Kennesaw State’s seven-game win streak snapped in 35-26 loss to Jacksonville State
Despite outgaining the hosts by well over 100 yards, Kennesaw State could not avoid the turnover bug, as it fell on the road at Jacksonville State, 35-26, in a crucial Conference USA showdown Saturday.
Quarterback Caden Creel and Cam Cook combined to rush for 252 yards and three touchdowns for the Gamecocks (7-3, 6-0 CUSA), who moved a game ahead of the conference field winning their fifth in a row.
The Owls (7-3, 5-1), saw their seven-game win streak come to an end, as they fell a half-game behind second-place Western Kentucky.
Kennesaw State finished with 579 total yards, its most ever against an FBS opponent. But the Owls couldn’t overcome a season-high four turnovers, suffering their first loss in over two months - their last loss came on September 6 against Indiana.
Amari Odom scored on a 1-yard run at the end of a 14-play drive and Kennesaw State jumped in front. Creel answered with an 18-yard touchdown run to tie it 7-all after one quarter.
Daniel Kinney’s 43-yard field goal gave the Owls a 10-7 lead with 4:33 left before halftime. Cook scored on a 6-yard run less than two minutes later and Gavin Wimsatt fired a 62-yard scoring strike to Deondre Johnson with 4 seconds left on his only pass to put the Gamecocks up 22-10.
Garrison Rippa stretched the lead to 15 with a 32-yard field goal midway through the third quarter and Creel scored on a 15-yard run for a 32-13 advantage with 10:30 left in the game.
Backup quarterback Dexter Williams II connected with Clayton Coppock for a 10-yard touchdown before scoring on a 9-yard run at 3:22 to cut the Owls’ deficit to 32-26.
Jacksonville State ran all but 20 seconds off the clock before Rippa kicked a short field goal.
Creel completed 8 of 13 passes for 137 yards and rushed 14 times for 127 more. Cook carried 27 times for 132 yards. Johnson totaled 112 yards on two catches.
Odom and Williams combined to complete 27 of 44 passes for 362 yards. Odom threw three interceptions and Williams had one.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this article.
