Kent State defense yields, steals

Sunday, January 6, 2013

— Rhett Lashlee’s job title with Arkansas State didn’t change when Gus Malzahn left to coach Auburn last month.

The amount on his plate has, though.

When ASU (9-3) faces No. 25 Kent State (11-2) in tonight’s GoDaddy.com Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Lashlee, ASU’s first-year offensive coordinator, will have put together a game plan largely by himself and will call plays without the assistance of Malzahn, his mentor whose finger was largely pressed on an offense he designed.

But Lashlee, who will join Malzahn at Auburn following tonight’s game, said it hasn’t been as difficult as it might appear. He and Malzahn worked together in forming game plans throughout the year and split play calling duties on game days.

But he called preparations for tonight’s game a “staff wide” endeavor.

“There will be some differences. But you know, the staff has been great and the kids have been great,” Lashlee said. “At the end of the day, everybody has distractions all the time in sports. You just got to show up and play.”

Lashlee said his most pressing concern tonight will be how to get a passing offense that became the most efficient in the Sun Belt Conference to operate at its usual level against a peculiar Kent State pass defense.

The Golden Flashes gave up the second-most passing yards (276.5 per game) in the Mid-American Conference this season and the second most passing touchdowns (26). They also allowed the second-most pass completions (296), while opponents completed 60 percent of their passes against them.

But Kent State also had 23 interceptions, the most in the MAC and second in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Thirteen Kent State players have intercepted passes this year, including three with three or more.

Kent State’s ability to intercept passes has ASU thinking it might not be as easy gaining chunks of yards as it might seem by looking at the yards and points the Golden Flashes have given up.

“You can look off stats, but at the same time, you’ve got to see the turnover ratio,” senior quarterback Ryan Aplin said. “You could throw for 500 yards, but if you have three picks, I mean, that’s it.

“We have to take what they give us. If they give us the opportunity, maybe [Josh] Jarboe will make a catch or something.”

Kent State Coach Darrell Hazell said the yards against his defense have come mostly when they got burned on blitzes. And he counted the Golden Flashes red zone success - 9 of 47 opponent red-zone chances have ended with a turnover or failed fourth-down conversion - as another reason to downplay the amount of yards.

Tonight, Hazell said, little will change with their approach.

“Sometimes when you [blitz], you’ll leave guys on an island, 1-on-1, and they’re a little bit more vulnerable,” he said. “But that’s who we are. ... We’ll change a little bit, but not a whole lot.”

Lashlee said he is pleased to have Aplin, a senior who will play his 47th game tonight, against a team that could confuse an offense with its zone coverage and frequent pressure,

ASU’s 264.4 passing yards per game ranked third in the Sun Belt this season, but Aplin’s 67.8 completion percentage and 155.3 efficiency rating were tops in the Sun Belt and more than any MAC quarterback Kent State faced this year.

“Their style is so disciplined in what they do they kind of frustrate people into forcing the issue a little bit,” Lashlee said. “They don’t turn people loose. We’ve got to make some of those plays.”

That onus doesn’t just fall on Aplin. ASU’s receivers could give him some help, even if they have to turn into defensive backs of sorts when they find a Kent State player closer to a ball than them.

“If the ball ain’t even by you, if they’re about to catch it, don’t let them catch it,” Jarboe said. “That’s what we talked about, going after the ball, being aggressive.”

Sports, Pages 24 on 01/06/2013