#2 Amari Odom and #65 JT Pennington celebrate a touchdown on Sep. 27 at Fifth Third Stadium at Walens Family Field. Photo by: Jackson Louneounbonh
Set up to be one of the most pivotal matchups in program history, Kennesaw State football is set to travel to Jacksonville State for a battle of Conference USA unbeatens Saturday.
The collision course between the Owls and Gamecocks has been clear for weeks now, with both teams entering the final stretch of the regular season as the only unbeatens in CUSA play.
Jax State’s route to 5-0 has been a little more anxiety-inducing for its fans than KSU’s, with the Gamecocks pulling out three wins by 3 points or less over Sam Houston, Middle Tennessee and UTEP – three of the four lowest-seeded teams in CUSA.
Inconsistent quarterback play divided between Kentucky transfer Gavin Wimsatt and freshman Caden Creel has led to lackluster passing numbers throughout the year, with the Gamecocks totaling just 1,380 yards and seven touchdowns through the air.
Creel is expected to start on Saturday, and has shown the ability to make an impact with his legs, including a 134-yard day on the ground in last week’s win over UTEP.
Where Jax State finds most of its offense is in junior running back Cam Cook, who leads the nation with 1,181 rushing yards on a staggering 5.9 yards per carry. Cook also ranks tied for seventh in FBS and first among Group of Five running backs with 12 rushing touchdowns.
“[Cook] is extremely dynamic,” Owls coach Jerry Mack said. “When you watch the film, he’s definitely the best running back we’ve played all year, if not probably arguably the best running back in the entire country right now. His ability, his contact balance to stay up to continue to get yards after contact. He has the total package – he has vision, he has speed, and then he plays with an edge as well.”
Brock Rechsteiner, cousin of Owls great Bronson Rechsteiner, has been the Gamecocks’ most productive pass-catcher thus far this year – entering Saturday’s matchup with 331 yards and four touchdowns on 28 receptions.
Defensively, Jax State’s zone-heavy 3-3-5 scheme has yielded mixed to poor results. The Gamecocks surrender an average of 28 points per game, placing them in the lower middle of the pack in FBS at 85th.
The unit has been particularly poor against the passing game, allowing 253.6 passing yards per game (107th), 8.0 yards per pass (105th) and intercepting 1.18% of opponents’ passes thrown (120th).
Senior safety Caleb Nix has been a standout in the turnover battle for Jax State with two interceptions and two fumble recoveries on the year.
Over the course of the short history of KSU football, few opponents have cemented themselves as true rivals to Owls.
Due to proximity, high-stakes games at the FCS level, including a five-overtime thriller at Truist Park in 2018 and shared recruiting ground, Jax State-KSU has emerged as one of CUSA’s prominent rivalries, with some fans nicknaming the game ‘Uncompromised Hate’ as a play on the fanbases’ lack of agreement on anything.
Owls offensive guard JT Pennington, who transferred to KSU from Jax State after the 2023 season and has played for both sides in the game, said there’s plenty of hate to be shared between the schools and called it the best rivalry in CUSA.
“It’s more bragging rights than anything,” he said. “I think it’s the best rivalry in Conference USA and it’s not even close. I think these two schools are just very intense and there’s a bunch of hatred towards one another, and I think that’s amazing and I think [KSU] is looking forward to it on Saturday.”
Jax State’s 63-24 drubbing of KSU at Fifth Third Stadium last year left a clear bad taste in the mouths of the players still on the roster from 2024, something receiver Gabriel Benyard said has not only been brought up throughout this week, but since Mack took over as head coach.
“Yeah, it has been brought up,” Benyard said. “Coach Mack actually brought it up in the summer or spring, when everybody first got here – he brought it up.”
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on Saturday in Jacksonville, Alabama on ESPNU.
