The Kennesaw State Owls will host the Liberty Flames on Thursday, setting up a battle of one of the top teams and one of the bottom teams in Conference USA. The Owls have yet to beat an FBS opponent in 2026, while the Flames are riding a five-game winning streak and are coming off a bye.
Liberty is a 10-point road favorite on Thursday with -395 Moneyline odds, while Kennesaw State has +310 Moneyline odds. The game total for the conference showdown is set at 50.5 points. Here is a preview of the Week 8 showdown featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Liberty Flames vs. Kennesaw State Owls Preview
Liberty
The Flames fell short in their season opener, losing 20-13 at a James Madison team that is now verging on the AP Top 25. Things didn’t look much better in Week 2, when Liberty only beat Gardner-Webb – an FCS team – by a single point. A 51-15 win over Ball State finally got Liberty back on track, as they proceeded to beat Coastal Carolina, Delaware and Sam Houston by multiple scores.
Deshawn Purdie is one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the country, despite completing 61.4% of his passes for just 175.0 yards per game. Purdie does, however, lead CUSA with a 161.9 passer rating, on top of pacing the conference in yards per attempt, yards per completion, and adjusted yards per attempt. He is up to eight touchdowns through six games without an interception. Purdie has leaned heavily on wide receiver Makai Jackson, who is up to 515 yards and five touchdowns on 22 receptions. Jamari Person is the next leading receiver with 12 catches, 166 yards, and two touchdowns.
While Jackson leads CUSA with 23.4 yards per reception, running back Kam Davis tops the conference with 7.1 yards per carry. He is up to 524 yards and four touchdowns. Backups Peyton Jones and Jaylon Coleman add an additional 82.8 yards on the ground per game between them.
For all of those offensive stat sheet stuffers, Liberty’s defense has actually been more productive than its offense. The Flames rank No. 14 in FBS in scoring defense and No. 18 in total defense, holding opponents to the fourth-lowest third down conversion rate in the country at 26.7%. In the opponent-adjusted efficiency rating SP+, Liberty ranks No. 46 overall, coming in at No. 37 on defense, No. 53 on offense, and No. 82 on special teams.
Kennesaw State
The 2026 season couldn’t have started off on a better note for the Owls, who demolished West Georgia 47-0 in their opener. A blowout against an FCS squad turned out not to be a sign of things to come, though, as Kennesaw State followed that up with a 14-point home loss to Georgia State. But after Tennessee beat Kennesaw State 42-9, the Owls’ last three losses have come by just three, one, and three points, respectively.
Quarterback Rickie Collins boasts the best completion percentage in CUSA at 70.1%, but he has a pretty pedestrian 133.5 passer rating. Collins has four touchdowns and three interceptions through the air with 217.0 yards per game. He is also the Owls’ leading rusher with 271 yards and five touchdowns. Collins spreads the ball pretty evenly between Javon Rogers, Brayden Munroe, Dylan Gary, Zion Booker, and running back Boogie Woods III, all of whom have between 18 and 22 catches. Gary is the only one with multiple receiving touchdowns, while Rogers and Munroe are the only ones with over 220 yards.
The Owls have allowed more points than they have scored this season, but their scoring defense ranks No. 66 compared to their scoring offense’s No. 108 ranking. Kennesaw ranks No. 105 in defensive SP+, No. 110 in offensive SP+ and No. 112 in overall SP+.
Liberty vs. Kennesaw State Pick, Best Bet
The Flames have won their last two road games by 17 and 16 points, respectively. Those wins came against the No. 105 and No. 120 teams in SP+, so it shouldn’t be too much to ask them to string together a similar performance against the No. 112 team in that metric. Kennesaw losing by double-digits to the No. 103 SP+ team last month is also hard to ignore given that Liberty ranks nearly 60 spots higher. SP+ has the Flames projected to win 33-17, so while the 50.5 point total could be too close to call, that 16-point projected margin of victory makes the 10-point spread pretty attractive.
