Kent State football picked eighth in 2026 MAC coaches preseason poll

     The 2026 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll was officially unveiled during the conference’s annual media day at Ford Field, slabbing Kent State at 8th overall with 64 total voting points. While some fans might have hoped to see the Blue and Gold ranked a spot higher at 7th, the 8th-place position still represents a massive cultural shift and a stabilizing threshold for the program under head coach Mark Carney.

To truly understand where the Flashes are going, you have to look at where they just crawled out from. Heading into last season, Kent State was staring down the barrel of a projected last-place finish across the board following a brutal, winless 0-12 campaign in 2024.

Instead, under the steady guidance of Carney—who was promoted from interim to full-time head coach—the Flashes snapped a painful 21-game losing streak, battled to a 5-7 overall record (4-4 in MAC play), and finished the year tied for sixth. They came within a single victory of securing bowl eligibility.

Now, the MAC coaching fraternity is giving Kent State its flowers for that grit, signaling that the Flashes are no longer a pushover on the schedule.

Defending MAC champion Western Michigan sits atop the preseason hierarchy, bringing home nine first-place votes and 138 points. Miami (Ohio) slots closely behind in second with four first-place votes (134 points), followed by Toledo (115) and Ohio (107) to round out the top tier.

Kent State finds itself right in the spine of the conference, sitting just 12 points behind Eastern Michigan (76 points) for the 7th spot, and safely ahead of Bowling Green (59 points) and local rival Akron (52 points).