KSU drops to No. 16 in FCS rankings
Apr. 13—Kennesaw State was ranked 16th in the STATS Perform FCS Top 25 poll released late Monday.
The Owls (4-1, 2-1) suffered their first loss of the spring season last Saturday as Monmouth won 42-17 to clinch the Big South Conference title and secure the automatic bid into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Kennesaw State will have to wait to see if it is selected for the scaled-down 16-team playoff field when the brackets are revealed Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on ESPNU.
Despite Kennesaw State being ranked as high as No. 7 this season, coach Brian Bohannon said after the Monmouth loss that he believes the team will not be selected for the playoff field.
Bohannon doubled down on that statement Tuesday during his weekly radio interview on 680 the Fan.
"We're going to reset as a group, attack the offseason and get ready for the fall," he said.
It marked the second straight season Kennesaw State had fallen to Monmouth in the with the Big South title at stake, although the Owls did receive an at-large bid for the 24-team FCS tournament in the fall of 2019. They then went on to win their first-round game against Wofford.
Kennesaw State has been ranked for 43 straight weeks dating back to the 2017 season.
Monmouth moved up in the rankings from 20th to No. 12. James Madison remained No. 1, followed by North Dakota State, Weber State, South Dakota State and Sam Houston State.
Other teams of note included Jacksonville State at No. 9, Mercer at No. 23 and East Tennessee State at No. 24.
