The 1971 Kent State Golden Flashes football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their first season under head coach Don James, the Golden Flashes compiled a 3–8 record (0–5 against MAC opponents), finished in sixth place in the MAC, and were outscored by a total of 304 to 169. The team's statistical leaders included Renard Harmon with 566 rushing yards, Larry Hayes with 848 passing yards, and Jeff Murrey with 259 receiving yards. On defense, Jack Lambert led the team with 155 total tackles, including 68 solo tackles. Other notable players on the team included

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

and

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record ...

. Don James was announced as Kent State's football coach on December 12, 1970, following the resignation of Dave Puddington. Prior to being hired by Kent State, James was a defensive coach for

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Schedule

Roster

References

Kent State Kent State Golden Flashes football seasons

Kent State Golden Flashes football Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

{{collegefootball-1970s-season-stub