KENT, Ohio — South Alabama travels to Dix Stadium on Saturday to face Kent State in the final game of a two-for-one series between the schools. The series is tied 1-1. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be streamed on ESPN3.
The Jaguars, coached by Joey Jones and members of the Sun Belt Conference, will play in a 25,319-seat stadium that anchors the athletic complex on the east end of the Kent State campus.
A Stadium Moved Across Campus
Dix Stadium opened on Sept. 13, 1969, when Kent State beat the Dayton Flyers in front of 8,172 fans. The university treated the facility as an expansion and relocation of its old Memorial Stadium rather than an entirely new venue. A new west grandstand with more than 12,000 seats, locker rooms and press facilities was built on the current site, a little more than a mile east of campus. About 17,000 seats were taken apart at Memorial Stadium and reassembled as end zone seating, and auxiliary bleachers were moved over to form the east stands.
Construction delays left the west stands, locker rooms and press box unfinished during that first season, limiting capacity to 18,200. Teams dressed at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center and rode buses to the stadium, and at halftime they gathered in separate public restrooms.
The stadium was named in 1973 for Robert C. Dix, publisher of the Record-Courier and a member of Kent State’s Board of Trustees for more than 30 years. Capacity was listed at 30,520 through the 2001 season.
Decades of Changes
An elevator to the press box and suites was added in the early 1990s. Night games began in 1990 with temporary lights, and permanent lighting was installed in 1996. A new scoreboard and artificial turf arrived in 1997, allowing the Kent State field hockey team to play at the stadium through 2004.
The east bleachers were condemned and torn down in 2001, leaving that side open for the 2002 season. A new student section opened there before the 2003 season, bringing capacity to 29,287. A two-phase renovation began in 2007 with a canopy over the press box, new gates and a ticket office. The second phase removed the south end zone seats and the old press box above the north end zone, added a high-definition scoreboard, concessions and a south end zone plaza, and cut about 5,000 seats to reach the current capacity.
Today the west, or home, stands seat more than 12,000 in a mix of bleachers and chairback seats. The east stands hold about 4,000, mostly students, and the north end zone stands, the original Memorial Stadium grandstand, are all bleachers.
Crowds and Upgrades
The first official sellout came on Oct. 9, 2010, when 24,221 fans watched Kent State beat rival Akron 28-17 in the Battle for the Wagon Wheel, the third-largest crowd in stadium history. The record is 27,363 for a game against Miami on Nov. 10, 1973.
In 2013, Kent State launched a $60 million Building Champions campaign to upgrade facilities for all of its athletic teams and raise scholarship money. Plans for Dix Stadium include more chairback seating in the west stands, upgraded suites, a new building for coaches’ offices on the north side and improved locker rooms and player areas, including a new lounge. Two covered seating areas for students are planned on the east side next to the existing student section.
Update: South Alabama Roster Outlook
South Alabama, which did not play on the opening weekend, ended 2013 with three straight double-digit wins, including a 30-8 victory over Sun Belt co-champion Louisiana-Lafayette. Kent State won the first meeting in the series 33-25 in Ohio in 2011, and South Alabama won 38-21 in Mobile last season.
Joey Jones begins his sixth season at South Alabama with a 31-21 record. Nine Jaguars earned preseason All-Sun Belt honors from league coaches and media, five of them from an offense that averaged 425 yards and nearly 30 points per game in 2013. Senior tight end Wes Saxton, on preseason watch lists for the Senior Bowl and the John Mackey and Biletnikoff awards, is one of three first-team selections, along with linemen Chris May, a junior, and Ucambre Williams, a senior. Senior receivers Shavarez Smith and Jereme Jones made the second team.
Receiver Danny Woodson returns after catching 26 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns before an Achilles injury ended his 2013 season. Braedon Bowman, Tony Ray Parnell, Claude Garrett and Alabama transfer Marvin Shinn add depth. Senior running back Jay Jones, an honorable mention all-conference pick, returns after rushing 143 times for 737 yards and five touchdowns. Kendall Houston, Terrance Timmons, redshirt freshman Xavier Johnson and T.J. Glover, who moves back to running back, round out the backfield.
Senior Drew Dearman starts at left guard, Melvin Meggs returns from a knee injury at right guard and sophomore Joseph Scelfo takes over at center. With Ross Metheny out of eligibility, senior Brandon Bridge takes over at quarterback, with South Florida transfer Matt Floyd and Hunter Vaughn, from Butler (Kan.) Community College, adding depth.
On defense, senior cornerback Qudarius Ford and senior linebacker Maleki Harris, both second-team All-Sun Belt picks last season, return. Ford had 76 tackles, the most among returning players, with six pass breakups and two interceptions. Harris had 63 tackles, 8.5 for loss, and a team-high seven passes defended.
Update: Kent State After Week 1
Kent State lost its opener last Saturday on a last-second field goal. Quarterback Reardon completed 30 of 41 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Ernest Calhoun had 11 catches for 62 yards, and Chris Humphrey had six for 91 yards. The Golden Flashes ran for 31 yards on 22 carries. Linebacker Nate Holley had 18 tackles, 12 solo, and forced two fumbles to earn MAC East Division Player of the Week honors, as Kent State forced fumbles on four consecutive second-half possessions.
The game will air locally on Lite Mix 99.9 FM WMXC and worldwide on the iHeartRadio app.
