‘It’s a huge confidence boost’: How Kennesaw State pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the college football season
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
As the only football coach in Kennesaw State’s history, Brian Bohannon has experienced all of the high and lows of the past decade.
An FCS startup team in 2015, the Owls won their first game and went 6-5 in their initial season. Kennesaw State won eight games in its second campaign and had a 34-7 record from 2017 to 2019, winning two Big South Conference championships along the way.
The Owls’ 48-15 record over their first five seasons is the best record by an FCS startup, and they’re the only FCS team to have three straight seasons with at least 11 wins in their first five years of competition.
For all of Kennesaw State’s success at the FCS level, though, its first season of competition while transitioning to the FBS in 2024 has been equally humbling. Heading into last week, the Owls had dropped their first six games, losing to FCS program UT Martin 24-13 at home on Sept. 28.
“You don’t ever know what the path is going to be, right?” Bohannon said. “You know where you want to go, but you don’t know what the path is going to take you. I think the thing anybody would say about this program is we have a strong culture because to still be hanging around at 0-6, it’s hard, and our kids stuck together.”
Everything came together for Kennesaw State in last week’s 27-24 upset of previously unbeaten Liberty.
It was the first time in 23 years — and only the sixth such occurrence in the AP poll era since 1936 — that a team with an 0-5 or worse record knocked off an opponent with a 5-0 record or better.
Kennesaw State ended Liberty’s 18-game win streak in the regular season and conference championship games, which was the longest streak in the FBS.
The Owls, 27½-point underdogs against the Flames, pulled off the second-biggest upset of the season. Only Northern Illinois‘ 16-14 win at then-No. 5 Notre Dame on Sept. 7 was a bigger shocker — the Huskies were 28½-point underdogs.
Kennesaw State had been winless in its previous 10 games against FBS opponents.
“I mean, the biggest thing is it’s a huge confidence boost for our kids,” Bohannon said. “You know, obviously getting that first one is always big. And then Liberty is a really good football team. I think getting the first one is always big, right? And we’re a young program. We’ve got a lot of youth, and they’re learning every week, and it was just good to see them have success. I was really proud of it.”
Bohannon’s team will try to make it two straight victories when Kennesaw State plays at Conference USA front-runner Western Kentucky on Wednesday night (7:30 ET, ESPN2/ESPN+).
“We just lacked consistency,” Bohannon said of his team’s early struggles. “We’ve been turning the ball over, and we haven’t been playing complimentary football. We’ve been talking about all this stuff, and finally it came together.”
The Owls were playing so inconsistently on offense that Bohannon benched starting quarterback Davis Bryson after a 63-24 loss to Jacksonville State in the league opener Oct. 4. Bryson threw three interceptions and had only 76 passing yards on 6-for-14 passing attempts.
In a 14-5 loss at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 15, the Owls had 10 first downs and 234 yards of offense with Khalib Johnson and Braden Bohannon — the coach’s son — sharing snaps at quarterback.
“[Coach Bohannon] told me the decision was best for the team and for the program and that I was going to learn from the mistakes that I made in the previous game,” Bryson said. “He told me to attack those things throughout the week and just take advantage of my opportunity when it comes back.”
Bryson, a sophomore from Woodbridge, Virginia, got his opportunity eight days later against Liberty. He completed his first eight passes and finished 16-of-20 for 189 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
“I guess he was motivated, huh?” Bohannon said. “He has been our guy. We just turned the ball over, so we went another direction for a week. He had to take some humble pie and go signal for a week, but he had a great attitude. He handled it awesome and cheered on his teammates. We weren’t able to get it done [with other quarterbacks], and we gave him an opportunity. He took advantage of it.”
Going into the Liberty game, the Owls ranked 130th out of 134 FBS teams in scoring offense with 14.6 points per game. They came out of that game with a season-high 323 yards of offense and didn’t turn the ball over. They also went 7-for-14 on third down.
On defense, Kennesaw State became only the second team this season to limit Liberty to under 180 rushing yards (No. 1 Oregon was the other). After surrendering an average of 36 points during their six-game losing streak, the Owls came up with several big stops against the Flames. They stopped Liberty’s offense on a fourth-and-11 at the Kennesaw State 29, which led to a field goal and a 24-17 lead.
There are likely to be more highs and lows this season for the Owls.
“We’ve still got a long way to go with everything here being what it needs to be, to be an FBS program,” Bohannon said. “But our kids hung in there, and we found a way to win a game, which was honestly big for us. But we’ve got a long way to go and a lot of work to do. I won’t call this a fun path, but it’s the path that we’re taking right now. We’ll see where it takes us.”
It all comes down to this. The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets host the St. Louis Blues in the 200th Game 7 in Stanley Cup playoffs history Sunday (7 p.m. ET, TBS).
One team will advance to the second round, while the other will get an early start to the offseason — and try to fix what went wrong.
