{"id":427101,"date":"2025-12-05T19:06:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427101\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T19:06:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:06:18","slug":"jacksonville-state-vs-kennesaw-state-prediction-conference-usa-championship-odds-picks-best-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427101\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville State vs. Kennesaw State prediction: Conference USA Championship odds, picks, best bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a remarkable turnaround for Kennesaw State.<\/p>\n

The Owls were projected to be one of the worst teams in FBS in 2025, but they completely flipped that script, going 9-3 overall and finishing second in Conference USA<\/a> with a 7-1 record.<\/p>\n

Kennesaw State\u2019s only C-USA defeat came at the hands of Jacksonville State, its opponent in Friday\u2019s title game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Owls are a 2.5-point favorite in the finale, which is taking place at AmFirst Stadium in Jacksonville, Ala.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville State vs. Kennesaw State odds, prediction<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the job that Jerry Mack has done at Kennesaw State.<\/p>\n

The Owls went 2-10 in 2024, which was their first campaign at the FBS level, and were tagged with an Over\/Under of 3.5 wins for the season.<\/p>\n

The Owls were projected to be among the worst teams in the country, on the same level with UMass, Ball State and Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Those projections looked off right away, as Kennesaw State was a missed extra point from taking Wake Forest to overtime in Week 1. That result sparkles these days, given how well the Demon Deacons acquitted themselves in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"KennesawKennesaw State quarterback Amari Odom. AP<\/p>\n

Kennesaw State built off that performance all season, posting strong offensive metrics (by C-USA standards) and making them stick by bending but not breaking on defense.<\/p>\n

Stylistically, this should be a good matchup for Kennesaw State. Jacksonville State\u2019s defense is leaky, and the Owls grade out better on the offensive side of the ball, too. <\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t how things played out in the first meeting of these two teams, with the Gamecocks earning a 35-26 victory.<\/p>\n

Betting on College Football? <\/p>\n

That scoreline is misleading, however, as the Owls were undone by four interceptions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nearly impossible to win a game with a minus-four turnover differential, but Kennesaw State was able to hang around against Jacksonville State\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

As long as the Owls don\u2019t beat themselves, they should be able to run it up Friday.<\/p>\n

The Play: Kennesaw State -2.5 (-110, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":427102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,17530,1428,96867,3188,723,7310,62,8930,84024,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-427101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-college-football","11":"tag-college-football-betting","12":"tag-fl","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sports-betting","17":"tag-sports-picks","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115668529779304796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}