'It's a huge confidence boost': How Kennesaw State pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the college football season

As the only football coach in Kennesaw State history, Brian Bohannon has seen all the ups and downs of the last decade.

The Owls, an FCS startup team in 2015, won their first game and went 6-5 in their first season. Kennesaw State won eight games in its second season and had a 34-7 record from 2017 to 2019, winning two Big South Conference championships.

The Owls' 48-15 record through their first five seasons is the best record by an FCS startup and they are the only FCS team to record three straight seasons of at least 11 wins in their first five years of competition.

For all of Kennesaw State's success at the FCS level, its first season of competition upon moving to the FBS in 2024 was equally humbling. Heading into last week, the Owls had lost their first six games, losing 24-13 at home to FCS team UT Martin on Sept. 28.

“You never know what the path is going to look like, do you?” said Bohannon. “You know where you want to go, but you don’t know where the path will take you. I think what everyone would say about this program is that we have a strong culture because we're still hanging around at 0-6.” “It's hard and our kids have stuck together.”

Everything came together for Kennesaw State in a 27-24 win over previously unbeaten Liberty last week.

It was the first time in 23 years – and only the sixth such incident in the AP Poll era since 1936 – that a team with a record of 0-5 or worse defeated an opponent with a record of 5-0 or better .

Kennesaw State ended Liberty's 18-game winning streak in the regular season and conference championship games, which was the longest streak in the FBS.

The Owls, 27½ point underdogs against the Flames, caused the second biggest surprise of the season. Only Northern Illinois' 16-14 win at then-No. 5 Notre Dame on Sept. 7 was a bigger shock – the Huskies were 28½-point underdogs.

Kennesaw State is winless in its last 10 games against FBS opponents.

“I mean, the most important thing is that it's a huge confidence boost for our kids,” Bohannon said. “You know, of course it's always important to get first place. And then Liberty is a really good football team. I think getting first place is always important, right? And we're a young youth program, and they're learning every week, and it was just nice to see them succeed. I was really proud of it.

Bohannon's team will try to make it two wins in a row when Kennesaw State plays at Conference USA leader Western Kentucky on Wednesday night (7:30 ET, ESPN2/ESPN+).

“We just lacked consistency,” said Bohannon about his team’s initial difficulties. “We turned the ball over and didn’t play free football. We talked about all these things and it finally worked out.”

The Owls were so inconsistent on offense that Bohannon benched starting quarterback Davis Bryson after a 63-24 loss to Jacksonville State in the league opener on Oct. 4. Bryson threw three interceptions and had just 76 yards on 6 of 14 pass attempts.

In a 14-5 loss at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 15, the Owls had 10 first downs and 234 yards of offense, with Khalib Johnson and Braden Bohannon – the coach's son – sharing snaps at quarterback.

“(Coach Bohannon) told me that the decision was the best for the team and the program and that I would learn from the mistakes I made in the previous game,” Bryson said. “He told me to attack these things all week and just take my chance when it comes back.”

Bryson, a sophomore from Woodbridge, Virginia, got his chance eight days later against Liberty. He completed his first eight passes and went 16 of 20 for 189 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

“I guess he was motivated, right?” Bohannon said. “He was our man. We just turned the ball over, so we went a different direction for a week. He had to endure a modest pie-and-go signal for a week, but he had a great attitude. He handled it brilliantly and cheered for his teammates. We didn't get it done (with other quarterbacks), and we gave him a chance. He took advantage of her.

Before the Liberty game, the Owls ranked 130th out of 134 FBS teams in offense with 14.6 points per game. They came out of that game with a season-high 323 yards of offense and didn't turn the ball over. They also took the lead on third down with 7 of 14.

On defense, Kennesaw State became just the second team this season to limit Liberty to under 180 rushing yards (No. 1 Oregon was the other). After allowing an average of 36 points during their six-game losing streak, the Owls made several big stops against the Flames. They stopped Liberty's offense with a fourth-and-11 at the Kennesaw State 29, which led to a field goal and a 24-17 lead.

There are likely to be more ups and downs for the Owls this season.

“We still have a long way to go to get everything here the way it needs to be to be an FBS program,” Bohannon said. “But our kids persevered and we found a way to win a game that was really important to us. But we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. I don't call it a problem.” It's a funny path, but it's the path we're on right now. We'll see where it takes us.