Baron Hopson spent Saturday night in Jonesboro crossing the line of scrimmage and putting an Arkansas State ball carrier on the ground behind it. He finished with 8 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Kennesaw State still lost 17-14, dropping to 1-3, and the last real chance died when Daniel Kinney's 32-yard field goal sailed wide with about three minutes left. But the defense was the part of this team that looked like last year's.
That matters because of who Hopson is supposed to be. He was Conference USA's Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2025, set a Kennesaw State record with 138 tackles, and was picked as the league's 2026 preseason defensive player of the year. Against Georgia State he piled up 11 tackles and not one negative play while the Owls gave up 230 rushing yards. Tackles at the second level are a symptom; tackles for loss are the job. He was back doing the job at Arkansas State, and he had help. Luke Evans posted a career-high 9 tackles with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup, Ugonna Nwoha got a sack, and the team's 4.0 tackles for loss were its second-most of the season. Arkansas State converted 5 of 12 third downs.
The offense keeps trading one problem for another
Every week the Owls fix something and leave the main thing unfixed. The line did not allow a sack all night, which is a real answer to the communication breakdowns of September. Boogie Woods III ran 19 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns, adding five catches for 121 all-purpose yards and setting career highs in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. And Rickie Collins went 17-of-24 for 129 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
Collins arrived from Syracuse after Amari Odom, the 2025 first-team All-CUSA quarterback who threw the championship-winning pass, transferred to Syracuse. The room was always going to look different, but a clean pocket and no throw into the end zone is a narrower problem than roster churn. Nothing about the scheme is new. Jerry Mack went into his second season with offensive coordinator Mitch Militello and defensive coordinator Marc Mattioli both back, so the passing game's silence is not a system anyone is still learning.
Kinney's miss is the part that will sting longest, because it was his first of the season and only the second of his career. Take that kick and the nonconference stretch reads 2-2 with a defense trending up, which is a different mood entirely for the same football team.
What the open week is for
Kennesaw State does not play this week, and no game elsewhere on the slate moves anything for the Owls. This is genuinely a week off for rest, film, and two weeks of practice aimed at getting a touchdown out of the passing game.
The next one is the one that counts. Conference USA play opens in Week 6 at home against Jacksonville State, a rematch of last December's championship game, and it starts a run of four straight midweek league games on CBS Sports Network. The model gives Kennesaw State a 41% chance in that opener and projects 3.4 conference wins against 4.6 losses, with a 7% shot at reaching the title game. That is not where a defending champion wants to be sitting in late September, and it is why the Jacksonville State night is worth circling rather than dreading. Nothing about the league race is settled, and the Owls host it.
What to look for when it kicks is whether Hopson and Evans are still living in the backfield against a better offense than Arkansas State's, and whether Collins throws one in. Root for the second one especially. The defense has shown you what it can be. The passing game has not.
Full week view at the interactive guide; the forecasting details are at methodology.