The Myrtle Beach Bowl is doing something most bowl games tend not to do, and that\u2019s give us a matchup of two different conference champions. The Conference USA champions, the Kennesaw State Owls, will take on the Mid-American Conference champions, the Western Michigan Broncos. Both of these teams are the best in their respective conference so why not see which conference reigns supreme? Here is a preview for Friday\u2019s Myrtle Beach Bowl between Kennesaw State and Western Michigan.<\/p>\n
For both of these groups of five schools, the journey to winning their conference championship games came with incredible growth. Kennesaw State hired first-time head coach Jerry Mack last winter. He was hired from Rutgers to help the Owls transition from the program’s first head coach, Brian Bohannon. In one year, Mack helped the Owls go 10-3 after going 2-10. They would lose their first two games to Wake Forest and the current number one team, Indiana. Their only other loss came to Jacksonville State, which they avenged by beating the Game Cocks in the conference championship game. The Owls now have the opportunity to win their first-ever bowl game.<\/p>\n
As for Western Michigan, the Broncos\u2019 head coach, Lance Taylor, was going into his third year with a record of 10-15. They started the season 0-3, losing to Michigan State, North Texas, and Illinois. From then on, they would only lose one more game, that being to Miami, Ohio. Like Kennesaw State, Western Michigan would also avenge its loss to Miami Ohio in the MAC championship game. Now the two schools will have a chance to win their first bowl game since 2021.<\/p>\n
Once again, similarities arise between these two schools as neither of their quarterbacks was the day one starter. Kennesaw State\u2019s quarterback Amari Odom<\/a> has been at the helm since week two, never looking back. He has thrown for over 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns. He ranked third in CUSA for passing yards. Only a sophomore, Odom might be one of the biggest names in next year\u2019s portal if he replicates these stats.<\/p>\n Broc Lowry<\/a> is the Broncos’ starting quarterback as he is much more of a runner than a passer. Lowry started the season behind Brady Jones<\/a>, until week two. Lowry, a redshirt sophomore, has run for 940 yards this season, leading the Broncos in rushing yards. This put him fifth in the conference for rushing yards. On top of that, he has 14 rushing touchdowns. In the passing game, he has seven passing touchdowns and less than 2,000 yards. Still, his ability to run makes him a very dangerous quarterback.<\/p>\n If Kennesaw State can limit Lowry from running outside the pocket and slow him down on designed quarterback runs, the Owls can win. Still, they have to stop running back Jalen Buckley<\/a>. Buckley, this season ran for 829 yards. In the conference championship, he ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n Kennesaw State ranks 100th in the nation for rushing defense, as they give up 175 yards a game on the ground. The optimism for the Owls is that they held the leading rusher in the nation, Cam Cook, to 78 yards in the conference championship. That was almost his season low, which is 75.<\/p>\n The CUSA leading receiver, Gabriel Benyard<\/a>, dictates the game for Kennesaw State\u2019s offense. The Owls came away with a win in the conference championship, but Benyard only had one grab, making it close for comfort. He and receiver Christian Moss<\/a> have combined this season for over 1,000 yards. If neither of these guys gets active, it will be a long day for the Owls.<\/p>\n The true freshman has been a beast on the defensive line, racking up nine sacks. That led CUSA this year. Against Jacksonville State, he had two sacks, one of which came on the final drive. Hill could be the force that prevents Lowry from running wild.<\/p>\n Unlike Hill, Tucker is a senior who transferred in from Houston. This season, Tucker led the nation in sacks, totaling 14.5. He would have 2.5 against Miami Ohio, giving him the sole lead in the nation for sacks. He will be Odom\u2019s biggest issue come gameday.<\/p>\n What will be Western Michigan\u2019s 13th bowl game and Kennesaw State\u2019s first bowl game ever, makes this year’s Myrtle Beach bowl special. This is the only bowl game that puts two conference champions against each other.<\/p>\n Day\/Date:<\/strong> Friday, December 19th<\/p>\n Time:<\/strong> 11am Eastern<\/p>\n Location:<\/strong> Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC<\/p>\n TV:<\/strong> ESPN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Myrtle Beach Bowl is doing something most bowl games tend not to do, and that\u2019s give us a matchup of two different conference champions. The Conference USA champions, the Kennesaw State Owls, will take on the Mid-American Conference champions, the Western Michigan Broncos. Both of these teams are the best in their respective conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5571,"featured_media":83961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7361,10,2,12,17],"tags":[35443,541],"class_list":["post-83919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowl-games","category-conferenceusa","category-featured","category-midamerican","category-news","tag-kennesaw-state-owls","tag-western-michigan-broncos"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83919"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83962,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83919\/revisions\/83962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Keys to the Game<\/h3>\n
Stop Lowry and Western from Running<\/h3>\n
Getting Benyard Going<\/h3>\n
Key Players<\/h3>\n
Elijah Hill<\/a>, DL Kennesaw State<\/h3>\n
Nadame Tucker<\/a>, DL Western Michigan<\/h3>\n
How To Watch<\/h3>\n