Kennesaw State Owls at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Wed Oct 28 · 6:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 5d ago·2 min read
KENN
MTSU
AT
6:00 PM CT
Share
Kennesaw State walks into Murfreesboro as the reigning Conference USA champs. Middle Tennessee just wants proof it isn't the same team that scuffled through most of 2025.
Bush’s Picks
KENNMTSU
KENNMTSU
OverUnder
Best BetKennesaw State
Kennesaw State takes a real trophy and a real coaching staff into this one, and that's worth backing even with a new starting quarterback under center. Middle Tennessee's belief is built on 3 starts from a redshirt freshman, which is thin as a foundation against a team that just proved it can win close games. The Owls are the safer side to simply win the game outright.
Kennesaw State
+Reigning Conference USA champions at 10-3 in 2025
+5 Owls named to CUSA preseason watch list
+Added portal talent like S Tony Williams Jr.
−Losing CUSA title-game MVP QB Amari Odom to transfer
−New starter has zero career starts running an offense
−Penalties ballooned to 104 across 14 games last year
Middle Tennessee
+QB Roman Gagliano flashed real growth to close 2025
+Hired OC Anthony Scelfo from a top-40 scoring FCS offense
+Full offseason to build around a clear late-year spark
−Finished with a rough overall 2025 season before the surge
−Gagliano has only 3 career starts to his name
−Derek Mason still searching for his first bowl at MTSU
This one's a study in contrasts before it's even kicked off. Kennesaw State went from a 2-10 laughingstock to a 10-3 CUSA title team in Jerry Mack's first season, capped by a come-from-behind 19-15 win over Jacksonville State in the championship game. Middle Tennessee, meanwhile, spent most of 2025 scuffling before a green quarterback gave the program a reason to believe again down the stretch.
That quarterback is Roman Gagliano, and his emergence is the whole story of MTSU's offseason. The redshirt freshman got 3 starts to close last season and delivered 1,005 passing yards, 7 touchdowns and a PFF grade of 86.9 that led the entire offense. Derek Mason liked what he saw enough to fire his old offensive coordinator and hand the keys to Anthony Scelfo, who ran a top-40 scoring offense at Southeastern Louisiana. Kennesaw State's answer to that kind of change is its own quarterback swap — reigning CUSA title-game MVP Amari Odom is gone to Syracuse, replaced by the QB coming back the other way, a big-bodied 6-2, 222-pound arm still looking for his first real shot to run an offense.
Show fees
6:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
KENN Kennesaw State
MTSU Middle Tennessee
So neither team is walking in with a proven starter at the position that matters most, which makes this a lot murkier than a program that just won a league title probably wants it to be. Kennesaw State still has real infrastructure around whoever's throwing the ball — 5 Owls landed on the CUSA preseason watch list, and the program added portal pieces like safety Tony Williams Jr. from UCF to shore up the back end. Middle Tennessee's selling point is continuity of belief: the same locker room that found something in November now gets a full offseason and a new play-caller built around exactly that momentum.
Kennesaw State Owls
Oct 22?vs Liberty—
Oct 14?@ Missouri State—
Oct 7?vs Jacksonville State—
Sep 26?@ Arkansas State—
Sep 19?@ Tennessee—
Sep 12?vs Georgia State—
Sep 3?vs West Georgia—
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Oct 20?@ Florida International—
Oct 13?vs Delaware—
Oct 2?@ Kansas—
Sep 26?@ Jacksonville State—
Sep 19?vs Nevada—
Sep 12?@ Marshall—
Sep 5?vs Murray State—
Recent form.
The other thing worth flagging about Kennesaw State: discipline was a real issue behind the historic season. The Owls piled up 104 penalties across 14 games, well up from the year before, and that kind of self-inflicted damage tends to matter more against a team playing loose and confident at home than it did steamrolling CUSA also-rans. Middle Tennessee, for its part, still has to prove the late-season surge wasn't just three good weeks against teams that had already packed it in.
Games like this are exactly why late-October CUSA football is worth a look even outside the league's own fan bases — a proven program breaking in a new quarterback on the road against a rebuilding team that thinks it just found its guy. Whichever quarterback settles in faster by Wednesday, October 28 probably decides it.
