The Road to Relevance ~ An FAU Owls Dynasty

[DrGravyBoat]

FAU continues its two game home-stand, after coming off its bye week, against the UAB Blazers. This Conference USA matchup features a very depleted UAB team, with its top two quarterbacks gone to injury and FAU's rushing attack having found its groove in week 4 against MTSU.

Stephen Curtis, of FAU, needs some sort of bounce back game. In week 4, he was rather disappointing. He was a measly 8/14 with just 112 yards, no touchdowns and zero TDs. In fact, Curtis hasn't had a "great" game this season. He has only once reached 300 yards passing and only once thrown 3 touchdowns in a game. Both these season highs were in a loss to ECU, where he also tossed 3 interceptions. In this game especially, as UAB has better run defense than MTSU, he needs to thrive. With Jacquez Johnson waiting in the wings, this season could be considered an audition for next year.

Looking for a personal accolade against UAB is Freshman Lance Burlingame who is looking to break FAU's single season sack record of 6. He picked up an impressive 3 sacks against MTSU, to bring his total to 4. 2 sacks against a lacklustre UAB offense is more than possible. The record will be Burlingame's unless an unforeseen injury cuts his season short. This achievement, is rather impressive, considering the DT Burlingame is only a freshman. Disregard the fact that the record stands at only 6, it is very promising to have a freshman that can rewrite records.

Jonathan Wallace, is looking to build off his record performance in week 4 but may be in tough against a deceptively defensive front-7. He is expected to lose some carries, after having 38 touches, last game. If he can even come close to his numbers last week, FAU should be okay.

On Saturday, we expect an okay game. UAB will hang tough for sometime, but we believe eventually FAU will pull away, either with the running or passing attack. There could definitely be an upset however, don't expect it. FAU takes it 38-10

Visiting Recruits: Adam Fuller, WR

[kswgrad2012]

The Boys in Birmingham will put up a fight. Don't knock my Blazers.

Spoiler

good luck

[RoundingThird]

I want you to steamroll those Blazers! No mercy! Keep passing the ball in the 4th when you're up 49-3.

[DrGravyBoat]

That was... closer than expected.

FAU escaped Saturday in Boca Raton with a 24-17 win over the (1-4) UAB Blazers to move to 3-2, roughly halfway through the season. It was a game, in which FAU certainly did not play to the best of their abilities but still managed to find a way to win in the end. Stephen Curtis had another okay-subpar game, passing for 257 yards on 16 of 34 passing with 2 interceptions to only 1 touchdown. Jonathan Wallace had another 100 yard+ performance, pushing his rushing totals to 459 yards while the defense had another good, but not great performance.

The game began well for the Owls, as they held the UAB offense, starting 3rd string QB Jonathan Perry, after injuries to Austin Brown and Jeremiah Briscoe during the first week of the season. After a Hunter Mullins punt, Stephen Curtis setup shop at the FAU 20. The drive began with a failed Jonathan Wallace run, for a one yard loss, before a nice 8 yard reception by William Dukes set the Owls back up in a manageable 3rd down situation. A deformed stick-pass concept was called, and it worked. UAB safety Cortez Webb played shallow, and Jenson Stoshak burned the Blazers with a 73 yard catch and run to put the Owls up 7-0 with an exclamation point. However, UAB had an answer for almost everything, and their drive after Stoshak's big TD was the first example. A solid drive lead by sideline passing, great route-running and some power running was capped off by a Derrick Scott 8 yard reception, knotting the game at 7. For the rest of the quarter, the teams played the "field position game."

It was a boring 2nd quarter, as the teams would drive deep into the opponents' side of the field and turn the ball over, or go three and out, or punt the ball away after picking up a set or two of first downs. Nexon Dorvilus, the under appreciated TE had a good second quarter and frankly, a good game. He blocked well, caught a big 19 yard pass, and was just a good overall physical presence. With roughly 2 minutes to go in the second frame, a Mitch Anderson 37 Yard FG, which almost didn't make it, broke the deadlock, pushing the Owls to a 10-7 lead. However, the lead lasted 2 minutes and 6 seconds, as UAB hit a 21 yard FG from Ty Long to knot the game up at 10-10 with no time to go in the half.

The 3rd quarter began very sloppy again for both sides. The Owls have not yet been able to more than 10 points in the 3rd, that trend continue today. The Owls generated absolutely no offense, as Curtis threw his 8th and 9th interceptions on the year. UAB didn't fair much better as they also turned the ball over once and punted another time. Finally, with a minuted to go, UAB scored on another Derrick Scott reception, this time from 1 yard out, to put them up 17-10 with a quarter to go.