For the Blues, this is the club’s 19th all-time Game 7, the most of any non-Original Six team. They have gone 10-8 in Games 7s, with the most recent one being the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, which they won 4-1.
This version of the Jets has much less Game 7 history on which to draw; their only Game 7 was a second-round victory over the Nashville Predators in 2018.
Who wins this one? We’ve gathered the ESPN hockey family to identify the key players to watch in the contest — as well as their final score predictions.
Who is the one key player you’ll be watching in Jets-Blues?
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: If he plays, it’s Mark Scheifele. The hit in Game 5 from Brayden Schenn and/or Radek Faksa generated quite a bit of conversation about what is arguably the most physically demanding series in the first round. Scheifele’s play this season and this series prior to the hit reinforces what makes him a legit top-line center in this league. We saw how the Jets maneuvered around his absence for the final two periods of Game 5, while Game 6 proved why they need contributions from everyone if he can’t go.
But again, that’s if Scheifele plays. He skated Saturday in a tracksuit, with Scott Arniel saying the center will be a game-time decision Sunday.
Arda Öcal, NHL broadcaster: Connor Hellebuyck is the obvious answer here for me because he’s been “Vezina” at home (especially Game 2) and “Vezina from Temu” on the road.
Hellebuyck has allowed four or more goals in seven straight road playoff games, which ties the second longest such streak in Stanley Cup playoff history. But Game 7 is at home. The pressure is on but he’s in comfortable confines, surrounded by a “Whiteout.” Which version of Hellebuyck do we get Sunday night?
Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter: Connor Hellebuyck, of course. Has there been a Jekyll/Hyde performance like this in recent years?
The Vezina finalist can play lights-out at home and like a fish out of water on the road. Does that trend continue in Game 7? What version of the goalie shows up for this one?
But as a bonus, I’ll toss Pavel Buchnevich into this equation. He’s been driving the Blues’ offense, and if Hellebuyck is on his A-game then St. Louis is going to need Buchnevich to channel his hat trick energy from Game 3 to help the Blues pull off a stunning road win.
Greg Wyshynski, NHL reporter: Jordan Binnington renewed his title as one of the NHL’s most clutch goaltenders with his 31-save performance in Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off championship win over the U.S. — including six saves in overtime. He first earned it in 2019, backstopping the Blues to the Stanley Cup with Game 7 wins over Dallas and Boston.
Now he’s got a chance to reestablish those credentials.
Binnington had a 0.82 goals-against average and a .968 save percentage in those prior Game 7s. While Hellebuyck has been terrible in St. Louis, Binnington hasn’t been much better in Winnipeg, generating an .861 save percentage and a 3.44 goals-against average and giving up four goals in two of the three games. But as 4 Nations showed, Binnington can meet the moment. (Although this time, Kyle Connor will actually be in the lineup for the opposition. Not that we’re bitter or anything.)
The final score will be _____.
Clark: 4-3 Jets. There have been a few themes in this series. The first being that offense hasn’t been an issue — the teams have combined to score more than six goals in all but one game. The second is that the home team has won every game; I say that continues, and the Jets advance.
Öcal: 6-5 Jets. Hellebyuck doesn’t have his best game, but the Jets outscore that challenge, and Kyle Connor scores another third-period goal in this series to win it.
Shilton: 5-4 Jets. The Jets have been too good on home ice to let this one slip away. That’s not to say a St. Louis win would be surprising, but even if Hellebuyck is off, Winnipeg’s offense should be able to provide enough buffer that the Jets can squeak through with a narrow victory to advance.
Wyshynski: 5-3 Jets. The Jets would be toast if this game were played in St. Louis because it’s a demonstrable fact that Hellebuyck is a disaster on the road in the playoffs. He’s slightly below replacement at home in the postseason, but Winnipeg will take that considering his three removals on the road.
The Blues are first in the playoffs in 5-on-5 offense and goals-for percentage at home. But Winnipeg is second in both categories. Hellebuyck calms down, and the offense gets ratcheted up at home, especially now that Nikolaj Ehlers has a game under his belt, having not played since April 12 due to a foot injury.
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Ryan S. Clark
Many of Mikko Rantanen’s greatest moments have come in a Colorado Avalanche sweater. It’s just that the most defining moment of his career came at their expense.
It wasn’t enough that the Dallas Stars were trailing by two goals. It was also the fact that Rantanen scored a hat trick in a string of four unanswered goals that saw his current team, the host Stars, eliminate his old team, the Avalanche, in a 4-2 win Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the American Airlines Center.
“Obviously, the feeling was incredible to win a series,” Rantanen said in his postgame media availability. “This series was not exactly what I expected. I expected a seven-game series, even before Game 1. The ups and downs in the series. … Belief was there with the group the whole time. Obviously, I was able to make a pay to get the first one and the crowd started to roll.”
