#2 Amari Odom hands the football to #4 Chase Belcher on Dec. 19 at Brooks Stadium. Photo by: Jackson Louneounbonh
CONWAY, S.C. — Kennesaw State was overwhelmed from the opening snap in a 41-6 loss to Western Michigan in the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Friday at Brooks Stadium.
On the first play from scrimmage on a historic day for the Kennesaw State football program, playing in its first bowl game, Western Michigan running back Jalen Buckley took a handoff 65 yards untouched for a touchdown.
Things got worse almost immediately, as four plays into the Owls’ opening possession quarterback Amari Odom was stripped of the ball, which was scooped up by Broncos’ defensive end Kershawn Fisher and returned 47 yards to the end zone for a touchdown.
On the ensuing possession, the Broncos forced a three-and-out and took over once again.
Leaning on Buckley, WMU marched 60 yards in just under five minutes to go ahead 21-0 when quarterback Broc Lowry found Mareyohn Hrabowski in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown connection.
For good measure, the Broncos added another first quarter touchdown as Lowry found Blake Bosma in the flat who tip-toed his way to a three-yard touchdown, swelling the WMU lead to 27-0 due to a missed extra point.
KSU coach Jerry Mack attributed the slow start to his group being presented with a different style of football.
“I think the style of football, first of all,” Mack said. “It’s a little bit different as far as the style of ball that we see in our league – heavier personnel, probably bigger, thicker bodies. But, at the same time, we got to do our job to tackle ball carriers.”
Buckley exited the game with an injury, but not before flirting with history. The redshirt junior finished the opening quarter with 172 yards, 50 shy of Corey Dillon’s single quarter record of 222.
The Owls defense finally settled somewhat in the second quarter, holding WMU to just one touchdown, but the KSU offense was unable to get on the board, taking a 34-0 deficit to the half.
Right when the Owls’ offense had appeared to find a rhythm on the opening drive of the second half, Odom overthrew his target and was intercepted by Joey Pope who returned the pick 75 yards to the end zone, pushing the WMU advantage to 41-0.
KSU finally got on the board late in the third quarter when Odom found a streaking Javon Rogers for an 82-yard touchdown. Kicker Britton Williams, who missed a field goal at the end of the first half continued his poor day by missing the extra point, making the score 41-6.
“Not a good day for the Owls today, from start to finish,” Mack said. “I just feel like we never really settled into the football game, we never really got in the groove from the opening offensive possession for those guys, all the way really until the last possession for us on offense.”
Despite the lopsided score, the Broncos only outgained KSU 423-378 on the day. Where the primary difference was made was in the pass rush. WMU sacked Odom five times, while the Owls were unable to put Lowry on the ground once.
