Go Owls!

The Kennesaw State University football team is the Big South Conference champion.  In its third year of existence, the Owls soundly beat many better-established teams, such as Liberty University, Charleston Southern, and Monmouth.  Then they defeated Sanford and Jacksonville State in the FCS tournament.

This was a remarkable feat and deserving of more recognition than it has received.  For years, the debate raged over whether Kennesaw should enter the football arena.  Should the school continue its emphasis on academics or divert resources into sports?

To this end, the administrators weighed the pros and cons.  Students and professors also chimed in with diverse opinions.  An extensive study was likewise done to determine the feasibility.

So here we are with a team and, as of yet, it has generated underwhelming support.  My wife and I hold season tickets, but to date have not seen a completely filled stadium.  There are a decent number of fans, but never have all the seats been filled.

Nor, in the football-happy South, are the Owls the talk of Cobb or Cherokee counties.  Diehard University of Georgia and Georgia Tech fans abound, whereas Kennesaw is an afterthought.  To some extent, of course, this is an artifact of its newness.

Nonetheless, I have witnessed the birth of what promises to become a major football program.  KSU is not a small school.  It is one of the fiftieth largest in the nation.  Indeed, if its population has not yet outstripped that of UGA, it shortly will.  Why then shouldn’t it have a team to match?

Among KSU’s advantages is that it is located in the Atlanta Metropolitan area and therefore within a major media market.  There are thus more than enough potential rooters to care about the team and sufficient television coverage to provide a wide audience.

As for the team itself, it has had its growing pains.  Many of the squads it has faced were tiny and therefore did not furnish substantial opposition.  They did, however, deliver invaluable practice.  Sports teams are not created on paper.  They only come together in the sweat and blunders of the trenches.

And make no mistake, there have been plenty of blunders.  Earlier this year, in a game against a lesser-ranked opponent, well over a hundred penalty yards were accumulated.  KSU only prevailed because the team had more raw talent.

Furthermore, because I have an offensive lineman in one of my classes, I learned that coach Bohannon did not let this carelessness go unnoticed.  He realized that sloppy play is usually losing play.  Fortunately, the turnaround was astonishing.  When it counted against the better teams, the number of foolish infractions declined almost to the vanishing point.

One of the Owls great strengths has been takeaways.  In most games, they have benefited from the fumbles and interceptions of their opponents.  This cannot have been an accident.  It was a consequence of the aggressive play of the entire KSU squad.

Football is a rough sport.  Those who engage in its can suffer serious injuries.  Nevertheless, it is also a sport that teaches important lessons.  One of these is personal discipline.  If players do not have the self-control to carry out their assignments, they will be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another advantage is that it teaches teamwork.  Aggressive individuals learn to submerge their egos in a group endeavor.  They discover that if they cannot rely on each other, they all suffer.

Clearly the young men who together constitute the KSU team have absorbed critical attitudes.  Had they not, they would not have done nearly as well.  So my hat it off to them!  They have done themselves and our university proud.

Coach Bohannon and his assistants also deserve accolades.  They started from scratch and came very far very fast.  Not only have they instilled valuable outlooks in their players, but they taught them how to play a smart game.  Winning isn’t easy, yet they are plainly winners.

As for the future, it is hard to say.  A championship by the third year is tough to beat.  Next years squad will have a high standard to meet.  Let’s hope it can—and even surpass it.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University