponents.
90 penalty yards committed vs. 95 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Kent State · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026