The Kennesaw State Owls football represents

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. The team began play in 2015 as a member of the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

level. In 2022, KSU's full-time home of the

ASUN Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...

launched an FCS football league, with KSU as one of its initial six members. After the 2022 season, KSU will start a transition to the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

in advance of the school's 2024 move to

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. The head coach of the Owls is Brian Bohannon, and the Owls play at

Fifth Third Bank Stadium Fifth Third Bank Stadium, known as Kennesaw State University Stadium until 2013, is a stadium near Kennesaw, Georgia, that is primarily used as the home for the Kennesaw State Owls football team as well as the KSU women's soccer and women's lac ...

Kennesaw, Georgia Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its ...

History

Planning stages (2007–2009)

Kennesaw State had considered adding a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team at various points in its history. The school had concluded a feasibility survey which affirmed it would be possible to have Division I football. On November 9, 2007, a survey was administered by the Student Government with 77.6 percent of respondents voting in favor of starting a football program. Participation in the survey was supposed to be restricted to enrolled students only; however, due to a design flaw, anyone could take the survey an unlimited number of times.

Building stages (2009–2013)

In December 2009, KSU President Daniel S. Papp appointed a football exploratory committee headed by legendary

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

coach,

Vince Dooley Vincent Joseph Dooley (September 4, 1932 – October 28, 2022) was an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 t ...

. The committee announced a highly favorable recommendation for the creation of a football program at KSU in a 137-page report on September 15, 2010 in a press conference at the KSU Convocation Center. KSU

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Vaughn Williams stated that KSU was targeting fielding a team for the 2014 season playing at the

(FCS) level formerly known as I-AA. KSU presented its plans for the football program to the State Board of Regents on February 13, 2013, and on February 14, KSU officially announced that the State Board of Regents had accepted their proposal for the football team. The school started the football program with the 2015 season. KSU is currently affiliated with the

for sports but since that conference does not sponsor football, the school would have to either play as an independent or find a new conference to join, either for all sports or as a football associate. On September 3, 2013, KSU announced that it will be joining the

as a football-only member to begin play in the 2015 season. In 2016, the Atlantic Sun and Big South agreed to an alliance between the two conferences where football-playing schools in both conferences will be part of one Big South conference for the sport.

North Alabama North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Several geographic definitions for the area exist, with all descriptions including the nine counties of Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The North Alabama Industrial Development Associ ...

, which will join the Atlantic Sun, will become the second such school in the Atlantic Sun under this alliance. Brian Bohannon is the first football coach at Kennesaw State.

The start – 2015 season

The program began playing games in the fall of 2015, with a 56–16 win against East Tennessee State University. The Owls finished the season 6–5 (2–4 in the Big South).

Early success – 2017 and 2018

In the program's fourth year of existence (third season played, as the 2014 season was practice only and every player took a red shirt) the Owls won the 2017 Big South Championship, going 5–0 in conference play. Kennesaw State received the conference's automatic bid to the

FCS Playoffs The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

in both those seasons, in 2017 as an unseeded team the Owls hosted Samford in a rematch of the season opener, Kennesaw avenged the early season loss and went on the next week to upset the 3rd ranked Jacksonville State Gamecocks. At the time that was by far the best win in program history. After the huge win the Owls traveled to 6th ranked Sam Houston State for the quarterfinals, the Owls dropped the game 34-27, but had a huge swing of momentum heading into the 2018 season. Kennesaw State finished the season ranked 8th in the FCS STATS Poll (highest media poll in the FCS) and 9th in the coaches poll. The 2018 season saw The Owls open at 5th in both polls, the highest in program history. Kennesaw lost its third straight season opener, a tough road loss to nearby Georgia State University. It was the program's first game against an FBS team and ended with a 24-20 loss at GA State Stadium (formally

Turner Field Turner Field was a baseball stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1997 to 2016, it served as the home ballpark to the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium in 1996 to serve as the c ...

). After the hiccup the Owls did not look back, winning 11 games in a row. After a 56-17 road win against Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw was voted to the Number 2 spot in both the FCS STATS and Coach's Polls, behind only North Dakota State. Just like 2017, Kennesaw finished 5-0 in the Big South winning a second consecutive conference championship. That made the Owls the first team to win the conference outright in back to back season since former member Liberty did so in 2007 and 2008. The regular season was completed with an instant classic against Jacksonville State at

SunTrust Park Truist Park (originally SunTrust Park) is a baseball stadium in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, in Cobb County, Georgia. Opened in ...

. A five overtime shootout ending in a 60-52 owl victory is now regarded as the most exciting in school history. Holding a 10-1 regular season record, Kennesaw received a first round bye as the 4th seed in the FCS Playoffs. In the second round the Owls hosted the Wofford College Terriers, winning 13-10. The Owls lost in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row the following week at home against South Dakota State. Kennesaw finished the season ranked 5th in the FCS STATS poll and 4th in the coaches poll, the best in the short history. At the conclusion of the 2019 season that saw Kennesaw go 11-3, the Owls tallied a 48-15 total record from the start of the program. That put the Owls as the winningest startup football program through the first five years of playing football.

Conference championships

Year-by-year results

:''Statistics correct as of the end of the 2019–20 college football season'' *The 2020 FCS Season was played in the Spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Playoff results

The Owls have appeared in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...

playoffs four times. Their record is 5–4.

Future non-conference opponents

Opponents after the 2023 season subject to change due to the Owls' move to FBS.

References

External links

* {{Conference USA football navbox American football teams established in 2015 2015 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) es:Kennesaw State Owls