NCAA Football
2025-12-05 - Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : College Football Week 15
Friday 5th December 2025 - Scheduled 7pm
12am (British Time)
Preview
Neither of these teams are Ranked as far as the College Football Playoff goes so the winner is not going to be thinking about pushing their way into the top twelve positions at the end of Championship Week.
However, make no mistake about the importance of winning the Conference USA Championship for both and that is going to mean plenty of motivation and intensity on the field.
Both the Kennesaw State Owls (9-3) and Jacksonville State Gamecocks (8-4) finished with 7-1 records in the Conference, although it is the Gamecocks who get to host the Championship Game having beaten the Owls three weeks ago.
Despite that win, the Gamecocks have been set as home underdogs again, although the line has dipped below a key number 3 from the regular season meeting compared with this Championship Game.
Kennesaw State will certainly feel they were the better team when losing in this Stadium, but the four turnovers on the day proved costly and the stronger yardage produced could not make up for that.
The Owls bounced back as would have been expected from that setback, but the pressure will be on Quarter Back Amari Odom who threw 3 Interceptions without a single Touchdown pass in the loss to Jacksonville State. This is not going to be far from the mind when he steps back in this one, although even a slightly cleaner game from that Quarter Back position is going to give the Owls an edge.
As the season has wound down, the Gamecocks have just had a few more issues controlling the Line of Scrimmage on the Defensive side of the ball and that means an opportunity for Kennesaw State to keep the Quarter Back in third and manageable spots. This should also mean having a clean pocket from which to throw down the field, while not needing to force the ball so much against a Secondary that will give up some big passing numbers, but who have thrived on picking off some of those pass attempts.
Capitalising on mistakes will be the plan for the home team who have been much cleaner with their execution and who will not think a Punt is the same as a defeat. Instead there will be patience from the Gamecocks to keep playing the field battle if they have to, while Jacksonville State have to be hugely encouraged with the problems the Owls Defensive Line have been having when it comes to stopping the run.
This is something that Jacksonville State will feel they can exploit, especially as the Gamecocks were rushing at 6 yards per carry in the win over Kennesaw State in the regular season.
Caden Creel will then be asked to keep things simple in the passing game and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks will be confident in earning another upset.
It could be another back and forth affair in this Championship Game, but the narrow edge has to remain with the Kennesaw State Owls and that is largely by building on what they learned from the regular season defeat. You have to believe the turnover gap will not be nearly as large as it was in that loss, and Kennesaw State have been playing well enough to think that even halving the number will be enough to secure the road victory.
The key will be to take Jacksonville State out of their comfort zone and forcing them to get into obvious passing situations, although that won't be easy.
Instead it could be Amari Odom who can earn redemption with a cleaner game than the first time around against the Gamecocks and the Quarter Back can lead the Owls to a Championship.
Prediction
Lay the points with the favourite in the Conference USA Championship Game.
The Pick :
Jacksonville State 31-34 Kennesaw State
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Kennesaw State Owls - 2 Points at -110 with Bovada
