Kennesaw State isn’t used to being the underdogs. Media members and coaches have picked the Owls as the favorite or co-favorite of the Big South Conference every season since 2017.
That changed Thursday when they fell one point shy of Monmouth in the spring 2021 preseason poll. Monmouth, the league’s reigning champion, received six first-place votes compared with Kennesaw State’s three.
The results marked a reversal from when voters cast their ballots in June before the conference postponed its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Owls were tabbed as the preseason favorites then, earning 11 more points than Monmouth.
It’s unclear what changed the voters’ minds. A part of Brian Bohannon relishes being overlooked, the Owls coach said during Thursday’s Big South media day. But in the end, it’s what comes at the end of the year, not the beginning.
“We came here to win championships,” Bohannon said. “That’s our goal, and that’s what we’ll continue to do moving forward.”
Whether the Owls will be competing for Big South championships after this season remains to be seen. Other than football, Kennesaw State teams have competed in the Atlantic Sun Conference since joining NCAA Division I in 2005. On Jan. 29, the ASUN added Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State to its conference effective July 1.
Five of 12 ASUN schools now field an FCS football team, including Kennesaw State and North Alabama. A conference must have six teams to be eligible for an automatic bid for the playoffs. The ASUN is expected to hold a news conference Feb. 23 at the College Football Hall of Fame to clarify its plans for the fall 2021 season, FCS website STATS reported.
“Obviously, the ASUN conference is potentially going to add football at some point in the future. That’s their desire,” Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander said Thursday during media day. “The Big South Conference was in that situation 20 years ago. But until such time as that is put together and we have official notice that there’s a change, (Kennesaw State and North Alabama) are part of what we’re doing in the Big South.”
If Kennesaw State and North Alabama continue their associate memberships in the Big South in the fall, the conference will have nine competing teams. This spring, however, only five schools chose to play football. Those teams are competing for the conference’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.
The Owls earned a spot in the 2019 playoffs through an at-large bid. They dealt with injuries throughout the season, including to running back and kick returner Isaac Foster. The 5-foot-10 junior was named the Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday. Senior linebacker Bryce Armstrong also was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Foster went down with a severe left leg injury against Presbyterian in October 2019. He averaged 14.9 yards per carry that season, recording a team-best 1,136 all-purpose yards despite missing seven games.
Foster will be just one part of a triple-threat offense that ranked No. 1 in the FCS with 342.4 rushing yards per game in 2019. The Owls return eight offensive starters. Foster believes the offensive line deserves most of the credit for the success of him and his underdog team.
“I love watching our O-linemen work,” Foster said Thursday. “The preseason award, I just saw that this morning. For me, I think that award really goes to our O-linemen. You can see in almost every touchdown for me, the O-linemen are right there with me running into the end zone. … I’m really excited to see what they can do this season.”
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