Kennesaw State Owls vs Western Michigan Broncos Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 12/19/25

Bowl season will continue on Friday when the Conference USA champions in the Kennesaw State Owls meet the MAC champions in the Western Michigan Broncos at the Myrtle Beach Bowl at 11:00 am ET on ESPN. Kennesaw State finished the year 10-3 including its conference title, winning 3 straight and 10 of 11 coming into this game. Meanwhile, Western Michigan has won 5 straight and 9 of 10 ahead of this matchup in Conway, South Carolina. Both teams are expected to be near full strength as far as injuries and opt-outs go, which is nice to see. 

This game is likely to come down to who runs the ball more efficiently and turns the ball over less, and both of those traits skew more towards Western Michigan than they do Kennesaw in this matchup. Both teams have a top-40 rush rate and are similarly efficient with the ball on the ground, but the Owls are much, much worse defensively on the ground than the Broncos. In fact, Kennesaw State has surrendered at least 191 rush yards in 4 straight games, including Liberty’s 291-yard performance. Surpassing 200 rushing yards is normal for WMU, who just ran for 286 in the MAC title game. 

When it comes to turnovers, the Broncos average fewer than 1 giveaway per game – spearheaded by QB Broc Lowry. He’s no game-breaking passer, but he doesn’t hinder the offense, either. Lowry has thrown just 2 interceptions with an impressive 2 turnover worthy plays, which is all he really needs to do to keep drives alive with this efficient rushing attack. KSU QB Amari Odom puts the ball in harm’s way more often than Lowry, as shown by his 13 turnover-worthy plays – 9 of which came in games away from home. Give me the better rushing attack and offense that’s less likely to make mistakes.

Kennesaw State vs Western Michigan prediction: Western Michigan Broncos -3.5 (-105) at the time of publishing. Playable to -4.  

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