MIAMI – Five different Owls found the endzone en route to 498 yards of offense as Kennesaw State football dismantled FIU, 45-26, at Pitbull Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Owls (5-2, 3-0 Conference USA) got off to a fast start as quarterback
Amari Odom and running back
Alexander Diggs both scored rushing touchdowns from 2 yards out in the opening quarter.
The Panthers (3-4, 1-2 CUSA) responded with a touchdown of their owns before Odom found
Coleman Bennett for a monstrous 76-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter before kicker
Britton Williams knocked home a 40-yard field goal to enter halftime up 24-14.
FIU played keep away in the third quarter, holding KSU to just six plays. However, one of those six plays was quarterback
Dexter Williams II finding wideout
Christian Moss for a wide open 70-yard touchdown pass.
After the icy third quarter that saw the Panthers climb within a 31-20 deficit, the Owls took control, as Williams guided a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ate up more than six minutes and was capped by a Williams rushing TD.
The final nail in the coffin was a
Chase Belcher 6-yard gash up the middle with 1:03 remaining.
Kennesaw State rushed for a season-high 214 yards as part of a 498-yard day. Diggs led the way with 11 carries for 69 yards, while Belcher finished with 65 yards on 12 rushes. Odom (36) and Williams (30) also chipped in a combined 66 yards on the ground.
Odom finished with 205 passing yards on 10-of-15 passing and a passing touchdown. He completed his first seven passes before his first incompletion with 7:15 left in the second quarter.
Williams went 2-for-2 in his limited action but finished with 79 yards and a passing touchdown.
Gabriel Benyard led the game with five catches for 97 yards, while Moss finished with two receptions and 93 yards. Bennett finished with his lone touchdown catch for 76 yards. The Ocilla, Ga. native set the new Kennesaw State single-season record for receptions, now at 35 on the year.
The Owls defense was led by
Baron Hopson, who turned in his fourth-straight double-digit tackle game with 12 to go along with one breakup and one QB hurry. Behind him was
Tywon Christopher, who made seven stops and a tackle for loss, while
Caleb Offord and
Garland Benyard finished with five tackles apiece. Offord also tallied two more pass breakups on the night.
The defense held a 5-2 TFL advantage and 2-0 sack advantage, while also holding a whopping 6-0 pass breakup advantage and 4-0 advantage in QB hurries.
Kennesaw State will look to remain hot when it returns home to host UTEP on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPNU and the KSU Owls App – KSU's third-straight nationally televised game and fifth overall this season.
Tickets remain available at KSUOwls.com/tickets.
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- Kennesaw State improved to 5-2 this season.
- Kennesaw State improved to 3-0 in Conference USA action.
- Kennesaw State's win streak improved to five – it's longest win streak since 2021 (10 wins from Sept. 18 thru Nov. 27).
- Kennesaw State wins its first road game since Nov. 5, 2022 (at UT Martin).
- Kennesaw State wins its first road game as an FBS program.
- Kennesaw State moves to 2-0 against FIU.
- Kennesaw State had four different Owls score rushing touchdowns for the first time since Nov. 16, 2019 (five different Owls against Hampton).
- The 76-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter is the second-longest pass completion in program history (79 – Trey White to Chastan Bennett vs. Charleston Southern on Nov. 7, 2015).
- The 70-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter marked the first time in program history that the Owls had multiple pass completions of 70 yards or more in the same game.
Individual Notes
- R-So. QB Amari Odom scored the opening touchdown of the game on a 2-yard rush, giving him his second rushing TD of the season and third of his career (prev. vs. Arkansas State on Sept. 20).
- Odom finished 10-for-15 with 205 through the air, 36 rushing yards on nine carries with two total touchdowns.
- Odom's first incompletion came with 7:15 remaining in the second quarter.
- R-Jr. RB Alexander Diggs scored his second rushing touchdown of the season on a 2-yard scamper up the middle (prev. Arkansas State on Sept. 20).
- R-Sr. RB Coleman Bennett's 76-yard touchdown reception is the longest catch of his career (prev. 50 vs. LA Tech on Oct. 9). The TD reception is only the second of Bennett's career.
- The 76-yard TD pass was also the longest of Odom's career (prev. 63 at South Carolina on Nov. 23, 2024*).
- Bennett finished with a career-high 76 receiving yards on the night (prev. 58 vs. Penn on Sept. 23, 2023*).
- Sr. DB Kody Jones made his first career start in a Kennesaw State uniform Tuesday.
- R-Jr. WR Davis Bryson hauled in his first career reception in the second quarter, becoming the third Owl in program history to both throw a completion and catch a reception, joining Jake McKenzie (2015-18) and Bronson Rechsteiner (2016-19).
- R-Sr. QB Dexter Williams II's 70-yard touchdown pass to r-Sr. WR Christian Moss in the third quarter, which marked the longest completion for Williams II in his career and longest reception for Moss.
- The touchdown by Williams marked the second time this season the Owls have had multiple touchdown passers (Amari Odom and Christian Moss vs. Middle Tennessee on Sept. 27).
- R-Sr. LB Baron Hopson recorded his fourth-straight double-digit tackle game, which ties the school record, finishing with 12. He has five double-digit tackle games this season which currently ranks tied for third nationally.
- R-Fr. LB Tywon Christopher turned in a career-high seven tackles (prev. 4 at then-No. 23/21 Indiana on Sept. 9, 2025).
- R-Jr. DL Ugonna Nwoha recorded his first sack of the season.
- Sr. RB Chase Belcher's fourth-quarter 6-yard rushing score was his first on the ground as a Kennesaw State Owl.
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