By Don Stone, KennesawStateSports.com, FootballAtlanta.com
A year removed from a 2–10 season and only weeks removed from a painful loss in this same stadium, Kennesaw State (9-3, 7-1 CUSA) will walk back into Burgess–Snow Field on Friday night with a Conference USA championship on the line and a chance at redemption against Jacksonville State (8-4, 7-1 CUSA).
These two teams have had a lot of big games together going back to their days when they were both in the Big South Conference. The rivalry’s most memorable chapter was the five-overtime thriller at Truist Park (then SunTrust Park), on November 17, 2018 where both sides traded blows deep into the night before Chandler Burks (now the Tight Ends Coach for Army) and KSU finally emerged victorious 60-52.
Head coach Jerry Mack, who has engineered one of the country’s quickest turnarounds in his first season, hasn’t let his team forget the 35–26 defeat the Owls suffered at Jax State in mid-November. In that game, KSU rolled up big yardage but was undone by turnovers and a Hail Mary allowed just before halftime. Mack has framed the rematch as both a reward and a test. He has repeatedly said this week that championships are “about correcting the details that beat you the first time — ball security, red-zone execution, and situational football,” and that his team “did enough to move the ball, but not enough to finish drives” in the earlier loss.
Much of the spotlight will fall on quarterback Amari Odom, whose breakout season has powered Kennesaw State’s climb into the title game. Odom has shown he can hurt defenses with both his arm and his legs, guiding an offense that has been one of Conference USA’s most explosive over the last month. But, his three turnovers at Jax State will have to be corrected.
After the Owls’ double-overtime win at Liberty to clinch their spot in the championship, Mack praised his quarterback’s poise, saying Odom “played like a champion when it counted” and gave the entire sideline confidence in tight moments. For Friday, the message from the staff has been for Odom to play aggressively but protect the ball after interceptions swung the momentum in the first meeting.
Jacksonville State, which secured home-field advantage with a close win over Western Kentucky, will bring a physical, run-first attack and a defense that already frustrated KSU once. The Gamecocks’ front seven controlled key downs in November and turned short fields into points off turnovers. Mack has talked all week about matching Jacksonville State’s toughness at the line of scrimmage and treating the atmosphere — a loud, championship-stage crowd in Alabama — as something his team has earned the right to face, not something to fear.
For Kennesaw State, the stakes are clear. A win delivers a Conference USA crown in Year 1 under Mack and completes a stunning transformation from last season’s struggles to league champion. A loss would mean a second setback to the same opponent and a long offseason of wondering
The CUSA Championship Game will be Friday night in Jacksonville, Alabama at 7:00 p.m. ET, televised on the CBS Sports Network.