The Kennesaw State Owls football represents Kennesaw State University in college football. The team began play in 2015 as a member of the Big South Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level. In 2022, KSU's full-time home of the ASUN Conference launched an FCS football league, with KSU as one of its initial six members. After the 2022 season, KSU started the transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision[2] in advance of the school's 2024 move to Conference USA.[3]
The head coach of the Owls is Brian Bohannon, and the Owls play at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia.
History
Planning stages (2007–2009)
Kennesaw State had considered adding a football team at various points in its history. The school had concluded a feasibility survey which affirmed it would be possible to have Division I football. On November 9, 2007, a survey was administered by the Student Government with 77.6 percent of respondents voting in favor of starting a football program. Participation in the survey was supposed to be restricted to enrolled students only; however, due to a design flaw, anyone could take the survey an unlimited number of times.[4][5][6][7][8]
Building stages (2009–2013)
In December 2009, KSU President Daniel S. Papp appointed a football exploratory committee headed by legendary University of Georgia coach, Vince Dooley. The committee announced a highly favorable recommendation for the creation of a football program at KSU in a 137-page report[9] on September 15, 2010, in a press conference at the KSU Convocation Center.
KSU athletic director Vaughn Williams stated that KSU was targeting fielding a team for the 2014 season playing at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level formerly known as I-AA.[10] KSU presented its plans for the football program to the State Board of Regents on February 13, 2013, and on February 14, KSU officially announced that the State Board of Regents had accepted their proposal for the football team. The school started the football program with the 2015 season.[11]
KSU is currently affiliated with the ASUN Conference for sports but since that conference does not sponsor football, the school would have to either play as an independent or find a new conference to join, either for all sports or as a football associate.[12] On September 3, 2013, KSU announced that it will be joining the Big South Conference as a football-only member to begin play in the 2015 season.[13] In 2016, the Atlantic Sun and Big South agreed to an alliance between the two conferences where football-playing schools in both conferences will be part of one Big South conference for the sport. North Alabama, which will join the Atlantic Sun, will become the second such school in the Atlantic Sun under this alliance.
Brian Bohannon is the first football coach at Kennesaw State.[14]
The start – 2015 season
The program began playing games in the fall of 2015, with a 56–16 win against East Tennessee State University. The Owls finished the season 6–5 (2–4 in the Big South).
Early success – 2017 and 2018
In the program's fourth year of existence (third season played, as the 2014 season was practice only and every player took a red shirt) the Owls won the 2017 Big South Championship, going 5–0 in conference play. Kennesaw State received the conference's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs in both those seasons, in 2017 as an unseeded team the Owls hosted Samford in a rematch of the season opener, Kennesaw avenged the early season loss and went on the next week to upset the third-ranked Jacksonville State Gamecocks. At the time that was the best win in program history. After the huge win the Owls traveled to sixth-ranked Sam Houston State for the quarterfinals, the Owls lost the game 34–27, but had a huge swing of momentum heading into the 2018 season. Kennesaw State finished the season ranked eighth in the FCS STATS Poll (the highest media poll in the FCS) and ninth in the coaches' poll.[15]
In the 2018 season the Owls opened at fifth in both polls, the highest in program history. Kennesaw lost its third-straight season opener, a road loss to nearby Georgia State University. It was the program's first game against an FBS team and ended with a 24–20 loss at GA State Stadium (formally Turner Field). After the setback the Owls did not lose again, winning 11 games in a row. After a 56–17 road win against Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw was voted to the number two spot in both the FCS STATS and coaches' polls, behind only North Dakota State. Just like in 2017, Kennesaw finished 5–0 in the Big South, winning a second consecutive conference championship. That made the Owls the first team to win the conference outright in back to back seasons since former member Liberty did so in 2007 and 2008. The regular season was completed with a win against Jacksonville State at SunTrust Park. A five-overtime shootout ended in a 60–52 Owl victory that is now regarded as the most exciting in school history. Holding a 10–1 regular season record, Kennesaw received a first-round bye as the fourth seed in the FCS playoffs. In the second round the Owls hosted the Wofford College Terriers, winning 13–10. The Owls lost in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row the following week at home against South Dakota State. Kennesaw finished the season ranked fifth in the FCS STATS poll and fourth in the coaches' poll, the best in their short history.[16]
At the conclusion of the 2019 season, in which Kennesaw was 11–3, the Owls tallied a 48–15 total record from the start of the program. That put the Owls as the winningest startup football program through the first five years of playing football.
