SI:AM | Why Kennesaw State’s Upset Over Liberty Means More Than You Think

Yes, a Wednesday night game had CFP implications.

Liberty’s playoff chances likely went up in flames on Wednesday. / Screenshot via CBS Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t think of a better way for Kennesaw State to pick up its first FBS win.

In today’s SI:AM:

📈 The Yankees’ turnaround
🔄 How the Chiefs got Hopkins
🏆 Midseason CFB awards

What an upset!

One of the most significant college football results of this week took place on—believe it or not—Wednesday night. The midweek games played by teams in smaller conferences usually aren’t much more than a chance for fans to enjoy some college football on a nontraditional day of the week. But Kennesaw State’s surprising 27–24 victory over Liberty was more than just a Wednesday night diversion—it had College Football Playoff implications.

The format of the new 12-team playoff includes automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions—and with only four power conferences left standing after the demise of the Pac-12, that opens the door for a mid-major champ to punch its ticket.

Liberty entered the season with hopes of securing that automatic bid and was well on its way after a 5–0 start. The Flames earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl last season as the top Group of 5 team in the nation, losing to Oregon 45–6. Another undefeated regular season and Conference USA title would put Liberty in line for that coveted CFP spot.

Few expected Kennesaw State to be the team to crush Liberty’s dreams. After all, the Owls are playing their first season as an FBS program—and they weren’t even a good FCS program last season. Kennesaw went 3–6 in 2023. One of those victories was over a Division II school (Tusculum) and the other two were over teams that do not belong to the NCAA. This year hadn’t been any better, as the Owls came into the showdown against Liberty at 0–6. Kennesaw State only started playing football in 2015 and had never beaten an FBS program before in 10 tries.

That context makes Kennesaw State’s upset all the more surprising. According to ESPN, it was just the sixth time in the AP poll era (since 1936) that a team with a record of 0–5 or worse beat a team with a record of 5–0 or better. It hadn’t happened since 2001, when North Texas beat Middle Tennessee.

Kennesaw State entered the game with one of the worst offenses in the nation, averaging 14.6 points per game (130th out of 134 FBS programs), but accumulated a season-best 323 total yards against Liberty and did not turn the ball over. The defense, which had also been terrible in the first five games (averaging 36.0 points allowed), came up with big stops in key moments. The most pivotal play of the game may have been when Liberty decided to go for it on a fourth-and-6 from the KSU 29 with about eight minutes left in the game and the Owls up 24–17. Liberty was flagged for a false start and then failed to convert on the ensuing fourth-and-11. Kennesaw State took advantage of the good field position and scored a field goal on its next possession to make it 27–17. Liberty scored a touchdown with 1:26 left to play, but it was too little too late.

The loss doesn’t necessarily take Liberty out of the running for a CUSA championship. Jacksonville State and Western Kentucky are the only undefeated teams in conference play, and Liberty still has to play both of them. But losing to a team as unimpressive as Kennesaw State makes it essentially impossible that the Flames will be the highest-ranked, non-power conference champion even if they come back to win the league.

The race for that final automatic bid is shaping up to be one of the most interesting subplots of this college football season. The frontrunner right now is Boise State, which was ranked No. 17 in the most recent AP poll and has a colossal game on Friday night against a 6–1 UNLV team that will go a long way toward deciding who qualifies for the Mountain West title game. No. 23 Army and No. 24 Navy are the teams with the most to gain from a Boise State loss.

The expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams was met with a mixed reception. And while we’ll still have to wait to see what sort of impact it will have on the big conferences, there’s no arguing that the new format is great for the mid-majors when it can make a Wednesday night game mean so much.

Brian Cashman (right) had to rethink everything after the Yankees’ disastrous 2023 season. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Last season was the Yankees’ worst in three decades. Now, they’re in the World Series. Stephanie Apstein looks at how the team engineered its drastic turnaround.

• Andrew Brandt wrote about how the World Series matchup between two high-payroll teams emphasizes the differences between the NFL and MLB.

• Albert Breer has some details on how the Chiefs pulled off the trade for DeAndre Hopkins.

• Conor Orr thinks the Rams’ game on Thursday night against the Vikings could have major trade deadline implications.

• Our college football experts handed out some midseason awards, including our midseason All-American team.

• Virginia Tech basketball player Hysier Miller was dismissed from the team amid an investigation into unusual wagering activity involving his former team, Temple, Pat Forde reports.

• CBS’s James Brown was the guest on the latest episode of Jimmy Traina’s SI Media podcast.

• Dejounte Murray broke his hand in his first game with the Pelicans.

The top five …

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Brandon Miller’s ferocious dunk.
4. Ja Morant’s impressive layup in the final minute of the Grizzlies’ win over the Jazz.
3. Erling Haaland’s outrageous goal for Manchester City.
2. Kevin Durant’s fadeaway jumper to force overtime.
1. Kennesaw State fans storming the field after their win over Liberty.