By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – For the sixth time since the program began 11 years ago, the Shorter University football team will take the field against a foe that is Georgia's newest Division I Football Championship Subdivision program.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, the Hawks will make the short trip down I-75 to Kennesaw where they will line up against the Kennesaw State Owls, who are making the 2015 season their inaugural debut as a Division I FCS competing as an associated member in the Big South Conference.

"It's a great opportunity and at the same time it's a difficult opportunity," Shorter head coach Phil Jones said about the game that will be played at the 8,300-seat Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw between the Division II Hawks and the Owls. "They have a great staff and have done it right, and obviously they'll be prepared.

"But it will be an exciting game," he said, "and our players will be excited to play."

The first-ever meeting between the two schools developed after a team both teams were scheduled to play this season, Paine College of Augusta, opted to suspend the program. The void left an opening that the athletic departments at Shorter and KSU needed to fill and led to the agreement to schedule the game.

"The minute we learned about it I immediately reached out to them that we needed to play each other," Shorter Athletic Director Bill Peterson said, adding that the athletic staff at Kennesaw State felt the same way. "They have started what will be a great program and they've been great about being able to make this game happen.

"We've always reached out to every school in Georgia that we can play and will continue to reach out," Peterson said, noting that the Hawks' complete 2015 schedule will soon be finalized. "It makes sense."

Kennesaw State officially launched its program in 2013 when Brian Bohannon, who has spent the last 17 years coaching on the Division I level and for the past five season was the quarterbacks/B-backs coach at Georgia Tech, was named as Owls' first-ever head coach.

Bohannon quickly put together a seasoned coaching staff and after establishing the foundation, had a team in place last fall when the Owls held their inaugural first practice to prepare for the program's first-ever season.

Kennesaw makes its historic college football debut on Thursday, Sept. 3 when the Owls head to Johnson City, Tenn., to face FBS and Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State. A week later, KSU will play its first-ever home game at Fifth Third Bank Stadium when they host NAIA member Edward Waters on Sept. 12.

That sets the stage for Shorter's arrival at Kennesaw, but it's a stage the Hawks are familiar with.

In 2008, in just their fourth season, the Hawks played their first Division I foe – Western Carolina – and two years later opened the 2010 season playing in the Georgia Dome in Georgia State's inaugural game.

The Hawks have also faced Big South member Charleston Southern twice (2012 and '13) and in 2012 Shorter opened the season knocking off Campbell College 31-20, Shorter's lone win against an FBS team.

The 2015 campaign will mark Shorter's second as a full NCAA Division II and Gulf South Conference member. Last fall, the Hawks opened the season breaking out to a 3-1 record and after enduring a rugged GSC slate the rest of the way ended the year with a 3-8 record.

This year, the Hawks return the majority of its players, especially on the defensive side of the ball where Shorter has everyone back.

"Our thinking has always been that in every game," Jones said, "we always have a chance to win and the team already feels good about having this opportunity."