The Kennesaw State Owls earn their first ever FBS victory with a huge upset victory over the Liberty Flames

CNN
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The Kennesaw State Owls earned their first-ever FBS victory on Wednesday night, defeating the Liberty Flames 27-24 and ending college football's longest active regular-season winning streak.

The Owls, who entered the game as 0-6, 27-point underdogs, have lost all 10 of their previous meetings with FBS teams since the program began in 2015.

But Kennesaw State quarterback Davis Bryson completed 16 of 20 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown, making his team the first in 23 years to beat a team that was 5-0 or better when it was 0-5 or worse ESPN.

It is the Owls' first win against a Division I team in nearly two years, since defeating UT Martin in November 2022.

“Everything we've talked about for the last month and a half is sticking together and believing in each other,” said head coach Brian Bohannon, who has led the program for all 10 seasons.

“We said, 'If we just keep going, something good will happen somewhere.' We didn't have the crystal ball to know when. But man, I couldn’t be more proud of this football program than I was tonight,” he continued.

“We celebrated many great victories here. Nothing was better than that.”

It is the first regular-season loss head coach Jamey Chadwell has ever suffered as Liberty coach and is a major setback to the program's hopes of becoming the top-ranked Group of Five team, which will earn an automatic bid to the would mean a new 12 team. Team playoffs.

Both Army and Navy of the American Athletic Conference remain undefeated and will not play each other in the regular season.

Liberty started the night well, scoring on its first drive on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Kaidon Salter to Treon Sibley.

But the Owls tied the game in the first quarter through Christian Moss on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Bryson before Michael Benefield's touchdown in the second quarter.

The Flames fought back when Salter found Donte Lee in the end zone to tie the score before halftime, but the game's defining moment came in the third quarter when Kennesaw State scored on a six-yard touchdown run by Qua Ashley Leadership went. Liberty would never catch up with the Owls.

Two Austin Welch field goals in the fourth quarter extended Kennesaw State's lead to 27-17, and Salter's third touchdown of the game wasn't enough to stop the Owls from making history.