The Western Michigan Broncos (9-4, 8-1 MAC), fresh off winning the MAC Championship Game in Detroit, are set to face the Kennesaw State Owls (10-3, 8-1 Conference USA) in the Myrtle Beach Bowl in Conway, South Carolina.
It’s a game which will put the champions of the Mid-American Conference and Conference USA against one another on neutral ground, led by two head coaches— Jerry Mack for KSU and Lance Taylor for Western— who won their conference’s respective Coach of the Year award in 2025.
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ESPN Events was first to report via the Myrtle Beach Bowl Twitter page on Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos were one of the MAC’s most disciplined and on-time units in 2025, placing second in the MAC in time-of-possession (33:04), third in red zone defense (32-of-42) and first in penalties (37.4 yards per game on 53 calls)m while giving up the second-lease first downs and keeping opponents to 31 percent on third down through the end of the regular season.
Western qualified for the MAC title game thanks to the conference’s best regular season record at 7-1 against league opponents, with their lone loss to Miami— who they also faced in the MAC title game on Saturday.
Kennesaw State engineered one of the more remarkable turnaround seasons of recent memory in 2025. The offseason saw the Owls depart from long-time head coach Brian Bohannon, who went 72-38 as KSU’s head man over 10 years between FCS and FBS play, after starting the 2024 season 1-8.
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Enter Jerry Mack, who arrived on campus after a year as a position coach with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
The former North Carolina Central head coach made himself known right away, leading the team to a near-upset of Wake Forest 10-9 to open the season, then reeling off a 7-1 record in the next games before taking a loss to Jacksonville State. The Owls won their next two games and avenged their regular season loss to Jax State in the Conference USA title game, securing KSU’s first-ever bowl game in their second year at the FBS level.
Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, December 19th, at 11 a.m. Eastern time, with ESPN providing the broadcast.
