Kent State is near the bottom of the ratings.
- Win total 3.5 — line flat since open
- Kent State enters 2026 — the 5-7 record and bottom-quintile returning production highli…
How past storylines turned out
Kent State's head-coaching hire held for another season.
Kent State's defensive coordinator change has died down — no clear next chapter yet.
Kent State's offensive coordinator change has died down — no clear next chapter yet.
How it developed newest first
Kent State: coordinator change reshaping a unit.
Kent State: the fanbase's identity shifting.
Why it mattersMark 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.
Mark Carney took over as Kent State's head coach, replacing Kenni Burns.
the program's third head coach in five seasons
Why it mattersCarney, 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.
Kent State enters 2026 rated No. 130 in 2025 SP+ (-19.3).
bottom-quintile returning production — heavy turnover entering the season
Why it mattersKent State enters 2026 — the 5-7 record and bottom-quintile returning production highlight the steep climb ahead for Mark Carney in his first season at the helm.
Kent State enters 2025 rated No. 130 in SP+ (-19.3).
bottom-quintile returning production — heavy turnover entering the season
Why it mattersKent 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.
Watch next
The non-obvious thing to track
The schedule matters more than the number here. A team at this level has 2-3 games where the model has it overmatched, and those games decide how the season is judged. Watch whether the model holds through the first month of the schedule.
Our read of the beats above.
Rooms tap to switch
The 'the projection is underselling us' read: fans betting the season beats the preview number.
No coverage in this room yet.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter: efficiency ratings reward what a program has already done on the field.
This event was in 28 of 147 board posts (19%) over the last 60 days, a large share of the conversation. Fan text is shown verbatim and credited to the community it came from; posters stay anonymous.
Board posters are a vocal, self-selected slice of the fanbase.
The range consensus, not a gap
“FOOTBALL CLAIMS FIRST MAC WIN WITH 31-10 VICTORY OVER KENT STATE”