When Jerry Mack wants to hedge his bets about the team’s season goals, he mentions playing meaningful football in the month of November. You could describe games like Thursday night in the opposite sense: Let’s make sure we play meaningless football in the fourth quarter. Mission accomplished for the Owls on Thursday. KSU opened the season by blowing out an overmatched West Georgia squad on a night that featured more time spent in weather delays and garbage time than competitive football.
If you missed the post on Friday morning, I’m putting PFF grades up on the site this year with a sortable, searchable view. I would send them out via email, but the tables won’t embed in your inbox - which defeats the purpose.
We could’ve created a dangerous drinking game centered around how often the Owl Network broadcast said “three-headed monster.” I was cautiously optimistic about the offseason hype coming from Mack regarding his lead trio of backs, but you never know when soundbites like that are wishcasting, especially when it’s repeated so often.
Well, the monsters didn’t leave much doubt Thursday night, at least against the subpar competition. Newcomers Latrelle Murrell, Triston Morgan, and Boogie Woods all found the end zone in the first half, plus two more scores on the ground from Rickie Collins. As a team, the Owls racked up a half-dozen rushing touchdowns, 260 yards after contact, 7+ yards per carry, and a 64% success rate on the ground. Time will tell on just how real that performance was and what the depth chart would look like in a competitive game.
I think the Week 1 takeaway is a much more about scheme than personnel, to be honest. Heading into year two, we still saw KSU play the Veer and Hoot hits: Plenty of inside zone, power, and counter - including the nasty “claw” concept that Murrell broke for the opening touchdown. That play design - described by Tennessee’s OL coach as a "misdirection of misdirection” - was one of many moments on the night where KSU weaponized West Georgia’s aggresive and mostly insane pursuit angles. Sidenote: Starting a center with 1,000+ guard snaps under his belt unlocks ideas like this.
Claw’s an intriguing concept, but at the end of the day it’s a different presentation on a bread-and-butter concept for this offense.
As the night unfolded, Kennesaw State showed a new dimension on the ground, or at least planted some seeds to really expand the running game menu this season: The Owls might have become a wide zone football team right before our eyes. That was my main takeaway after rewatching every snap from the 1s and 2s from Thursday night.
KSU absolutely hammered West Georgia on the left, hitting the Wolves for 127 yards on 13 attempts off the left edge in particular. I was curious how that compared to last year, so I pulled up the rushing share by gap to double check. In the 60 minutes of action in this extremely young season, KSU doubled up the usage on the left edge compared to last year.
Carries in each gap 2025 vs. Week 1 2026. Data via PFF.
KSU didn’t ignore the edge last season - hitting outside zone, WR jets, and some perimeter run game with Amari Odom.
One example of outside zone from “The Veer and Shoot” - AJ Forbes
Thursday night looked a little different, though, seemingly closer to the wide zone concepts often associated with under-center or Pistol formations. How’d KSU make it work? Take a look at the post-snap adjustment from the running back - Latrelle Murrell, in this instance.
Murrell lines up to the left of Collins, then shuffles nearly a full yard back and to the right after the snap to take the handoff coming downhill on the other side of the QB. The move works into a pseudo Pistol look that allows Murrell get downhill toward the edge more effectively.
We could have a Mandela Effect situation going on, but I don’t remember seeing much of this post-snap shuffle last season in Kennesaw. If the Owls used it, I don’t think it was at this volume or paired with wide/mid zone concepts like this. There are plenty of examples from Thursday, with all three of the lead backs using the action on multiple snaps.
None of the instances were more explosive, though, than Triston Morgan’s 60-yard touchdown to open his Kennesaw account. Both UWG linebackers try to dance around the blockers, and the lone safety is nowhere to be found. Morgan hits the cutback lane and housed it for his first TD in Kennesaw. It all starts with that same footwork from Murrell pictured above.
Since I hadn’t noticed (or remembered) that footwork from a KSU back, I hit up AJ Forbes - a certified Veer and Shoot scholar who wrote a book that I highly recommend for anyone trying to get a grasp of the Owls’ identity. Forbes said he hadn’t come across anything like that from the Briles/Heupel descendants, but the action did remind him of what Iowa State broke out last season as a variation on power. Different run concept, but same idea in terms of post-snap adjustments:
Whatever you want to call it, that action and corresponding zone track popped up throughout the evening, both in executed runs and pre-snap RPOs that took advantage of the horizontal pressure going the other direction. Later in the first half, Morgan took that post-snap pistol footwork and got on the exact same track heading left on a couple snaps in a row.
Both times, Collins hit Dylan Gary on a backside screen with a numbers advantage. The two consecutive screens hit to the tune of 24 yards, using a numbers advantage and simple read building upon the run concept that had been giving UWG trouble for the entire first half. It’s the same three-man screen action that was happening on the near sideline in Morgan’s touchdown run, minus the motion into trips.
KSU could’ve uncovered a new dimension in the quick RPO/screen game and also put some deeper play-action concepts on the table when the staff opens up the playbook a little further. The access throws were a clear emphasis on Thursday night as the Owls broke in a new QB1 and put a premium on a clean, confidence-building debut. Collins finished with a career high 86.4% drop-adjusted completion percentage and an average depth of target just 4.7 yards downfield - a considerable difference to KSU’s 9.8 yard average last season. Odom averaged 9.8 yards and only went below 8.5 three times. A focus on underneath throws is not a dealbreaker - KSU won each of those sub-8.5 ADOT games - but the system’s obviously built on a credible deep threat.
We’ll see if wide zone and related RPO/PA concepts end up sticking as core elements of the Kennesaw offense this season. After the wide zone focus, a few direct snaps, and even a pin-and-pull on Thursday, would you really be surprised to see Mack/Militello continue to get creative and add to the playbook beyond the IZ/Power/Counter fundamentals? I see the vision based on the evidence so far, and I’m curious what ideas will carry over to the Week 2 matchup against Georgia State.
