Conference USA · Jerry Mack, year 2 (11-5) · Fifth Third Stadium · 11,040 · 11,040 avg in 2026
LastL 17–31 vs Georgia State · Sat Sep 12 · Rickie Collins 260 pass yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Nextat Tennessee · Sat Sep 19 · 7:45 pm ET · Neyland Stadium · Tennessee by 35.5 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 3 | #158 | #213 | -22.5✓ | West Georgia | W 47–0 132 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #153 | #154 | -7.5✗ | Georgia State | L 17–31 126 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #149 | #29 | +35.5 | @Tennessee | |||
| 4 | Sep 26 | #148 | #156 | @Arkansas State | ||||
| 6 | Oct 7 | Jacksonville State | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 14 | @Missouri State | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 22 | Liberty | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 28 | @Middle Tennessee | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | Delaware | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @Sam Houston | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | Florida International | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | @Western Kentucky |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12 | Georgia State | L 17–31 | 332 | 1 | 22:13 | +0.166 | 39.7% | 112.8% | |
| Sep 3 | West Georgia | W 47–0 | 508 | 2 | 34:06 | +0.289 | 57.3% | 114.0% | |
| Season average (2 games) | 420 | 1.5 | +0.227 | 48.5% | 113.4% | ||||
Kennesaw State played its first football game in 2015, fired its only-ever head coach after a 1-8 start in 2024, and one year later won Conference USA outright -- the fastest worst-to-first turnaround most fans have ever seen.
A program that didn't play a single football game before 2015 just won a conference championship, and outsiders are still treating it as a fluke rather than the product of real program-building. Owls…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 10-4 · last season
✓ measured from 14 games · ranks are among Conference USA teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Mixed. 7-3 over the last 10, and lost the last one.
Next Sep 19
vs Tennessee · away
~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-14
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Kennesaw State leaped 43 spots in SP+ — the 10-4 record and Jerry Mack's first season create a split screen between rising expectations and the challenge of sustaining momentum in the Big South.
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Kennesaw State cusa championship lengthened — implied probability moved from 13.3% to 9.1% (-4.2pp) between Sep 8 and Sep 9, 2026 (tier C).
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Chase Belcher: a closer signal screened this season.
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Chase Belcher sees a real spike in usage once the game is out of reach.
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Christian Moss is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
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Gabriel Benyard: a garbage time merchant signal screened this season.
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Gerard Bullock is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
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Kennesaw State leaped 43 spots in SP+ — a 10-4 record is one fact; #132 talent ranking another under first-year coach Jerry Mack.
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Outcome band · Kennesaw State · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Kennesaw State enters 2026 rated No. 89 in 2025 SP+ (-5.4), up 43 spots from 2024. One of the bigger model jumps in the country — the tape moved faster than the consensus noticed. The coverage is thin. Quiet preseasons end two ways.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 132 of 1566 board posts (8%) over the last 60 days — engaged but not consumed. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
Board health this week (81 posts): 15% positive · 50% neutral · 35% negative. Team-level weekly mood — not specific to this event. The boards ≠ the fanbase: a self-selected vocal slice.
More in this tab
Kennesaw State fielded its first football team in 2015, fired its only-ever head coach Brian Bohannon after a 1-8 start in its first FBS season, hired Jerry Mack, and one year later went 9-3, won Conference USA, and beat Jacksonville State 19-15 in the title game -- before a 41-6 Myrtle Beach Bowl loss to Western Michigan brought the season back to earth.
The program ledger
since 2025C-USA title odds: +1000 → +650 (▲4.2pp implied)
C-usa title odds improved 4.2pp without an obvious public catalyst.
C-USA title odds: +650 → +1000 (▼4.2pp implied)
C-usa title odds dropped 4.2pp without an obvious public catalyst.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
GA leads the 2026 class with 8 commits. National footprint reaching 5 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
62 signees across 12 states, 2023-2026. GA leads the pull.
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Kennesaw State player grew up 152 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Fifth Third Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 104 of 109 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
The flags have favored them: 17 penalties drawn on opponents vs. 11 committed, 53 yards to the good.
80 penalty yards committed vs. 133 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Kennesaw State · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026