Kent State spent 2025 clawing back into relevance. Ball State spent it near the bottom of the country on offense. Friday night in Dix Stadium is where we find out how far apart these two MAC programs actually are.
Bush’s Picks
BALLKENT
BALLKENT
OverUnder
Best BetKent State
Kent State enters with real momentum after nearly doubling its win total under a first-year coach who's already proven he can get more out of this roster than expected. Ball State is still sorting out its quarterback room and coming off a season where the offense was one of the worst in the country. Backing the home team here is backing the program actually trending upward.
Ball State
+Overhauled offensive and defensive lines via the portal
+Added experienced pieces like edge rusher Jared Badie
+Two capable options in the QB competition
−Finished 4-8 with a bottom-tier offense in 2025
−Third straight season without more than 4 wins
−Still hasn't settled its starting quarterback
Kent State
+5-7 under Carney marked the program's 2nd-biggest turnaround ever
+8 players named to preseason All-MAC teams
+Da'Realyst Clark is a preseason All-America return man
−Still finished under .500 in year one of the rebuild
−Brutal non-conference trip to South Carolina and Ohio State first
−First-year system still needs time to fully take hold
This one's a step removed from Week 1 drama — Kent State opens with a brutal non-conference gauntlet at South Carolina and at Ohio State before conference play even starts, so by the time the Golden Flashes host Ball State on Friday, September 25, they'll have a real read on where this roster stands. Ball State, meanwhile, is still figuring out who its quarterback is, with juniors Tyler Mizzell and Keldric Luster both in the mix behind a retooled offensive line.
Kent State's story is the more interesting one entering the year. Mark Carney took over in late October 2025 and immediately authored the second-largest single-season turnaround in program history, pushing a moribund roster to 5-7. That kind of jump tends to buy a coach real belief heading into year two, especially with eight players landing on Athlon's preseason All-MAC teams and return man Da'Realyst Clark drawing Walter Camp preseason All-America recognition.
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BALL Ball State
KENT Kent State
Ball State's rebuild looks different. Mike Uremovich's first season ended 4-8, and the offense was one of the worst in the country statistically, which is exactly why the Cardinals leaned so hard on the transfer portal this offseason — retooling both lines and adding pieces like edge rusher Jared Badie to try to fix a defense that couldn't get stops either. Whether that portal talent gels in time for a road trip to Kent will be the whole story of this one.
Ball State Cardinals
Sep 19?@ Liberty—
Sep 12?vs Stony Brook—
Sep 5?@ Ohio State—
Kent State Golden Flashes
Sep 19?@ Ohio State—
Sep 12?vs Wofford—
Sep 5?@ South Carolina—
Recent form.
The gap between these two programs right now isn't close to the gap in national perception — both are still MAC also-rans on paper — but the trajectories are pointed in opposite directions. Kent State is building on momentum with a staff that's had a full offseason to install its system, while Ball State is still stitching together a new-look roster and hasn't proven it can finish games against MAC competition.
Ball State Cardinals
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Kent State Golden Flashes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Neither team is walking into this as a finished product, and both rosters will look different by late September than they do on paper today. But if Kent State's defense and special teams hold up the way they did down the stretch last year, this is a spot where the home program with the better recent form and a deeper well of returning production should be favored to take care of business at Dix Stadium.
