Durham Helps Kent State Bull Through Western Michigan, 32-14
9/28/2013 10:43:00โฏPM | Football
KALAMAZOO, Mich. โย Trayion Durham bulled his way to 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Dri Archer reached the end zone for the first time in 2013 as Kent State ended a 25-year drought at Western Michigan with a 32-14 win on Saturday night.
The Golden Flashes hadn't won in Kalmazoo's Waldo Stadium since 1988.
"This was a big win for us in a tough place to play," said Kent State head coach Paul Haynes, who notched his first Mid-American Conference win in his first season. "The last time we won here, Ronald Reagan was president and I was a sophomore at Kent State. We talked about putting all three phases of the game together this week โฆ and we did that."
Durham's big day was highlighted by scoring runs of 5 yards late in the first quarter and 1 yard late in the third quarter, along with a 65-yard rumble to set up a game-sealing 40-yard field goal by Anthony Melchiori in the closing minutes.
Archer added another 73 yards on six carries, but scored his first touchdown of the year by catching a 31-yard pass from Colin Reardon with 6:15 to play in the second quarter. The score was one of Archer's four grabs for 48 yards. Kent State ran the swinging gate to tack on a 2-point conversion throw from Chris Humphrey to long snapper Chad Bushley and take a 15-7 lead into halftime.
"It was nice to get back out there with my teammates," said Archer, who missed two of the season's first four games to an ankle injury, and played only sparingly in the two games in which he appeared. "After I made contact on my first play, I knew I was going to be good for the rest of the game. The touchdown was a great throw by Colin."
Reardon helped the Golden Flashes put the game away in the fourth quarter with another touchdown pass to tight end Casey Pierce. The 7-yard throw put Kent State ahead 29-14 with 8:25 to play.
Reardon finished the night with 176 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 17-for-30 passing. The freshman quarterback also ran for 44 yards on 11 attempts.
Defensive tackle Roosevelt Nix, cornerback Dylan Farrington and safety Luke Wollet led a Kent State defense that authored its finest game of the season.
Nix paced the Flashes with eight tackles while Farrington and Wollet both intercepted Western Michigan quarterback Tyler Van Tubbergen.
"We did a good job of getting off of the field on third down," said Wollet. "Our corners did a great job all day of pressing and their receivers struggled getting off of the ball.
Van Tubbergen completed 11-of-23 pases for 159 yards with his lone touchdown coming on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Josh Schaefer early in the third quarter to briefly cut Kent State's lead to 15-14. As they did after both scores by Western Michigan (0-5, 0-1 MAC), the Flashes answered with a touchdown drive of their own.
Western Michigan running back Brian Fields (106 yards, 19 carries) scored the Broncos' first points on a 2-yard run early in the second quarter, tying the game at 7-7 just minutes before Reardon and Archer put Kent State into the lead for good with their 31-yard touchdown connection.ย
Kent State (2-3, 1-1 MAC) returns to action on Oct. 5 when it hosts Northern Illinois on homecoming. The game is a rematch of last year's Mid-American Conference Championship Game.ย
"This is a big week for us coming up," said Haynes.
Postgame Notes
Kent State snapped a three-game losing streak and a seven-game losing streak in Kalamazoo.ย The Flashes last win at Waldo Stadium came in 1988.
ย The Flashes have won 13 of their last 15 conference games with 13-1 mark against current MAC teams.
Kent State has won six straight conference games against West Division opponents.
The Flashes have won seven of their last nine true road games.
Kent State improved to 12-1 since last season, when outgaining opponents on the ground.
The Flashes' 26 first downs were their most first downs in their last 15 games.ย The Broncos' 13 first downs were the fewest by an opponent in the last 15 games.
Kent State's 452 total yards were its most in its last nine games.
Senior Dri Archer scored his 30th career touchdown and first of the season on a 31-yard catch in the second quarter.ย Archer's 33-yard run was the longest by a Kent State running back this year.ย He is tied for fifth place among Kent State's career touchdown leaders.
