By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services

The Kennesaw State Owls football team saw their season come to an end earlier this month. The Owls finished the regular season 10-1 and ranked No. 2 in the FCS Coaches Poll. The only loss was to an FBS team, Georgia State.

KSU did not receive much respect for their great season because they were the No. 4 seed in the Playoffs. They lost to No. 5 South Dakota State (10-2) 27-17 in the quarterfinals.

The Owls have only been playing football since 2015 and they are becoming a powerhouse at the FCS level. Despite that, attendance has been declining since the program’s inception.

“I’m passionate about this school and I don’t know why you wouldn’t be. … We got 35,000 students,” coach Brian Bohannon said. “Let see if we can get a couple thousand to come to the game. Let’s raise some heck and have some fun. Let’s see if we can help the Owls win. We’ve got over a million people in this community. Let’s see if we can get a couple thousand to come to the game.”

While attendance was announced at 3,242, there were clearly no more than 1,000 fans actually in the stands.

The Owls lost the season opener to Georgia State 24-20. KSU held a three-point lead with 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before the Panthers scored the winning touchdown.

After that game, they reeled off 10 consecutive wins against other FCS competition. They dominated their opponents and won their games by double digits except for the season finale.

The scores against non-conference competition were 49-10 at Tennessee Tech, 62-13 versus Alabama State, 70-13 versus Clarke Atlanta and 24-10 over Samford.

They also breezed through Big South conference opponents beating Presbyterian 56-0, Gardner-Webb 56-17, Charleston Southern 38-10, Campbell 49-0 and Monmouth 51-14. They won the conference title for the second year in a row.

The season finale was against No.6 Jacksonville State. The game was a classic, going to five overtimes. They defeated the Gamecocks 60-52.

Kennesaw State runs the triple option so they have a powerful rushing attack. The leader of the team is quarterback Chandler Burks. Burks rushed for 905 yards and 29 touchdowns. He also threw for 1,043 yards, 10 TD’s and completed 57% of his passes.

Senior running back Darnell Holland ran for 949 yards with an amazing 11.9 yards per carry average. He finished the season with 9 touchdowns. Shaquil Terry was the third leading rusher with 576 yards, 5 TD’s and averaged 7.4 ypc.

KSU had a bye in the opening round of the playoffs so their first game was in the second round against Wofford. They are two of the best rushing offenses in the country and it was a tough game. KSU beat the Terriers 13-10. The win put Kennesaw State at 24 wins in their last 26 games.

The season ended in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row. I really hoped they would win this game because they would have played North Dakota State in the next round.

The Bison have been a juggernaut for the last seven years. That would have been a good way to really see where the Owls stack up against elite competition.

The season was very successful and the goal in 2019 is to advance further in the playoffs.