MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Garland Benyard tied the school record for sacks (3.0) and Donelius Johnson recorded the first safety in program history to help lead a valiant defensive effort, but Kennesaw State football dropped a 14-5 decision to Middle Tennessee on Tuesday night at Floyd Stadium.
 
Alongside those two's efforts, the Owls (0-6, 0-2 Conference USA) battled to hold the Blue Raiders (2-5, 1-2 CUSA) to just 4.1 yards per play, including an impressive 2.4 yards per rush against the run game.
 
Redshirt junior Sidney Porter led all tacklers with 10 on the night, including a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry. Junior Milon Jones joined Johnson in having seven tackles overall, while Benyard had six stops.
 
On the flipside, the Black and Gold struggled to gain its momentum, having 10 three-and-outs on the game to foil the attack.
 
Redshirt sophomore Qua Ashley was once again a bright spot, recording 129 all-purpose yards off a career-high 79 rushing yards, 8 receiving yards and 42 yards on kickoff returns. In his last two games, Ashley has combined for a whopping 351 all-purpose yards.
 
Quarterbacks Khalib Johnson and Braden Bohannon combined for 103 passing yards, while Michael Benefield ran for 47 yards and Carson Kent hauled in four receptions for 59 yards.
 
The Owls return home for another midweek matchup, hosting Liberty on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network and KSU Owls Network.

Postgame Notes

 
Team Notes

• Kennesaw State fell to 0-6.
• Kennesaw State moved to 0-1 against Middle Tennessee.
• Kennesaw State recorded its first safety in program history when R-So. LB Donelius Johnson made the stop in the endzone in the first quarter.
• The Owl defense held Middle Tennessee to 0-for-5 on third down attempts in the first half of action and 5-of-16 overall. KSU also held MT to 0-for-2 on fourth down.
• Kennesaw State has now scored in all 107 games in its program history.

• R-So. RB Qua Ashley's 60-yard rush on the first offensive play of the game for Kennesaw State was a career-long carry. It was also the longest play from scrimmage for the Owls this season.
• Ashley finished with a career-high 79 rushing yards on 11 carries (prev. 66 vs. Jacksonville State (Oct. 4, 2024)).
• R-Jr. LB Garland Benyard posted his first multi-sack game of his career, tying the school record with 3.0 on the night (prev. 3.0 by Joel Parker at Alabama State in 2019). His 4.0 TFL overall also set a career high as well.
• R-Jr. K Austin Welch nailed a 37-yard field goal in the second half, improving to 9-for-9 this season.
• Welch is one of five FBS kickers to be perfect on field goal tries this season while having at least nine attempts.
• R-Fr. P Jacob Ulrich notched a KSU program record 65-yard punt in the first quarter, besting the previous mark set by Christian Kinsley (Nov. 12, 2016 at Presbyterian).
• R-So. QB Braden Bohannon saw his first action of the 2024 campaign and made his first collegiate completion to r-So. TE Carson Kent in the second quarter for 30 yards. His second completion was to his older brother, r-Jr. WR Blake Bohannon for a first down.
• R-Jr. DL Tylon Dunlap recorded his first sack in a KSU uniform to close out the first half.
• R-So. QB Khalib Johnson made his first career start.