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 right there, so very, very close, but just far enough away to exceed your reach.
Kent State captured the program’s first and only title. Then, as now, the rise of the Flashes came out of nowhere. (It’s always unexpected when Kent wins anything in football.) They weren’t the most imposing of champions, finishing a middling 6-5-1. But they won the MAC and played in a bowl game, something no other Kent team has been able to say- until this season.
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.
