NCAA Football BETTING PREVIEW - Kennesaw State @ Western Michigan

NCAA Football

2025-12-19 - Kennesaw State at Western Michigan

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Western Michigan Broncos vs Kennesaw State Owls
United States : College Football Myrtle Beach Bowl
Friday 19th December 2025 - Scheduled 11am
4pm (British Time)

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Preview

While the majority of the Conference Champions are preparing for College Football Playoff action, the Conference-USA and MAC Champions face off in the Myrtle Bowl.

Expectations around the Western Michigan Broncos (9-4) and Kennesaw State Owls (10-3) were pretty low before a ball had been thrown in the 2025 College Football season, but both won Conference Championships earlier this month and are lead by Head Coaches that will likely be targeted for bigger roles in the years ahead.

Credit has to be given to both teams for winning Conference Championship Games in which they had been set as favourites and the motivation is going to be high in both camps.

Western Michigan have improved in each of the three years under Head Coach Lance Taylor, but they had not had a winning season in each of the last two. That would have been different if the Broncos had been able to win the Bowl Game at the end of the 2024 season, although that experience will give them an advantage over the Kennesaw State Owls, who have only recently joined the FBS.

After securing just two wins in 2024, the Owls have really impressed to already have double digit wins on the board and Head Coach Jerry Mack deserves credit in his first season in the job.

He will be looking for Quarter Back Amari Odom to put an exclamation point on the season, although the Owls are going to have a lot of respect for the Western Michigan Defensive unit that has been a huge part of the success secured.

The key is the Line of Scrimmage where the Broncos Defensive Line is going to have a full belief that they are capable of at least forcing Odom to beat them through the air.

This is far from easy against a Secondary that was a key part in helping the Broncos produce one of the stronger Defensive units in the MAC, while Amari Odom is going to be well aware of the pass rush that the Broncos can generate. The Owls Offensive Line will be challenged to give the Quarter Back enough time to find his Receivers down the field and so there is a real chance the Western Michigan Broncos can slow down the Offensive unit on that side of the ball and give their own an opportunity.

Unlike the Owls, Western Michigan are going to be utterly convinced that thy can run the ball very efficiently throughout this game thanks to a strong Offensive Line and the struggles Kennesaw State have had in stopping the run even as they have put three wins together.

Dual-threat Quarter Back Broc Lowry should be operating in front of the chains for much of this game and that should mean he can make some short passes to just ensure the Owls are thinking about what is coming. He will also be well aware that the game-plan will be to pound the rock as much as possible and rip off some big gains on the ground and the Western Michigan Broncos will feel they can end their season with a Bowl win for the first time since 2021.

Prediction

Lay the points with the favourite in this Bowl Game.

The Pick :

Western Michigan 23-17 Kennesaw State

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Western Michigan Broncos - 3 Points at -110 with Bovada