In what has been a year of firsts for Kent State’s football program, it now has a chance to add another: First bowl win. The Golden Flashes accepted an invitation to the GoDaddy.com bowl yesterday.

They had hoped to qualify for the Orange Bowl, but the loss Friday handed that game over to Northern Illinois.

Kent State athletic director Joel Nielsen says that while it’s too soon to gauge the impact of the football team’s success on the university as a whole, the impact on the athletic program will be significant.

“It’s an achievement for these players and this coaching staff to show that we can win in all of our programs here. It’s kind of the last program that we haven’t won big and now we’ve won big.”

Historically, Kent State has lost big in football. It has the lowest all-time winning percentage in the MAC and lost in its only two previous bowl games, the 1972 Tangerine Bowl and the 1954 Refrigerator Bowl.

The Flashes’ unlikely success this year may cost them their head coach. ESPN reported yesterday that current head coach Darrell Hazell interviewed for the head coaching position at the University of California, Berkeley. Taking that job could keep him from coaching in the bowl game. With or without Hazell, the Golden Flashes will take on Sun Belt champion Arkansas State on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.