Kennesaw State's First Football Opponent Announced

The Kennesaw State University football team won't play its first game for two more years, but the Owls know which opponent they will face when they do take the field.

KSU has announced that the program's first game will be played on Sept. 3, 2015 at East Tennessee State University. 

KSU officials made the joint announcement at the Johnson City, Tenn., campus on Thursday.

No other games for KSU's debut season have been scheduled, but there will be a return game with East Tennessee State visiting the Owls' Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Sept. 3, 2016. 

East Tennessee State, which discontinued football in 2003, is bringing it back, and the 2015 KSU game will be its first in 12 years.

“We’re real excited to have this first football game scheduled,” Kennesaw State coach Brian Bohannon said in a statement. “Since the day I was hired, I have been focusing on preparing for that opening game and now I know who the opponent will be.

“I know it will be a great game with two new programs meeting for the first time and the excitement on both campuses is going to continue to build between now and kickoff. The game atmosphere is going to be unbelievable."

KSU got final approval to begin football from the Georgia Board of Regents in February, and later hired Bohannan, a former University of Georgia player and Georgia Tech assistant coach.

He will sign his first group of high school players in February, and is recruiting mainly from the Cobb and north metro Atlanta area.

Kennesaw State will be competing in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision -- a level below UGA and Georgia Tech.