Kent State

The Golden Flashes enter 2026 dealing with a complete receiving corps overhaul after losing their top two pass-catchers to the portal. Cade Wolford (27.1 PPA) transferred to Cincinnati and Da'Shawn Martin (24.5 PPA) headed to Virginia, wiping out Kent State's entire target share from last season's 5-7 campaign. New head coach Mark Carney inherits a program ranked 133rd nationally in JP+'s preseason ratings at -16.8 points, with both offense (-8.1, 130th) and defense (-7.9, 130th) sitting near the bottom of FBS while quarterback Dru Deshields returns as the starter.

JP+ projects 3.8 wins for Kent State in what shapes up as another difficult Mid-American Conference season. The transfer portal brought 15 departures that cost 47.0 PPA while only 11 arrivals added back a net -1.3 PPA, headlined by running back Jakorion Caffey from Cincinnati. Deshields will need to develop chemistry with an entirely new receiving unit while the defense must improve significantly from its bottom-tier 2025 performance. If the new pass-catchers gel quickly and Carney's system takes hold, Kent State could approach bowl eligibility. If not, another long season awaits in the MAC cellar.