By Chris Raimondi, Sports Editor
We’ve made it. Kennesaw State’s first football game in school history is next week, Sept. 3 at East Tennessee State.
Since February 2013, over two years of building, planning, recruiting and practicing have led to next Thursday’s road matchup for the Owls. All of the pomp and circumstance from unveiling uniforms to holding a public homecoming scrimmage will be miniscule when KSU steps on to the field in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The timing for kickoff could not be better as the school’s exponential growth is all the more palpable while KSU welcomes in a new campus in Marietta. Finally, for the students, KSU feels more like a traditional college than ever before.
But what lies ahead?
For starters, the football team is now in game-mode every week. More film-watching, pre-game walkthroughs, increased media coverage and weekly position battles are just a few elements added to the young Owls’ routine. They get to hit other teams instead of each other, finally.
But for the students, you will receive something every weekend this fall that seniors like myself have been waiting for since the day I decided to come to KSU. We get to support our own football team.
Sure, most of us have allegiances to other college football programs. Some of us were probably raised on it, especially in the south. UGA, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Auburn; whoever you support may forever be ‘my’ team to you. But the college you decided to apply to and attend now has given you something authentic.
For six Saturday’s in Kennesaw this fall, it will be game day at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. You go to KSU, so whether you like it or not, the football team is your team.
The school provided student tickets, tailgating opportunities, transportation, apparel and access to get to know the players and coaches. KSU has done its part to spark interest; the responsibility to build tradition is now in the hands of the students.
The 2015 football season is an opportunity to lay a foundation at KSU for annual traditions. The team can control what happens on the field, but ultimately the students have the power to give the players a reason to compete.
The tone can be set by whether or not supporters choose to tailgate, attend the Owl-Walk, enter the stadium early and leave late, establish post-game rituals and sing along to the fight song.
For a majority of fans, one of the six home football games will be the first KSU sporting event they attend. While it is great to see football helping raise student spirit, the school’s newest team is at the bottom of totem pole when it comes to KSU’s athletics. Every team at KSU competes for a conference championship annually. The bar is set high for the football team, and they are well aware.
The inaugural home game is Sept. 12 against Edward Waters at 4 p.m. The rest of the season offers a homecoming game, military appreciation day and senior day. Will there be tradition? Who knows?
What I do know is that it’s football season in Kennesaw. And I can’t wait to see what that means.
