Brantley Bargerhuff

Football

FB: Odom’s Heroics Lift Kennesaw State to First CUSA Football Championship

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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Kennesaw State added to its already historic 2025 campaign by edging Jax State, 19-15, in the 2025 Air National Guard Conference USA Football Championship on Friday night at AmFirst Stadium.
 
Quarterback Amari Odom was named the game’s MVP after completing 81.3% (26-32) passes for 246 yards and a touchdown – an 11-yard strike to Navelle Dean for the game-winning score with 51 seconds remaining. Odom posted the second-best completion percentage in CUSA Championship Game history, including a stretch of 13-straight completions.
 
Odom posted negative yardage on the ground for the game but had one run that mattered most as he scrambled 14 yards on fourth-and-14 and risked his body, drawing a late-hit penalty that advanced the ball to the Gamecocks’ 11-yard line and set up the game-winning touchdown.
 
The Gamecocks (8-5) were marred by a pair of early mishaps after quarterback Caden Creel threw an interception in the end zone and, after reaching the red zone on their next possession, the team stalled out on a turnover-on-downs.
 
After the Owls (10-3) mounted a 12-0 lead in the fourth quarter, Jax State vaulted what would have been the largest comeback in CUSA Championship Game history with back-to-back scoring drives led by quarterback Caden Creel and running back Cam Cook, who combined for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.  
 
Kennesaw State pushed the lead to 12-0 when Marcus Patterson swallowed up Cam Cook in the end zone for a safety. Following the safety, kicker Garrison Rippa knocked the ball loose on the ensuing kickoff, and Jax State drove 48 yards in seven plays, capped off by a one-yard punch-in by Cook to make it a one-possession game.
 
Owls running back Coleman Bennett led the team in rushing with 17 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown – the first score of the game after the teams were scoreless through the opening quarter. He also finished as the team’s leading receiver with seven grabs for 42 yards.
 
CUSA Championship Game Notes:
  • Jerry Mack becomes the third first-year head coach to win the CUSA Championship Game, joining Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell and FAU’s Lane Kiffin.
  • Kennesaw State’s go-ahead touchdown with 51 seconds remaining marked the first time a team won the CUSA Championship Game in the final minute of regulation.
  • The Owls improve to 5-0 this year in one-possession games against CUSA opponents, and their last four wins have been by one possession.
  • Kennesaw State’s six one-possession wins are the most in FBS.
  • The Owls’ eight-win improvement from 2024 (2-10) to 2025 (10-3) is the largest by a CUSA team since FAU in 2017.
  • Kennesaw State became the first CUSA team to hold Jax State scoreless in a half since the Gamecocks joined the league.
  • Jax State entered the game No. 1 in CUSA in second-quarter scoring differential but was outscored 7-0 in the second quarter, matching the largest differential by a Gamecock opponent (9/27 vs. Southern Miss).
  • Jax State was held scoreless through three quarters, joining only SMU in 2010 as teams that failed to score before the final quarter.
  • Jax State’s first half rushing tally (78) was the lowest since 10/29 vs. MTSU (60).
  • Friday marked the second-lowest scoring CUSA Championship Game, behind the 2010 contest (24).
  • The 7-0 score at halftime marked the lowest scoring first half in CUSA Championship Game history.