11 years ago to the day, Kennesaw State kept the Still Undefeated era alive with a 56-16 beatdown of ETSU in the program’s inaugural game. Fresh out of college and working for a doomed minor league soccer team, I pulled up the stream on ESPN3 and drank an irresponsible amount of Rolling Rocks in complete disbelief at what I was watching.

After years of speculation, exploratory committees and feasibility studies, I failed to consider an important question: What if the Owls were actually good at football? I didn’t think it could get any better than that night. Lucky for us, that was dead wrong.

The cigar smoke has cleared from the CUSA title celebration, we’ve recovered from our hangovers, and we’re back for Year 12 to do it all over again. I’m calling my shot now: Kennesaw State will repeat as conference champions. The process starts tonight against West Georgia, a team loaded with lower-level history that coincidently drafted behind KSU to claim our spot at the FCS level when we made the step up to CUSA.

Believe it or not, that inaugural game in 2015 was also the last time Kennesaw State beat a Division 1 team to open up the season:

2015: W, 56-16 over ETSU
2016: L to ETSU
2017: L to Samford
2018: L to Georgia State
2019: Non-D1 opener
Spring ‘21: Non-D1 opener
Fall ‘21: Non-D1 opener
2022: L to Samford
2023: Non-D1 opener
2024: L to UTSA
2025: L to Wake Forest

Can the Owls snap that streak by handling business against a team playing its first ever FBS opponent? Let’s find out.

7:00 PM | ESPN+ | Fifth Third Stadium

Vegas: Owls -23.5, O/U 51.5
SP+: KSU 34, UWG 10
Massey: KSU 33, West Georgia 14
FPI: 87.6% chance for a KSU win

Last week: Chattanooga 24, UWG 10
Hours before Week 0 kicked off, West Georgia’s athletic director released a vague statement regarding an “NCAA compliance violation regarding a student athlete.” We’re finally cracking down on the villains like UWG that continue to corrupt this sport.

“As an immediate, self-imposed corrective measure, Head Coach Steve Englehart will not participate in tonight's football contest while the review continues.”

With the head coach removed from the sidelines, can we fully evaluate West Georgia’s opener? Englehart imported much of the staff and key players from Presbyterian’s recent turnaround, including quarterback Collin Hurst. He’s an OC/QB coach by trade, so it’s tough to downplay a late shakeup like after seeing how anemic the offense looked. Let’s look at the tale of the tape Week 0:

Even after the gameday chaos, West Georgia closed as a slight home underdog and drew first blood on Christian Monfort touchdown - a fake tush push out of a provactive formation. Probably the offensive highlight of the first half as both teams traded punts back and forth.

Outside of that second quarter window, West Georgia didn’t offer much of a threat and only strung together three drives of 30+ yards the entire night. The defense was mostly OK, outside of some egregious busted coverages and struggles to get lined up at times. Chattanooga wasn’t exactly moving at a NASCAR pace when that game ground to a halt, so Kennesaw’s spacing and tempo will probably give West Georgia hell. The classic cliche about teams making the most improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 probably holds some weight here. I’ll take the trade if it means KSU knows what to expect from UWG’s new era by having at least 60 minutes of tape.

As far as I can tell, it’s still unknown whether Englehart will return to the sideline tonight in Kenensaw. There have been some rumblings about a potential six-game suspension, though no official updates. West Georgia punted on his media availability this week and has been pretty cagey about the whole situation.

Three UWG stats that mattered in Week 0

Tight end room: Josh Schuchts and Aiden Sefa. The most intriguing unit on UWG’s roster to me, with the UTEP transfer pairing up with a small of forward redshirt freshman from Valdosta. More than half the Wolves’ passing production against UTC ended up in their hands. Schuchts already scored at Fifth Third once before, housing an out route for a 41-yard score through some of the sloppiest arm tackles you’ll ever see. Sefa’s a little longer and the Wolves like him in the slot a little more than Schuchts.

Left tackle Freddie Pelling, a 6’9” English lad from Campbell and the NFL Academy. Nobody on West Georgia’s offensive line looked ready for primetime against Chattanooga. Sorry for singling out Pelling, but a Big Baby Davis-sized tackle will probably catch your attention before the others. If you’re concerned about the KSU reloading on the defensive front, the opener is a soft landing against a front five that PFF graded in the bottom five throughout all of FCS action during Week 0.

Safety Chancellor Bryant switched positions after the arrival of Presbyterian nickel Malik Lewis. Bryant played 9 games for West Georgia last season, mostly in the box and as a slot defender. He’s still trying to figure out the deep safety role and was on the business end of a couple Chattanooga explosives. I’m not sure UWG quite understands their own coverage rules yet and communication wasn’t exactly on point. KSU will push these guys to the limit with some of the spacing and switch releases.

What to watch for KSU

Rickie Collins takes control of the Veer and Hoot for what amounts to a AAA rehab start. Nobody on the roster would benefit more from a comfortable, efficient win than the Syracuse transfer, named Kennesaw’s QB1 a couple days prior to the Owls breaking camp. He needs a confidence boost in his debut after throwing 10 picks and going 0-5 as the Orange’s starter last season. Earlier this week, Mack recapped the Collins/Varnes QB battle with effusive praise for the former four-star recruit, reminiscent of calling the Baton Rogue native a “future star’ while out at the Bear Bryant Awards prior to spring ball.