As bad as FAU plays in the 3rd, the defense and offence play incredible 4th quarters. Jonathan Wallace scored on a one yard power run, after a great display of outside running, challenging the linebackers and exceptional passing through the middle. With the score tied at 17-17, and neither team looking to make a mistake, the players became quite tense. Nobody seemed to struggle more under the pressure than UAB QB, Jonathan Perry. He had a run where he was an abysmal 2/9 passing, and ultimately fumbled the football after a Adam Glanton hit, that was recovered by Robinson Eugene. With their new found momentum and the ball at the UAB 22 yard line, FAU scored 2 plays later on a Damien Fortner 16 yard pitch, to give the Owls a lead they would not surrender. UAB turned the ball over on downs, at their 43, and for the first time this year, an FAU win was not decided on the final play.

Player of the Game: Jenson Stoshak: 3 catches, 138 yards, TD

UAB Blazers at Florida Atlantic Owls
Sep 28, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
UAB Blazers (1-4)	7	3	7	0	17
Florida Atlantic Owls (3-2)	7	3	0	14	24

Team Stats Comparison
	UAB	FAU
Total Offense	341	359
Rushing Yards	95	102
Passing Yards	246	257
First Downs	18	15
Punt Return Yards	9	5
Kick Return Yards	126	67
Total Yards	476	431
Turnovers	1	2
3rd Down Conversion	6-14	3-11
4th Down Conversion	0-1	1-2
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	4-2-1	3-2-1
Penalties	0-0	2-3
Possession Time	17:08	14:52

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		UAB	FAU
5:40	(FAU) TD FAU: J. Stoshak, 73 Yd pass from S. Curtis	0	7
4:14	(UAB) TD UAB: D. Scott, 8 Yd pass from J. Perry	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		UAB	FAU
2:06	(FAU) FG FAU: M. Anderson, 37 Yd FG	7	10
0:00	(UAB) FG UAB: T. Long, 21 Yd FG	10	10
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		UAB	FAU
1:00	(UAB) TD UAB: D. Scott, 1 Yd pass from J. Perry	17	10
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		UAB	FAU
7:15	(FAU) TD FAU: J. Wallace, 1 Yd run	17	17
3:59	(FAU) TD FAU: D. Fortner, 16 Yd run	17	24

UAB Blazers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT J. Perry 30/41 246 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD D. Revaes 11 116 10.5 0 G. Franklin 4 8 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD D. Scott 9 65 7.2 2 D. Reaves 7 16 2.2 0 J. Williams 5 76 15.2 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD K. Brackett 6 0 1 0 C. Walton 4 0 0 0 D. Adams 4 0 0 0 P. Bastien 4 0 0 0 C. Jones 4 0 0 0 J. Parrish 4 0 0 0 L. Farmer 3 0 0 0

Florida Atlantic Owls PASSING C/A YDS TD INT S. Curtis 16/34 257 1 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD J. Wallace 17 104 6.1 1 D. Fortner 2 16 8.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD W. Dukes 6 53 8.8 0 J. Stoshak 3 138 46.0 1 M. Cunningham 2 16 8.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Johnson 11 0 0 0 A. Glanton 8 1 0 0 D. Parms 4 0 0 0 K. Reaser 4 0 0 0 R. Eugene 4 0 0 0 D. Smith 4 0 0 0 J. McKnight 4 0 0 0

[DrGravyBoat]

Quote: Originally Posted by kswgrad2012

The Boys in Birmingham will put up a fight. Don't knock my Blazers. Spoiler good luck

Quote: Originally Posted by RoundingThird

I want you to steamroll those Blazers! No mercy! Keep passing the ball in the 4th when you're up 49-3.

Well, as you guys can see, it was a pretty close game. Honestly though, their defensive line was pretty solid. Definitely won't underestimate them next time.

[gsutiger]

way to pull out the win in the 4th

[DrGravyBoat]

Quote: Originally Posted by gsutiger

way to pull out the win in the 4th

Thanks for the comment.

Yeah, I'm really digging the sliders I've been using so far, as all of my wins have come by a possession. I've had to put a lot more emphasis into playcalling (which I prefer) than most other dynasties I've run. Maybe, it makes me more invested.

[DrGravyBoat]

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