Before the 2024 season, I said the easiest game for Tennessee Football would not be against its sole FCS foe, the Chattanooga Mocs. Instead, it was very clearly going to be against the Kent State Golden Flashes, who were led by Kenni Burns. I referred to him as potentially the worst coach in the sport.
Now, he looks even worse, and Kent State’s 71-0 loss to UT could be part of it.
Burns was placed on administrative leave Thursday by the school. This isn’t just due to lack of production, although that would be an obvious reason, as he went 0-12 last year and 1-11 the year before. If it were, they would have fired him at the end of an abysmal season.
However, don’t forget the report in November from CBS that an Ohio bank was suing Burns for nearly $24,000 in credit card debt despite the fact that he was making nearly $500,000 as head coach at Kent State. It was weird at the time, and he claims it was due to a remodel and move involving him and his wife.
Combining the credit card debt, the abysmal performance and the timing of this administrative leave, many on social media have jumped to one theory: gambling. Allegations are out there that Burns was throwing games for Kent State to cover gambling issues.
With that in mind, let’s look back at what happened between Tennessee Football and Kent State.
The Vols covered the spread and hit the over by halftime, building a 65-0 lead. Entering the second half, Josh Heupel gave Kent State the opportunity to permanently run the clock so both teams could end the game quickly. For some reason, though, Kent State rejected that.
Why would they make such a decision? If the focus is on conference play for both teams, you can save your guys, avoid injury and not get as humiliated. It’s almost as if somebody for Kent State took a bet on the spread. What if it was an alternate bet against the Golden Flashes or a bet that Tennessee Football would cross 70?
If that is the case, the Vols did cross 70 but just barely, as Heupel ran as much clock as possible and just kicked two field goals. However, it’s not like Kent State made any threat when it came to scoring the ball on the other side, so UT got its biggest blowout win of the season.
More suspiciously than the Tennessee game, one day before the story of Burns’ credit card debt broke, Kent State lost to the Akron Zips 38-17. In that game, at the end of the first half, Akron had the ball with no timeouts and ran a play. They complete a pass to the Kent State 10-yard line with four seconds to go.
At the time, Kent State trailed 20-10. The clock would have run out. However, Burns, for some reason, burned a timeout, allowing Akron to kick a field goal. That was such a suspicious move that many people on social media at that exact moment suggested that point shaving was going on.
Obviously, none of this will affect Tennessee Football in a negative way, as they had nothing to do with it. However, the Vols’ win over Kent State could serve as evidence against Burns if this scandal turns into something much more nefarious than it is. This is certainly beyond shady.
