Surf Turf Skirmish: The Myrtle Beach Bowl

Conway, South Carolina is a charming southern town situated along the Waccamaw River in the Pee Dee region, about 14 miles inland from the Atlantic coast. Once a December, this city of less than 25,000 people goes from a small college town to the center of college football, as America’s most prestigious bowl game situated in the Myrtle Beach Metropolitan Area comes to town: It’s the Myrtle Beach Bowl presented by Engine! This year’s iteration will be a showdown between the Kennesaw State Owl and the Western Michigan Broncos.

Battle on the Beach

This game has been played yearly since 2020 at Coastal Carolina’s Brooks Stadium. The “Surf Turf” is known for its teal playing surface, as well as for being one of the most underrated stadiums in the Group of 5. The game traditionally has ties with Conference USA, the MAC, and the Sun Belt, but has also had appearances from two American teams and UConn as an independent. In the short history of the game, there has yet to be a team to make a repeat appearance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, but previous winners include Appalachian State, Tulsa, Marshall, Ohio and UTSA. Perhaps the most memorable Myrtle Beach Bowl took place in 2022 as Marshall defeated UConn 28-14 in front of a crowd of 12,023. It isn’t necessarily that the game was great, there just haven’t been that many Myrtle Beach Bowls yet to really pick a crowning achievement.

As for our combatants in this surf turf skirmish, this will be the first ever meeting between the Western Michigan Broncos and Kennesaw State Owls. Western Michigan has been playing football since all the way back in 1909 with a proud history of competition in the Mid-American Conference. They are 2-10 all-time in Bowl Games, but that record isn’t indicative of their program’s history. In 2016, the PJ Fleck “Row the Boat” era took the Broncos to an undefeated MAC Championship season and a trip to the Cotton Bowl, where they were narrowly defeated by Wisconsin 24-16. Conversely, Kennesaw State is not just one of the FBS’s newest teams, but one of college football’s newest teams period, having their first season of competition in 2015. In that time, the Owls spent most of it in the Big South, winning three conference championships and making the FCS Playoffs in four seasons before transitioning to the FBS in 2024.

Meet the Broncos

The home team on the scoreboard is Western Michigan, who are this year’s MAC Champions. Despite struggling out of the gate at 0-3 with losses to Michigan State, North Texas and Illinois, the Broncos were nearly unstoppable the entire rest of the season. The Broncos went 9-1 the rest of the year, including wins against Toledo, Rhode Island, Central Michigan, and Miami in the MAC Championship Game in Detroit. Western is currently coached by Lance Taylor who is a first time head coach in his third season. Despite a 19-19 career record over those three seasons, Taylor has been awarded the 2025 MAC Coach of the Year honors, and deservingly so in his first winning season.

The Broncos are led on the field by Sophomore quarterback Broc Lowry, who leads the team in rushing as well as passing. Of his 21 total touchdowns on the season, 14 of those have come on the ground, and he is only 60 yards away from a 1000 yard rushing season. When passing, his favorite target has been Senior Talique Williams, but the real strength of Western Michigan right now is on the ground. Outside of Lowry, WMU’s next leading rusher is Jalen Buckley, a Junior running back out of Aurora, Illinois. He has 829 yards on the ground and 8 touchdowns on the season, as well as an additional 75 yards receiving. The defense is helmed by a duo of Senior linebackers, Cincinnati transfer James Camden and Fort Collins, CO native Sefa Saipaia Jr. both have over 70 total tackles. The true leader and star of this Western Michigan team is Senior defensive end Nadame Tucker, who after transferring from Houston leads the nation in sacks with 14.5 and is a second-team All-American and MAC Defensive Player of the Year. While he could potentially opt-out of the Myrtle Beach Bowl, he hasn’t given any indication that he will yet.

Meet the Owls

On the other side are the Kennesaw State Owls who are led by head coach Jerry Mack in his first season. This is Mack’s second stint as a head coach in college football, with his previous experience coming at North Carolina Central where he won three straight MEAC Championships from 2014 to 2016, and led the school to the 2016 Celebration Bowl as the HBCU Coach of the Year. His success continued immediately at Kennesaw as he led the Owls to their first FBS conference Championship by defeating Jacksonville State in the Conference USA Championship. The Owls are 10-3 on the season, with their only losses coming to Wake Forest, Indiana, and Jacksonville State whom they got their revenge on later.

On the field, the offense is led by Sophomore QB Amari Odom in his first year with the team after transferring from Wofford. He has had a solid season of 2,385 yards through the air with 18 touchdowns, as well as an additional 7 TDs on the ground. The leading rusher is Coleman Bennett, whose 716 rushing yards lead the team. Gabriel Benyard leads the receiving corps with 898 yards and 9 touchdowns. The defense is led by Senior linebacker Baron Hopson, who boasts an impressive 126 tackles on the season, with an interception and a forced fumble to go along with it.

In this battle of old and new, the Broncos and Owls are ready to battle in out at the Myrtle Beach Bowl, where everyone is asking one question: Is the Surf Turf cooler than the Smurf Turf?