Davis Bryson ran 19 yards for a touchdown with six minutes left and Austin Welch kicked a 19-yard field goal to cap Kennesaw State’s comeback 27-26 home win over Florida International on Saturday night.
The win was the first for the Owls under interim coach Chandler Burks, who was directing his second game after stepping in when longtime coach Brian Bohannon was fired.
Kennesaw State (2-9 overall, 2-5 in Conference USA) took a 17-6 lead with 3:48 left in the second quarter after Preston Daniels finished a seven-play, 60-yard drive with a 3-yard run. Keyone Jenkins rallied the Panthers with a pair of touchdown passes, a 20-yard strike to Dean Patterson and a 42-yarder to Eric Rivers with a minute left to take a 20-17 lead at halftime.
Robert Czeremcha kicked field goals from 36 and 34 yards out in the third quarter to give FIU a 26-17 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Owls forced FIU into a three-and-out midway through the fourth quarter and Bryson threw eight yards to Gabriel Benyard and 24 yards to Carson Kent to set up his 19-yard touchdown run.
Kennesaw State got to Jenkins and sacked him, forcing a fumble that Tylon Dunlap recovered at the FIU 33. The Owls drove 32 yards in eight plays to set up the game-winning field goal.
Kennesaw State plays its season finale Saturday at Louisiana Tech.
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