#2 Amari Odom celebrates with #65 JT Pennington after a touchdown against Missouri State on Nov. 22 at Fifth Third Stadium at Walens Family Field. Photo by: Jackson Louneounbonh
Amari Odom broke a number of records while leading Kennesaw State to a thrilling 41-34 win over Missouri State on Saturday night at Fifth Third Stadium at Walens Family Field.
Firmly in control of their own destiny, the Owls were faced with an upstart Missouri State team which came into the contest with the same record of 7-3.
With two minutes remaining in the game, tied 34-34, the Bears were in the driver’s seat with possession in KSU territory.
At the timeout, every KSU player, offensive, defensive and special teams, both those fully dressed and those in street clothes, huddled on the field to hear from their head coach.
“Just do us [was the message],” Owls head coach Jerry Mack said. “Just be who we are in those situations. We are a fourth quarter team, we want to play four quarters.”
A series of questionable play calls, beginning with a double-pass on first down nearly resulting in a turnover, forced Mo State to a fourth-and-10 from the KSU 34-yard line.
Lined up to kick the go-ahead field goal from 51 yards, Bears’ kicker Yousef Obeid was flipped the ball on a fake field goal attempt and was dropped five yards behind the line of scrimmage.
The Owls took over, and Odom needed just three plays to give KSU the lead when he found Chase Belcher in the end zone for a 14 yard touchdown with 27 seconds on the clock.
A deep pass from Clark to James BlackStrain set Mo State up inside the Owls 30-yard line with seven seconds remaining.
Clark’s ensuing pass was intercepted by Alex Ford, who returned the interception to the opposite end zone, but was negated of a touchdown due to a personal foul penalty.
The interception came on the heels of a rough day for the Owls’ secondary, who were dealing with the absences of starters Kody Jones, Caleb Offord and Antonio Stevens.
“[Ford] stepped up,” Mack said. “Wish he would’ve went down sooner instead of trying to score, we’ll get those things addressed in the film room, but for the most part, guys out and made plays.”
Odom finished with school single-game records of 378 yards, five passing touchdowns and six touchdowns responsible for, following his worst showing of the year last season against Jacksonville State.
“First I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving us this opportunity,” Odom said. “[It] was really just faith, belief in the coaches, just trusting in them and trusting that my preparation is what got me to this point and that’s going to keep me going.”
Gabriel Benyard had a huge day, finishing with seven receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns while Clayton Coppock followed his lead with four catches for 87 yards and two scores himself.
Senior linebacker Baron Hopson finished with eight tackles, two for loss and his first career interception.
The Owls still control their own destiny in regard to making the Conference USA championship game, needing a road win over Liberty or a Western Kentucky loss to Jacksonville State next Saturday.
