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difficult for us defensively. It's kind of hard to scout." Making matters even more difficult, the linchpin of that new Penn State offense, redshirt sophomore quarterback Trace McSorley, is nearly as opaque as the of- fense itself, having seen extensive action in only one game to date: the Nittany Lions' 24-17 loss to Georgia in the Tax- Slayer Bowl, in which he was operating out of John Donovan's more-conven- tional scheme. Haynes called McSorley a "tough, hardnosed kid," but beyond that? Hard to say. "They wouldn't have picked him if he didn't run their offense and execute it very well," Haynes said. "Coach Moor- head is a very good football coach, so I know [McSorley] is going to be well- groomed and well-coached. But you don't want to watch too much of last year's [film] because the offense is to- tally different. You sit there and you watch the spring game and it's a TV copy, and you can barely see a lot of the things that happened. It's not like a nor- mal game that you have the normal film from." And yet, Kent State could pose an in- teresting challenge. The Golden Flashes haven't had much success under Haynes, going 9-26 in his first three seasons as head coach of his alma mater, but the team's problems have mostly been con- fined to the offense. On the defensive side of the ball, the Golden Flashes have been formidable. A year ago, they ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference against the run (139.2 yards per game) and third against the pass (206.2 ypg). Only two MAC teams – Akron and Cen- tral Michigan – gave up fewer yards than Kent State (350.1 ypg), and no team had a lower defensive completion rate, as op- ponents hit only 53.8 percent of their passing attempts. Seven starters return from that unit this fall, including fiBh-year senior safety Nate Holley, one of the more con- sistent playmakers in the MAC if not the entire nation. A year ago, Holley finished with 141 tackles, averaging 12.5 stops per game to rank third in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Also back are senior Ter- ence Waugh and redshirt junior corner- back Demetrius Monday. Waugh finished with 12 tackles for loss and nine sacks last season, while Monday had six inter- ceptions to rank fiBh nationally. Kent State's defensive prowess makes a lot of sense given Haynes' background. He was a walk-on defensive back for the Golden Flashes back when Glen Mason was their head coach. Known as "Ice," he led the team in interceptions as a fresh- man and twice won All-MAC honors. His 440 career tackles rank seventh in school history. Haynes went into coaching aBer his playing career was over, working with the defensive backs at Kent State, Louisville, Michigan State and Ohio State. He spent seven seasons in Colum- bus as a member of Jim Tressel's staff, then served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas for one year before returning to Kent State in 2013. But while Kent State has been solid on defense under Haynes, the offense has struggled. The Golden Flashes were dreadful last year, ranking last in the MAC in passing offense (138.1 ypg), total offense (270.8) and scoring offense (13.1 points per game). They tried changing quarterbacks at midseason, going with George Bollas in their final six games. But Bollas, a redshirt freshman at the time, struggled to develop any consistency, tossing six interceptions and only two touchdown passes. With its offense out of sync, Kent State ended with five con- secutive losses. This year, Haynes plans to play three QBs. True freshman Justin Agner will start against Penn State, with redshirt freshman Mylik Mitchell expected to spell him at some point in the game. Bol- las will play, too, Haynes said, part of an extended competition aimed at finding a full-time starter by the time the MAC season begins. Acknowledging that Penn State has su- perior personnel and depth, Haynes said he key for the Golden Flashes will be to focus on their own performance. "You can't beat yourself," he said. "That's one of the main things. You see games like this, and it can go either way. It can be 21-0 before the balloons leave the sta- dium, not [because of] what they do, but based on what we do. … It just comes back to us being us: playing a physical style of football, executing, and don't beat yourself." NATE BAUER 2015 RECORD 11-2 The Nittany Lions suffered a rude awak- ening to the 2015 season in their trip to Philadelphia to take on Temple. They'll face no such trauma this time around. Whether Penn State's new offense gets rolling immediately remains to be seen, but the defense should hold steady against a still-inept Kent State offense. PENN STATE 33, KENT STATE 10 PHIL GROSZ 2015 RECORD 9-4 Despite the fact Penn State has two new coordinators, it should be able to dominate Kent State on both sides of the ball and win this game by three or more touch- downs. Kent State had the 126th-ranked offense in the country last fall. Even with PSU losing Austin Johnson, Carl Nassib and Anthony Zettel, I can't see the Golden Flashes scoring more than 10 points. PENN STATE 42, KENT STATE 10 MATT HERB 2015 RECORD 10-3 Penn State has made a lot of changes under the hood in the past eight months, so it's hard to know what to expect. But even if they aren't firing on all cylinders in the opener, the Nittany Lions still look to have enough horsepower to overcome a Kent State team that's had some offensive problems of its own in recent years. PENN STATE 35, KENT STATE 13 TIM OWEN 2015 RECORD 10-3 The offense is flashy, the defense creates turnovers and Penn State wins easily. But bigger challenges await. PENN STATE 45, KENT STATE 10 RYAN SNYDER 2015 RECORD 10-3 Kent State struggled against spread of- fenses last season, so this should work out well for Joe Moorhead and the Nit- tany Lions. The real test will come next week against Pitt. PENN STATE 42, KENT STATE 17 A U G U S T   3 1 ,   2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2 BWI'S FORECAST

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