Liberty (5-1, 2-0 CUSA) at Kennesaw State (1-5, 0-2 CUSA). Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. ET, Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium, Kennesaw, Ga., CBS Sports Network.
Your hosts are Gideon Fairweather, a Lynchburg youth pastor who coaches middle-school football, and Ximena Holcombe-Reyes, a Marietta coder who has cheered Kennesaw State since version 1.0.
Gideon: Praise the Lord and pass the program! Five straight wins, Ximena.
Ximena: Cute run. Our repo has three straight wins against you. Let's go, Owls.
Players to watch
Liberty quarterback Deshawn Purdie has thrown for 1,050 yards and eight touchdowns with zero interceptions. Wide receiver Makai Jackson has 22 catches for 515 yards and five scores, more than 23 yards a catch. Kam Davis leads the rushers with 524 yards and four touchdowns. Linebacker Derrell Farrar leads the Flames with 33 tackles. As a team, Liberty averages 223.0 rushing yards per game, 15th in FBS, and allows just 15.3 points, also 15th.
Kennesaw State quarterback Rickie Collins has more than 1,280 passing yards, completes 70.1% of his passes and leads the Owls in rushing with 271 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Javon Rogers has 308 receiving yards, linebacker Tywon Christopher leads the team with 48 tackles, and defensive lineman Ugonna Nwoha has three sacks.
Gideon: Zero interceptions. That young man's mama should be proud.
What happened last week
Liberty last played Oct. 8, beating Sam Houston 35-3 with 297 rushing yards. Purdie went 10 of 14 for 114 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 57 more. Jaylon Coleman had 92 yards on seven carries, and Ethan Vasko scored twice. That made five straight wins.
Kennesaw State lost 24-21 at Missouri State on Oct. 14 on a 20-yard field goal as time expired. The Owls led at halftime after Collins hit Dylan Gary for a 10-yard touchdown. Gary finished with 135 receiving yards, and Collins threw for 260 yards. It was KSU's fifth straight loss since a 47-0 win over West Georgia in the opener.
Ximena: Bug logged. Patch incoming.
Injuries and availability
No official conference availability report has been published for this game. No injury news has surfaced for either team, so check back closer to kickoff.
What the coaches are up to
Jamey Chadwell has led Liberty since 2023 after head coaching stops at North Greenville, Delta State, Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina. Gideon calls him the youth group leader every program wishes it had: organized, loud and always on time for the bus. The thing to clean up is penalties. Liberty gives up 85.8 penalty yards per game, 137th in FBS.
Jerry Mack is in his second season at Kennesaw State. He went 31-15 as head coach at North Carolina Central and later worked at Rice. His Owls are defending the 2025 Conference USA championship, and three of their five losses this year came by three points or fewer. The red zone is the sore spot: opponents score on 95.5% of trips, 132nd in FBS.
Player storylines
Jackson's big-play average against a KSU defense that has struggled in the red zone is the matchup to watch. For the Owls, Collins is a two-way engine, leading the team in both passing and rushing.
Gideon: Each of those Owls is somebody's son. I'll pray for every one of them, right after we score.
What's happening on campus
Thursday is Gold Rush in Kennesaw. KSU wants fans in gold to make a "sea of gold" at Fifth Third Stadium. Homecoming is still to come: it's Nov. 7 against Delaware, paired with Mental Health Awareness. Earlier this season, KSU celebrated its CUSA title, and its Oct. 7 game against Jax State was billed as a championship rematch.
Ximena: Gold mode enabled. Gideon, bring sunglasses.
Gideon: Son, Lynchburg on game day is a family reunion with a marching band. We'll bring the band.
Anything else fun and true
This series has real recent drama. Kennesaw State beat Liberty 48-42 in double overtime in Lynchburg on Nov. 29, 2025. KSU has won the last three meetings. Liberty's only loss this season was the opener at James Madison, 20-13.
Ximena: Three straight. Version history doesn't lie.
Gideon: Neither does a five-game winning run. Grace and grit, my friend.
The Cover Window
My call: Liberty Flames 29, Kennesaw State Owls 18.