Junior Trayion Durham scored his 20th and 21st career rushing touchdowns and second and third of the season.ย Durham eclipsed 90 yards rushing for the 12th time in his career.ย His 154 rushing yards and 26 carries were season highs.ย In his last two games against Western Michigan, Durham has combined for 278 rushing yards.ย Durham's 65-yard run in the fourth quarter was a career-long.
Senior Tyshon Goode is now alone in second place in career receptions at Kent State with 157.ย
Long snapper Chad Bushley scored the first points of his college career, catching a two-point conversion pass from Chris Humphrey.ย Humphrey and the Flashes are 2-for-2 on two-point conversion attempts this season.
Senior Roosevelt Nix raised his Kent State career leading tackles for loss total to 59.0.ย He led the Flashes with eight tackles.
Redshirt freshman Colin Reardon threw his fifth and sixth touchdown passes of the season.
Junior Dylan Farrington made his second interception in as many games.
Junior Casey Pierce made his third touchdown grab of the season.
Senior Luke Wollet made his 11th career interception, tying for eighth place among Kent State careerย leaders.
Sophomore Anthony Melchiori had a career long 40-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Coach Paul Haynes' opening statement:
ย
"Good win, big win for us. You know, this is a tough place to play. Last time we won here, Ronald Reagan was President, and I was a sophomore in college, so this is a big road victory for us. Anytime we go on the road and get a victory in the conference it's good. Finally, all three phases, we talked about all three phases coming together and playing well. We still got it, kind of in waves but we pretty much did a really good job with all three phases coming together. We got a big win coming up, homecoming, back at Kent State against Northern Illinois."
ย
Coach Paul Haynes on if he feels that Western Michigan's defense was worn down:
ย
"I don't think that it's worn down, you know, they play hard. Coach Fleck does a good job with the energy level. I know, just like us, they've got a lot of guys banged up, so without knowing their situation totally, you're just trying to roll guys in there, and then you run out of guys to run in there. So if it feels that way, and it looks that way, you know, to you guys I'm sure that probably has a lot to do with it, but I thought they played hard the whole game."
ย
Dri Archer on his first home game back:
ย
"It felt good being back out there with my teammates, just having fun, playing football, doing what we love to do."
ย
Luke Wollet on what he saw defensively in the first half:
ย
"They definitely ran the ball a little more than we expected. We did a good job of getting off the field at third down, I don't know what the percentage was, but we were kind of limited to them because they wanted to run the ball on first and second down, but our corner did a great job all game, pressing and the receiver struggled to get up the line of scrimmage against them, so it's not all his fault, you have to look at the big picture."
Western Michigan Quotes
Kyle Lark on how to simulate Dri Archer in Practice:
"We expected Dri Archer to play all week. We did the best we couldย with the scout team look and I the scout team did a great job getting us prepared for the week. We knew what he had in store and he is a great player, he's fast."
Kyle Lark on Kent State Running back tandem:
"They have a great combo with big and speed. They had a lot of big plays and gaps and that's not our style of defense. When big plays happen, its minor slip up and we have to get that fixed."
Brian Fields on Offensive Progress:
"Yes, we see improvement every week and its going to continue."
Brian Fields on Kent State Defensive Adjustments:
"They picked up on a few of our screens, they watch film like everyone does and they did a good job of that."
ย
Coach Fleck Opening Statement:
"I want to thank the fans. Impressive turnout, a 0-4 team and that student section is close to being full. People stayed all the way until the game was almost over. It says a lot about what we are doing, we are winning individual battles, were not winning the war but I want to thank Bronco nation. This program is on the rise and I know a lot of people don't see it but it's called faith.
Coach Fleck on the Game:
"We have got to get better, too many holding calls, way too many big plays called back but I thought we did a better job executing in the run game. I thought the back-up receivers did a great job coming in and making plays. Kendrick Roberts made some big plays, Schaffer made some plays but what it all comes down to is that we didn't make plays and they were able to run the ball on us. They did a good job of spreading us out and we didn't make enough plays in space. We are getting better."
