PARTS UNKNOWN
Takeaways from Kennesaw State's first CUSA schedule.
Welcome to the most optimistic part of the college football calendar, where even the most negative fan can imagine a slight path to bowl eligibility and other untold riches. Your mileage may vary on how you feel ahead of Kennesaw State’s first FBS season, that much I understand. No matter how low morale dipped during last season’s pointless FCS kneel-down, though, we could always look to the future for a quick vibes boost.
Now that Conference USA released the 2024 schedule, we can start thinking about that future in much more specific terms. Let’s talk through the conference slate for year one, as announced Thursday:
1. The biggest ask on my schedule wishlist was to get a Week 0 game under the lights in Kennesaw. Not only did that modest prayer go unanswered, but the league completely punted on college football’s prequel weekend. Last year, five CUSA teams suited up for Week 0, including a pair of league games. In ‘24, every team in the conference kicks off the season on the traditional first Saturday - without a Thursday/Friday game in Week 1 to shake things up. That feels like a missed opportunity for a league that’s almost always open to gimmicky scheduling.
2. The opener seemed preordained, right? CUSA set up the Owls to kick off their inaugural conference slate in Week 6 against Jacksonville State, the closest thing we’ve ever had to a football rival. Even better, the Gamecocks come to Kennesaw for a Friday night game that - for now - looks to have the college football stage on an otherwise empty evening.
As much as it pains me to say, Rich Rod’s program set a high standard to follow for the FCS-to-CUSA transition. Brian Bohannon doesn’t have to beat him in year one to have a successful season, but Kennesaw’s first real national football spotlight gives the Owls one hell of a chance to show proof of concept at the next level.
3. Let’s be thankful for limited UGA counter-programming at home. There will be a time (hopefully, please, wishful thinking) when the state’s blue blood program isn’t a major factor in our schedule. That’s not the case this season. Intentional or not, the Owls avoid home games that compete with UGA’s marquee home/neutral site matchups (Clemson, Auburn, Florida) until Week 12 when the Sam Houston game lines up with when the Bulldogs host Tennessee.
4. Our only conference opponents where we share any real history - Liberty, Sam Houston, and the aforementioned Jacksonville State - all make the trip to Fifth Third Stadium this season for FCS reunions. As the program finds footing in a conference without a true identity, the league office did us a favor by giving us a few storylines to sell our home games.
I would prefer playing the defending champs and clear ‘24 favorites a couple weeks later, though, perhaps while they were distracted by election results or during Jamey Chadwell’s interview process with Florida, UNC, or whichever power conference team frees him from Lynchburg. A small consolation: It’s on a Wednesday, meaning their army of youth pastors will be on the clock and unable to make the trip.
5. Bohannon won’t love getting his two bye weeks done by Week 7, before seven straight league games to close out the inaugural CUSA season. Only Louisiana Tech (8) has a longer stretch without a bye week. The Owls are going to be READY for UT Martin, though.
6. Looking at the on-field matchups, Kennesaw doesn’t get the easiest draw for CUSA’s midweek circus in October, meeting three of the most likely title game contenders in a four-week span: JSU, Liberty, and WKU. Even the weakest of the October opponents, MTSU, will be a complete mystery in Derek Mason’s first year in Murfreesboro. The Owls do, however, catch Jacksonville State and Liberty at home, and won’t have to stray further than a 4 1/2 road trip from Kennesaw for the two away games. In a conference that includes Las Cruces and El Paso, I’ll take that deal every time.
7. Nobody in CUSA goes to both of those western outposts this season, and the Owls miss New Mexico State altogether in year one. Instead, they’ll travel to play UTEP in Week 11. Of all the weird visuals we’ll see in 2024, Kennesaw State playing in the Sun Bowl has been the one I’ve thought about most leading up to the CUSA jump.
The Aggies’ home just up I-10 in Las Cruces ends up being an easy punchline in arguments about how the conference lacks a geographic connectivity. I think it’s actually sick, and I’m disappointed to miss out on NMSU in year one. Something just feels right about a late-night CBS Sports kickoff from Memorial Stadium. Maybe next year.
8. That FIU game could be a Bad Vibes Super Bowl. I don’t want to ruin the positivity of a schedule release, but the potential negativity of this game was hard to ignore at first glance. We’ve won 5 D1 games in the last two seasons, while FIU finished 1-7 in the league last year; our November home games have been notoriously empty even in the best on-field circumstances. If Kennesaw’s season goes off the rails in the slightest, I fear the pregame crowd shot of an empty Fifth Third Stadium may be the lasting image on our CUSA debut.