The Kennesaw State football team accumulated 412 rushing yards en route to a 51-14 victory over Monmouth on Saturday, Nov. 10, repeating as Big South Conference champions and earning an automatic bid into the FCS playoffs for the second consecutive season.
20 mph blistering winds is reason enough to seek shelter, but for a team seeking a championship, it is just another reason to run the ball.
On nine carries, running back Darnell Holland set a school record with 195 rushing yards while scoring three touchdowns of nine, 46 and 59 yards.
Holland’s nine-yard touchdown run developed on the Owls’ opening drive, but Monmouth countered, snatching a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter.
With the first half clock dwindling down and the score tied at 14 after a Chandler Burks touchdown, KSU faced second down on their own 47 yard-line. Burks pinpointed an open Jake McKenzie for a 24-yard gain, setting up Justin Thompson’s 40-yard field goal as time expired to give the Owls a 17-14 lead.
While Hawks fans and Owls critics looked for an upset, the Owls didn’t flinch.
After falling behind in the second quarter, the Owls progressed from dormant to dominant, scoring 44 unanswered points.
“I thought going into the game we had a good plan on both sides of the ball, and you saw the benefit of that plan in the first half when we were doing some good things on both sides of the ball,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. “We went out in the second half and things just kind of got away from us.”
Commencing the second half, KSU produced a drive that wore down the Hawks’ defense for over five minutes. A touchdown run by Burks polished the drive and increased the Owls’ lead to 24-14.
Burks rushed for three touchdowns and TJ Reed added one of his own. Overall, the Owls piled 502 yards on a veteran defense that had allowed only 106 rushing yards per game.
“Once we play as a team, there are very few teams that can stop us other than ourselves,” Holland said.
Conversely, the Owls’ defense limited the Hawks to 192 total yards and held them to less than half of their average scoring total entering the game. Wide receiver Reggie White Jr., who totaled 57 catches entering the game, finished with only four catches for 48 yards for the Hawks.
Leading the second half shutout on the Owls defense was Charlie Patrick with 14 tackles, including two for a loss.
The win not only sealed the conference title for the Owls, but it also extended their streak of regular-season victories over FCS opponents to 17 games, a Big South record. They also snapped the Hawks’ 10-game home winning streak, whose previous home loss was also to KSU in 2016.
“When you win a game, the next one gets more important,” KSU head coach Brian Bohannon said. “When you get into [football], these games are what you get into it for.”
