When Kent State head coach Doug Martin met with the media following
his team's 41-10 season opening victory over Murray State he expressed
his satisfaction in the Golden Flashes performance in all facets of the game.

Nothing changed after Martin reviewed the game film over the weekend.

"We're really pleased with the way we opened our season. Looking
at the game film I really felt like that was as complete a game as we've
played in an opening game," Martin said on Monday during his weekly media
conference. "Our experience really showed in all areas, especially on
special teams. I'm really impressed with what our players were able to
do."

Martin had plenty to be excited about, especially on offense.

The Flashes scored 41 points, held Murray State scoreless in the second half,
accumulated over 400 yards of offense while holding the Racers to just 193
and committed just seven penalties for 60 yards.

"I was really happy with the fact that again we looked experienced.
We didn't have a lot of penalties for a first game. You usually have
a lot of penalties; we did not," Martin said.

Particularly pleasing was Kent State's ability to run its two-minute
offense to perfection in a season opener.

The Flashes forced a Murray State punt with just 2:14 left in the first half.
They drove 61 yards in five plays, capped by a 49-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Keith to Jacquise Terry.

"Our offense had a lot of poise to it," Martin said. "To
be able to go out in the first half and get into a two-minute drill and go
down and score in a first game, I thought that showed a lot of poise and character
by our offensive kids to be able to go out and do that."

Even with all the positives last Thursday, Martin knows there's plenty
of improvement to make if the Golden Flashes hope to win their first conference
championship since 1972.

Kent State rushed for just 137 yards and allowed three sacks against the Racers.
There were plenty of post-game questions about the offensive line, but Martin
isn't overly concerned with his run blocking.

"On the negative side of things, people are making a big deal out of
our running game," he said. "We ran for 140 yards, 150 is our goal.
I would have liked to see us have more explosion runs. I thought a couple of
times we put the running backs in the open field but they just didn't
make anybody miss. We still need some work there in the run game, a little
bit."

The Flashes will see just how much improvement they can make in a week before
they travel to Boston for a non-conference tilt against Boston College.