The Stars, attempting to reach the conference finals a third straight time, will advance to the semifinal round in which they will await the winner of series featuring the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. That encounter will be decided Sunday in Game 7 in Winnipeg.
Soon, the Stars’ collective focus will shift to another Central Division foe. But for now? The attention before, during, and after the game, was on Rantanen.
Part of what made the Avalanche-Stars series arguably the most intriguing first-round series in either conference was the fact it placed two 100-point teams that are in championship window against each other. But, it also came with several subplots with the notable being the team that traded quite a bit to land Rantanen — with the hope he could win them a Stanley Cup now — needed him to defeat the team that he won a championship with back in 2022.
With one assist through the first four games, there was a discussion about if the Stars could manage to win with a sputtering Rantanen on top of the fact they were already without two of their best players in defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forward Jason Robertson.
Rantanen responded with a three-point performance in Game 5, and a four-point performance in Game 6 only to then have a hand in each goal on Saturday. His first goal came on the power-play with 12:12 remaining in the third period when he found enough space to fire a wrist shot that beat MacKenzie Blackwood.
Then came the game-tying goal and the significance it carried. The Stars went on the power play went Avalanche forward Jack Drury was called for holding. Drury part of the trade package the Carolina Hurricanes used to get Rantanen in late January before they would trade him to the Stars.
Drury’s penalty opened the door for Rantanen to score a game-tying goal that might be one of, if not, his signature salvo. Rantanen skated into the Avalanche zone in a 1-on-3 before he split two players before going around the net for a wrap-around goal that went off the skate of Samuel Girard with 6:14 left.
Three minutes later, the Stars received another power-play opportunity that saw Rantanen along with another former Avalanche forward in Matt Duchene work together to find Wyatt Johnston for the game-winning goal.
In the final minute, the Avalanche pulled Blackwood in the attempt to grab a late goal and force over time. Instead? Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger withstood a barrage that officially ended when Stars forward Tyler Seguin got the puck out of the zone only for Rantanen to skate in on an open net for the hat trick with three seconds left.
“I couldn’t care less who scored for them, I really couldn’t,” Avalanche captain and left winger Gabriel Landeskog said when asked about what it was like to watch Rantanen score a hat trick. “Mikko is one of my best friends and I love him, but I couldn’t care if he scored or if somebody else scored.”
For eight full seasons, Rantanen was part of a homegrown movement that saw the Avalanche go from finishing with what was then the worst record in the salary cap era back in 2016-17 to become a perennial favorite to win the Stanley Cup, which did they did in 2023, while also becoming a model for the need to build through the draft.
Building through stars such as Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen allowed the Avalanche to become a success. As did the moves they made to get other key figures like Valeri Nichushkin and Devon Toews.
Like all teams in a championship window, the Avs were facing the prospect of possibly making a difficult decision. They had yet to agree to a new contract with Rantanen, who was a pending unrestricted free agent. Then, came the blockbuster trade that few throughout the league saw coming.
The Avalanche traded Rantanen in a three-team trade that saw them get Martin Necas and Drury along with two draft picks. Rantanen’s time with the Carolina Hurricanes was limited to just two goals and six points in 13 games.
Despite the fact the Hurricanes are also among that cadre of championship contenders, Rantanen struggled to find cohesion in Raleigh. Rather than run the risk of watching leave for nothing in free agency, the Hurricanes put out feelers to a few teams with the Stars being one of them.
A long-time admirer of Rantanen, the Stars packaged two first-round picks, three second-round picks and former prized prospect Logan Stankoven to get Rantanen. They then signed him to an eight-year contract worth $12 million annually.
“It’s two things: It’s where our team’s at, and it’s Mikko Rantanen,” Stars general manager Jim Nill told ESPN back in March.
Rantanen finished the regular season with five goals and 18 points in 20 games prior to the showdown with his former team.
Not only did Rantanen’s hat trick condemn his former team to their second first-round exit since winning the Stanley Cup, but it continued a theme of former Avalanche eliminating their previous employers.
The Avalanche and Stars faced each other in last season’s Western Conference semifinal that saw Duchene, a former Colorado first-round pick, score the game-winning goal.
A year later, it was another former Avalanche first-round pick who delivered the devastating blow.
“It seems pretty fitting,” Johnston said about Rantanen. “Obviously, we want to win for each other and I think that goes a little extra when it’s a guy like that who is such a big part of our team and was there for a long time and everyone knows the trade that went on. It’s so awesome. We’re so happy as a group for him.”
As if Rantanen scoring a hat trick in a four-goal comeback wasn’t enough, there’s also the fact that this is now the ninth consecutive Game 7 that Stars coach Peter DeBoer has won his career.
DeBoer’s nine wins in Game 7s broke a tie with Darryl Sutter for the most in NHL history. It was also DeBoer’s third game 7 wins with the Stars.
“I felt something was going to happen,” DeBoer said. “But I could not have predicted that.”
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