For Kennesaw State, a bowl trip might hinge on wins in road games
Kennesaw State has proved it can win football games. Now the Owls must prove they can beat a conference opponent on the road. The ability to do so could determine whether they’ll end up in a bowl game.
The Owls (4-2, 2-0 Conference USA) have won four consecutive games and are one of only two teams with an unblemished conference record. On Tuesday, they will face their first CUSA road game, a trip to Miami to face Florida International (3-3, 1-1) at 7 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPN2.
“When you get a chance to travel, you have to bring your offense, defense and special teams,” KSU coach Jerry Mack said. “That’s what we keep talking to those guys about. We have to find a way to win on the road.”
The road hasn’t been kind to date. Kennesaw State opened the season with a narrow loss at Wake Forest, then got drubbed by No. 3 Indiana. The Owls have been unbeaten since then, although each of those four games has been in the friendly confines of Fifth Third Stadium. And while there is growing excitement on the campus — KSU needs two wins to become bowl eligible — Mack continues to stress that the program is a work in progress.
“We’ve got to continue to grow,” Mack said. “We continue to do some things that show flashes that we’ve got a chance to be a really good offense. … Defensively, I feel like we’re right on pace.”
The Owls have two quarterbacks capable of being the starter. Despite throwing for 290 yards and four touchdowns against Louisiana Tech in the last game, Dexter Williams II will take a seat Tuesday. Amari Odom, who was injured and unavailable last week, will return as the starter. Odom threw for a season-high 308 yards against Arkansas State two weeks ago.
Odom has passed for 754 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Williams has thrown for 526 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 91 yards and one touchdown.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been a little banged up practice,” said Williams, who was unavailable two games ago. “We’ve got guys across the board in our quarterback (group), receiver (group), running back (group).”
Mack said it was nice to have two high-level options at quarterback.
“It’s very hard to develop that position,” Mack said. “I feel like both of those guys have got total confidence they can go in the game and win games for us.”
The Owls rank second in Conference USA in scoring defense, allowing 20.5 points per game. That number shrinks to 13.4 per game when you deduct the 56 points they allowed against Indiana in the second game of the season.
“We’ve done a decent job of bending but not breaking, and we haven’t allowed a lot of touchdowns, especially in conference games,” Mack said. “But there’s so many things that we can still get better at, like yards after contact. It’s just some of those small things, really on both sides of the ball, and we could be one of the top offenses and defense in our league. If we clean those up, we’re not that far.”
Redshirt senior Tylon Dunlap, the CUSA Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Louisiana Tech, knows things won’t get easier.
“We always talk about adversity is going to hit, no matter which game,” Dunlap said. “Coach Mack always says that in this conference, there’s not really any difference between each team.”
Florida International, coached by former Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons, had its signature win a week ago by beating Western Kentucky 25-6 behind the 195-yard rushing performance of Kejon Owens, who ranks second in Conference USA with 658 yards and has six touchdowns.
“That Louisiana Tech win seems like it was a world away right now,” Mack said. “We put together a more complete game plan, but we still talk about it a lot. There’s still a lot of meat left on the bone. There’s still a lot of things we can do to improve on as a football team. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