If that seems like excessive hype, consider that Mack probably isn’t aiming those quotes directly at the fans. He’s extending the work that the Owls have done on and off the field to rebuild the quarterback’s confidence - not far off from what Collins’ high school coaches tried to remind him during a particularly difficult stretch last season: “I don’t think I can say that on camera. But they tell me ‘I’m Rickie mother-effing Collins.’ So hearing that, it brings a smile to my face.”

Three new starters debut on the offensive line. Protecting Collins will be a unit that played out mostly as expected at the top of the two-deep. Mack talked through the typical eight-man rotation bit on Monday, though the 5 OL spots were the only positions other than Collins to only list one starter. If you do stretch the rotation to eight guys, my assumption is that would includes Darius Neals, Luke Duska, and Zamario Woodgett. It’s worth watching if there’s any early substitution or if the Owls stick with the projected starting five to work toward some semblance of continuity. Both OTs ranked in the bottom five of all qualifying CUSA OL last season and absolutely need to improve. UWG has a couple edge rushers that could provide a test: Holton Harris and Elijah Barnes, a Wingate teammate of KSU’s Kai Russell.

Bullpen game for the skill positions. There’s much less certainty in the skill positions, where KSU named 11 total starters in five positions: Two players at each receiver spot, two tight ends, and a trio at running back that’s likely headlined by Latrelle Murrell. The West Georgia transfer racked up over a thousand all-purpose yards last season in Carrollton and will likely be the first RB to get the ball. He provides the least amount of variance when compared to Triston Morgan and JUCO recruit Boogie Woods, who started his career at Georgia Southern.

“I think Latrelle is gonna trot out there first, and then from there we never know,” Mack said on Monday. “I’m looking forward to it just like the fans in the stands. Whoever starts to get hot, get in a rhythm, we’re going to continue to feed those guys.”

All three dudes will see time and get plenty of carries against a UWG defense that looked a little stronger against the ran than through the air. Chattanooga gave 30 carries to its lead back last week, picking up 4.3 per attempt (1.00 before contact, 3.3 after). Let’s set those per carry averages as the baseline and see how the Owls compare.

At receiver, I’m sticking with the take that the Owls improved as a unit despite losing Gabe Benyard (spent time in a couple NFL camps), Christian Moss (might be a dude at Washington), and Clayton Coppock (good enough for Coastal to tamper). Tonight won’t settle the rotation by any means, but we’ll see some sort of update on the actual depth chart. The six listed starters backs up some of what I’ve been hearing - that a number one guy hasn’t quite emerged even if the level improved overall.

Who’s on the receiving end of the deep shots that that Militello dials up? Even if games like this are basically on-field coachspeak, we can find out a lot based on what a team considers to be its identity. Outside of those schemed up explosives, Collins could rely on Zion Booker and Davis Bryson in the slot to ease into the new season. If you can find a Booker receptions prop, that might be worth an investment. You’d like to see some easy access throws for Collins after how ineffective the Owls were on WR screens last year. Brayden Munroe and Javon Rogers are likely to start on the outside, with former Wolves receiver Dylan Gary (who spent time at Georgia Southern last year) also in the mix.

KSU can start to find answers on the defensive line. Up front, everyone except Marcus Patterson will enter uncharted territory in terms of their role and/or level. As mentioned earlier, UWG’s OL performed at the bottom of FCS last week. KSU’s combo of transfers, JUCO recruits, and returning depth pieces should see some success tonight as that rotation starts to take shape as well.

Mack named five different dudes in the mix at Rush, none of which were Donovan Westmoreland. Wingate transfer Kai Russell is expected to see the field first, but late portal addition Jeremy Greaves also joined him with an OR on the depth chart. Corey Kelly, who came in from Baylor, slots in as the #3 option, and Byron Jackson also earned a shoutout from his head coach. Patterson is also a potential option to cross-train from his strongside DE position, which he shares on the depth chart with Ugonna Nwoha. We’re also on Zay Wilson watch and invite you to buy stock in the next 10 hours or so before the price jumps considerably.

On the interior, KSU only brings back 3 total FBS starts - all of which come from Jaiden Grimes. Jackson Cooper, the listed starter at NT, only exceeded the 20-snap mark four times as a freshman, and each of those games were in the bottom half of his lowest-graded performances. DT is one of many position groups that could benefit from garbage time tonight to get some low stakes reps for everyone outside the top three - Grimes, Cooper, and Buffalo transfer Devin Morgan.

Don’t be surprised if we get some sort of load management from the linebacker corps. Assuming Josh Anglin really is #2 at the Mike, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to give Baron Hopson some preemptive rest so that the Tulsa transfer can direct traffic for a bit alongside Tywon Christopher or Karson Moss. There’s not much left for Hopson to prove after last season’s CUSA co-DPOTY campaign.

Key player on defense: Kody Jones and the other nickels. West Georgia offered almost no downfield threat whatsoever against Chattanooga. Outside of one trick play, there was no explosiveness whatsoever and the outside WRs couldn’t get going - only 29 yards combined between them. Expect the Wolves to try their absolute best to screen the Owls to death, bringing to light one of the other lingering questions on the defensive side of the ball: Can the secondary tackle consistently? If the Owls avoid giving up massive yards after the catch, I don’t see a world where UWG can sustain drives to make this one interesting.