Kennesaw State poses triple-option challenge to CCU

Much like Coastal Carolina did back in its inaugural season in 2003, the Kennesaw State football program has been immediately competitive in its debut campaign this fall.

But it’s not so much what the Owls are doing, but how they’re doing it that poses the most challenge to the No. 4-ranked Chanticleers on Saturday when the teams meet at Brooks Stadium.

Kennesaw State (6-3, 2-2 Big South) enters the weekend ranked fourth in the FCS in averaging 299.2 rushing yards per game with its triple-option attack.

The Owls lost starting quarterback and leading rusher Trey White to a shoulder injury last week and will instead be counting on redshirt-freshman Jake McKenzie in his first career start, but regardless of what personnel are in place, the Chants (8-1, 3-1) are expecting a test.

“Just the nature of what they do is a major challenge. Just the offense itself is a challenge,” Chants defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin said. “It’s just so different than anything you face, so it will be tough. ... We’ll see how it goes, but it’s tough to prepare for.”

Coastal Carolina recently faced a Charleston Southern team that uses a hybrid option attack while operating out of the shotgun, but the Chants haven’t played a traditional under-center triple-option team since the 2014 season opener at The Citadel.

Kennesaw State coach Brian Bohannon spent 17 years as an assistant at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech under Paul Johnson, perfecting that offensive attack before bringing it to Kennesaw State.

“I think their coaching staff has done a wonderful job in starting their program,” Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia said. “... They’re very, very proficient with regards to the triple-option attack.”

With only two games remaining in the regular season, the Chants are looking to build some momentum toward a potential FCS playoff run, and they got a nice start at that last week with a 46-0 win over Gardner-Webb.

It was a resurgent performance for a defense that had been much maligned coming off a loss at Charleston Southern the week before.

Like Carlin and Moglia said, though, this weekend brings a different kind of obstacle.

Kennesaw State has padded its record with several wins over non-FCS competition, but the Owls also own Big South victories over Gardner-Webb and Monmouth, played Liberty to within 10 points and last week held Charleston Southern to 314 yards in a respectable 28-14 loss.

Losing White is a blow for the Owls as he led the team with 809 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground and 1,022 passing yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions through the air.

McKenzie was being worked in at running back before replacing White during that loss at Charleston Southern last week. He finished 8-of-15 passing for 103 yards and rushed 10 times for 43 yards in that game.

But again, it’s the offensive system in general that has the Chants’ attention.

“Kennesaw State runs the same thing again and again and again and again,” Moglia said. “... You can not go into preparing against a triple-option team and only prepare that week. If you do that, you’re not going to have enough reps. So we actually practice against the option pretty much every day in spring time, pretty much everyday in preseason and then we take 10-15 minutes every Sunday and we practice against it. ...

“Hopefully that will help us. Now, we’ve still got to combat their speed because our scout team guys don’t execute the way they do, but hopefully we’ll be prepared.”

It’s Senior Day for the Chants, who will honor a senior class that has led the program to three straight FCS playoff appearances and the best run in school history.

That 46-0 win last week over Gardner-Webb coupled with a rash of upsets within the FCS top-10 moved Coastal Carolina back into the top-five of the national polls, up to No. 4.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Chants are hoping to finish strong and secure a top-8 postseason seed and first-round bye in the FCS playoffs.

It’s just a matter of taking care of business, one game at a time.

“It’s a game [in which] we’re supposed to be able to hold or own, but these guys are absolutely good enough to upset us. We know that,” Moglia said. “And it’s our job to make sure we’re prepared and ready to go. And I want to believe that’s absolutely going to be the case, offensively, defensively and special teams.”

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Kennesaw State poses triple-option challenge to CCU."