Conference championships
| Year | Coach | Conference | Overall record | Conference record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Brian Bohannon | Big South Conference | 12–2 | 5–0 | |
| 2018 | 11–2 | 5–0 | |||
| 2021 | 11–2 | 7–0 | |||
| Conference Championships | 3 | ||||
Year-by-year results
- Statistics correct as of the end of the 2019–20 college football season
| NCAA Division I FCS champions | Conference champions |
| Year | NCAA division | Conference division | Overall | Conference | Coach | Final regular season ranking | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Win | Loss | Pct. | Games | Win | Loss | Pct. | Standing | STATS | Coaches' | |||||
| 2015 | FCS | Big South Conference | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | T–5th | Brian Bohannon | – | – | |
| 2016 | FCS | Big South Conference | 11 | 8 | 3 | .727 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | T–3rd | Brian Bohannon | – | – | |
| 2017 | FCS | Big South Conference | 14 | 12 | 2 | .857 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1st | Brian Bohannon | 8 | 9 | |
| 2018 | FCS | Big South Conference | 13 | 11 | 2 | .846 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1st | Brian Bohannon | 5 | 4 | |
| 2019 | FCS | Big South Conference | 14 | 11 | 3 | .786 | 6 | 5 | 1 | .833 | 2nd | Brian Bohannon | 15 | 9 | |
| 2020* | FCS | Big South Conference | 5 | 4 | 1 | .800 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 2nd | Brian Bohannon | 17 | 15 | |
| 2021 | FCS | Big South Conference | 13 | 11 | 2 | .846 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1st | Brian Bohannon | 11 | 10 | |
| 2022 | FCS | ASUN Conference | 11 | 5 | 6 | .455 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | 5th | Brian Bohannon | - | - | |
| 2023 | FCS | Independent | 9 | 3 | 6 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brian Bohannon | - | - | ||
*The 2020 FCS season was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
Playoff results
The Owls have appeared in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs four times. Their record is 5–4.
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | First round Second round Quarterfinals |
Samford Jacksonville State Sam Houston State |
W 28–17 W 17–7 L 27–34 |
| 2018 | Second round Quarterfinals |
Wofford South Dakota State |
W 13–10 L 17–27 |
| 2019 | First round Second round |
Wofford Weber State |
W 28–21 L 20–26 |
| 2021 | First round Second round |
Davidson East Tennessee State |
W 48–21 L 31–32 |
Notable former players
Travis Bell became the first Kennesaw State player to be selected in the NFL draft when he was selected in the seventh round, 218th overall, in the 2023 NFL draft.[18]
Future non-conference opponents
Announced schedules as of April 9, 2024.[19]
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at Wake Forest | at Kent State | at Louisiana | Towson | at North Carolina | at Georgia Southern | Georgia Southern | ||
| at Indiana | at Arkansas State | at North Carolina | ||||||
| Arkansas State | ||||||||
| Chattanooga |
References
- ^ Kennesaw State University Athletics Style Guide (PDF). December 9, 2022. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- ^ "Kennesaw State to Join Conference USA in 2024-25" (Press release). Kennesaw State Owls. October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
- ^ "C-USA Adds Kennesaw State, Owls to Join in 2024" (Press release). Conference USA. October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
- ^ "SGA survey goes live". KSU Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
- ^ "News at KSU - Kennesaw State Eyeing Football Program". kennesaw.edu.
- ^ "News at KSU - Kennesaw State launches Football Exploratory Committee". kennesaw.edu.
- ^ "Dooley leading Kennesaw State football quest". ajc.com.
- ^ "Vince Dooley to help start Kennesaw State football". The Augusta Chronicle.
- ^ "News at KSU". kennesaw.edu.
- ^ "News at KSU - Kennesaw State football would be about 'branding'". kennesaw.edu.
- ^ "Kennesaw State says it's ready for some football". ajc.com.
- ^ "News at KSU - Commentary: KSU football may be coming, but when?". kennesaw.edu.
- ^ "Kennesaw State joining Big South for football". ajc.com.
- ^ The Washington Post[dead link]
- ^ "2017 Football Schedule". Kennesaw State University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ "Kennesaw State Football Top 25 History". Kennesaw State University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ "How the 2020-21 FCS football season will work | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ Sugrue, Brendan (April 29, 2023). "New Bears DT Travis Bell is first player ever drafted from Kennesaw State". USA Today.
- ^ "Kennesaw State Owls Football Future Schedules". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 9, 2024.