KENNESAW, Ga. – In front of the fourth sellout crowd of the season, Kennesaw State football won a dramatic shootout, 41-34, over Missouri State on Saturday afternoon at Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium. KSU finished 6-0 at home for the first time since 2021.
Redshirt sophomore QB
Amari Odom responded after a disappointing Week 12 by rewriting the Owls' (8-3, 6-1 Conference USA) record book. He set the program bests for passing yards (387), total offense (419), passing touchdowns (5) and touchdowns responsible for (6).
The Bears (7-4, 5-2 CUSA) struck first, drilling a 43-yard field goal on the opening drive, but KSU would respond with a back-to-back bombs from Odom, finding a wide-open
Clayton Coppock on a 32-yard pass and
Gabriel Benyard on a 41-yard dart.
But Missouri State wouldn't go away quietly, hitting another field goal and scoring on an 80-yard drive before the half to pull within one. Then, coming out of the half, MSU found paydirt again to take a 20-14 lead.
Facing adversity, the Owls responded, as Odom found Benyard for his second touchdown of the game on a 31-yard pass before Odom called his own number, scampering in from 4 yards out to retake the lead, 27-20.
KSU linebacker
Baron Hopson thwarted a third-quarter MSU drive by recording his first career interception with under four minutes to go in the third.
The respite would be short-lived, however, MSU's Jacob Clark would connect on his third passing touchdown of the game with 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter to even things up entering the final round.
The Owls then capitalized on
Adam Watkins blocking a 36-yard field goal attempt by Missouri State to have Odom find Coppock on the next drive for his second touchdown of the game – a 26-yard over the middle with 5:51 left.
The Bears responded with a long touchdown of their own on the next drive before starting another drive with under 3:30 minutes to play. The Kennesaw State defense stood them up on a third-and-10 at their own 34-yard line as
JeRico Washington Jr. broke up the pass.
Missouri State then attempted a fake field goal run out wide to which the Owls snuffed out as a swarm of Black and Gold took down a running kicker, Yousef Obeid, to force the turnover on downs.
With 67 seconds remaining, Kennesaw State's offense went to work as Odom scurried for a 7-yard gain to setup a 40-yard connection to
Christian Moss. From the 14-yard line, Odom eluded an all-out blitz to find a streaking
Chase Belcher on the right side of the end zone to take a 41-34 advantage.
With 21 seconds left, the Bears attempted to return the favor, but the KSU defense and
Alexander Ford stood in the way, picking off Clark for the second time on Saturday and returning the ball 94 yards to set up victory formation.
Defensively,
Tywon Christopher led the way with 11 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. Right behind him was Hopson, who eclipsed the 100-tackle mark on the season with eight stops overall, 2.0 tackles for loss and the interception.
Five Hamilton also had a fine performance, recording seven tackles with 1.0 tackles for loss and a breakup, also returning the blocked field goal 21 yards in the fourth quarter.
Offensively, Benyard finished with 127 receiving yards to go along with his two scores, while Coppock finished with 87 yards with his.
Christian Moss (68) and Belcher (65) also finished with 60+ receiving yards on the night.
The Owls will finish out the regular season on the road, traveling to Lynchburg, Va. to take on Liberty on Saturday, Nov. 29. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network and the KSU Owls App.
