The Kennesaw State Owls played a more competitive East Tennessee State team on Saturday night than they did when both schools made their debuts in a season opener a year ago.
After a 40-point victory against ETSU in 2015, the Owls lost their first overtime game ever, falling 20-17 in two extra periods at Fifth-Third Bank Stadium.
1. Going to extra time.
After the Owls topped the Buccaneers 56-16 in last season’s opener, the second-year programs were tied at 10 at the end of regulation and at 17 at the end of the first period of overtime.
Kicker Jordan Genovese missed a 30-yard field goal that would have given the Owls the lead in the second overtime period, leaving the door open for the Buccaneers to score off a 24-yard field goal for the win. The Owls scored their first overtime touchdown off a 14-yard pass from quarterback Chandler Burks to Justin Sumpter on fourth down. Burks led the Owls’ overtime drive after quarterback Trey White left the game with a hip injury in the fourth quarter.
The Owls took the Buccaneers to the wire, but in the end, coach Brian Bohannon wants his team to execute and finish games better.
“Every time you turned around and we got a little something going, something negative happened,” Bohannon said. “You know, we got to do better. I told the guys in the locker room, ‘This ought to hurt. It hurts me.’ But one game will not define Kennesaw State football for 2016.”
2. Squandering an opportunity.
In the game’s opening possession, White led a 12-play drive that marched the Owls to Buccaneers’ 1. The Owls couldn’t score on a fourth-and-one conversion attempt by Jake McKenzie and failed to put any points on the board in their only scoring opportunity in the first quarter.
“We had the ball on the half-inch line,” Bohannon said. “We had a little something going, but we missed a block. It’s just one of those things. Things happen.”
Despite failing to make plays at critical points, Bohannon was proud of how the Owls fought.
The Owls were 10-of-20 on fourth-down conversions and had a 50 percent third-down conversation percentage last season. On Saturday, they finished a pedestrian 6 of 16 on third-down conversions.
3. Nerves and turnovers hurt.
In the Owls’ first drive of the game, White fumbled while running, but the ball was recovered by offensive lineman Malik Letatau. Later in the first quarter, White turned the ball over on a one-yard run on the Owls’ 37.
“Early on we were trying to press too much offensively instead of just doing what we do and try to turn out some yards,” Bohannon said. “We were trying to press against the play probably a little too much. We settled down a little from that and found some games to move the ball a little bit.”
A late fumble in the fourth quarter by running back Myles White was recovered by ETSU on the Owls’ 45. White suffered a head injury on the play. The Owls were marching down the field for 46 yards before White fumbled.
While Bohannon was proud of the way defense played, he admitted that the Owls’ two lost fumbles hurt the defense.
“Defensively, I thought we played fairly well and I thought we ran out of gas because they were on the field too much,” Bohannon said. “Offensively, we have to control the ball a little bit more and keep (defense) off the field and find a way to score points.”
4. Potential in passing game.
With Bohannon running the option on offense, the Owls averaged 293 rushing yards per game and 136.8 passing yards per game last season. Against ETSU on Saturday, the Owls leveled their offensive attack, racking up 166 rushing yards and 164 passing yards.
White threw 6-of-9 for 82 yards against ETSU after finishing the 2015 season with a 47.6 completion percentage. Burks also threw 6-of-9 for 82 yards and one touchdown after replacing White in the fourth quarter. With talented receivers like Justin Sumpter and Darnell Holland, the Owls have targets downfield, but seem to have difficulty trusting deep throws.
By comparison, quarterback for ETSU Austin Herink threw 18-of-26 for 214 yards, which added to the Buccaneers’ 106 yard run game.
5. An assist from penalties.
The Buccaneers’ had 11 penalties for 111 yards through regulation that pushed the Owls downfield during their only scoring drives.
The Owls scored their first touchdown when attempting for a 49-yard field goal on fourth-down, but a 15-yard personal foul penalty on ETSU gave the Owls a new set of downs, allowing White to score the Owls only touchdown in regulation on a one-yard run. One of 19 returning starters, White’s touchdown made him the 13th Big South quarterback with 10 career rushing touchdowns.
A holding penalty to end the third quarter pushed the Owls’ over midfield and led to a 41-yard field goal by Genovese, tying the score at 10.
The Owls were 3-of-5 on their red zone scoring percentage on Saturday night due to ETSU’s much improved defense from a year ago.
“At times, we had trouble blocking some of the bigger, longer, lankier guys up front,” Bohannon said. “There were times when we would get (the ball) moving and again we would hit something and we would have a negative play.”
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