Meet Your Insider
Hey, Owl Nation! I'm Ximena Holcombe-Reyes, your Kennesaw State insider at The Cover Window. I'm a Marietta native with a computer science degree, and I've cheered this program since its very first season. I was there for version 1.0. I still have the T-shirt. It no longer fits. That's growth.
Here's my operating system. I'm a builder. I love that some programs have a hundred years of history while Kennesaw State gets to write ours right now, live, in front of us. I'm keeping the notes. Every number I share is sourced and debugged. Every opponent gets respect. When I don't know something, I'll log it as "unknown" instead of guessing. Bugs happen. We patch them, and we ship again. Let's go, Owls.
The School in 60 Seconds
Kennesaw State football began play in 2015 as an FCS member of the Big South Conference. In 2022 the Owls moved to the ASUN's new FCS football league, and after that season they began the transition to FBS ahead of joining Conference USA in 2024. That's an entire program history in about a decade. Speedrun.
Home is Fifth Third Stadium, just outside the Kennesaw city limits. The game feed lists it as Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium, and CFBD lists it as built in 2010 with a capacity of 11,040. The last five seasons: 11-2, 5-6, 3-6, 2-10, and then a big jump to 10-4 in 2025. Last year the Owls finished the regular season 9-3 and 7-1 in Conference USA.
The Coach and the Scheme
Jerry Mack is the head coach. CFBD lists his hire date as Dec. 1, 2024, so this is his second season. He was head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014 to 2017, going 31-15, and was later offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Rice. He played wide receiver at Jackson State and Arkansas State.
The 2026 numbers show a balanced offense, with 193 rushes and 198 passes. It averages 223.7 passing and 143.7 rushing yards per game, and scores 22.3 points. Yards per carry is 4.47. The defense allows 376.3 yards (94th) and 23.5 points (66th) per game. Two things to patch: penalties, at 77.8 yards per game (129th), and red-zone defense, where opponents score on 95.5% of trips (132nd).
Players to Know
QB Rickie Collins: completing 70.1% of his passes. Season yardage is conflicting: AP lists 1,287 and ESPN lists 1,302, both with 4 TD and 3 INT. He also leads the team in rushing, with 271 yards and 5 TD on 64 carries. Against Missouri State he threw for 260 yards and ran for a touchdown.
WR Javon Rogers: 18 catches, 308 yards, 1 TD.
WR Dylan Gary: 10 catches for 135 yards and a touchdown at Missouri State.
RB Alan Woods III: 47 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries at Missouri State, plus six catches.
DL Ugonna Nwoha: 3 sacks. LB Tywon Christopher: a team-high 48 tackles.
The Conference Picture
Kennesaw State is 1-5 overall and 0-2 in Conference USA. The Owls are 1-2 at home and 0-3 on the road. They are not ranked. They've lost five straight since a 47-0 win over West Georgia in the opener. But look closer at the commit history: the losses to Arkansas State (17-14), Jacksonville State (27-26) and Missouri State (24-21) were all by three points or fewer. The code is close to compiling. A home win Thursday would be the first league win of 2026.
This Week: Game Preview from Both Sides
Liberty (5-1) at Kennesaw State (1-5) · Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:00 p.m. ET · Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium, Kennesaw, Ga. · CBS Sports Network
Last time out. The Owls took a halftime lead at Missouri State on a 10-yard Collins-to-Gary touchdown pass, but lost 24-21 on a field goal as time expired. Liberty beat Sam Houston 35-3 on Oct. 8, its fifth straight win.
KSU's offense vs. Liberty's defense. I'll be straight with you: this is a tough draw. Liberty allows 15.3 points per game (15th), 167.5 passing yards (15th), and just 28.4% on third down (8th). Our path is Collins's efficiency and his legs. Staying on schedule, and converting the 40.3% of third downs we've managed so far (74th), decides whether drives keep running.
Liberty's offense vs. KSU's defense. The Flames run for 223.0 yards per game (15th). Kam Davis has 524 yards, and quarterback Deshawn Purdie hasn't thrown an interception all season. Our run defense allows 143.0 yards per game (74th). Makai Jackson averages more than 23 yards a catch, so the deep ball is a threat too. Liberty is heavily penalized, at 85.8 yards per game (137th), so our defense can't give back the yards it gets for free.
Series. This one has some code history. Kennesaw State has won the last three meetings, including 48-42 in double overtime in Lynchburg on Nov. 29, 2025. A search summary of the schools' records puts the Owls ahead 3-2 all-time, and CFBD shows KSU 3-1 against Liberty from 2016 to 2025.
Availability. No official conference availability report as of Oct. 18, 2026. I found no confirmed injury news for either team, so every status is logged as unknown.
Liberty's debut insider is a youth pastor with a big laugh. I respect anybody who coaches middle schoolers. He'll be kind; so will I.
Three questions that decide it:
1. Can the Owls finish one of these close games? Three losses by three points or fewer.
2. Can our defense hold up in the red zone (132nd) against Liberty's run game?
3. Can Collins make plays on third down against the nation's No. 8 third-down defense?
Local Flavor
I'll publish my Kennesaw food list after verifying it. Release notes pending. Not an ad.
My call: Liberty Flames 29, Kennesaw State Owls 18.