The Road to Relevance ~ An FAU Owls Dynasty

[DrGravyBoat]

This week, the Owls travel to the city of Angels to take on the USC Trojans (3-2, 2-1) at the colosseum as FAU looks for a big upset.

FAU comes into the game, off a heartbreaking loss to Marhsall, while USC comes into Saturday's ballgame with 2 straight wins, both against ranked opponents.

Disregarding the last two games for USC, its been a disappointing year. A loss to Boston College, now the number #8 team in the nation, and being upset by Washington State in the conference and home opener has setup the Trojans in a bad spot.

On the otherhand, FAU has confused its fans. It's won nail-biters, lost blowouts, and played poorly but won... sometimes. In any case, FAU needs a complete 60 minutes if it wants a shot at knocking off USC.

We had USC taking this game 35-7 in our preseason schedule preview, however, we'd like to change our prediction. Now, we have USC winning by 35-21. The Owls offense has "clicked" recently and it could very hang a few on USC.

[Miles Perry]

Nooooooo never drop 10 in coverage with the game on the line

[DrGravyBoat]

FAU Comes Close

That went better than expected.

On Saturday night, the Owls hung tough against the superior USC Trojans, before eventually being put away late in the fourth quarter. 31-21 is your final.

The game started well for the Owls, as the defence forced a 3 and out. It was a strange defensive series. The Owls allowed short-completions however gave the Trojans no addition yards. That's how the game went throughout.

After getting the ball, Stephen Curtis, the sometimes scrutinized QB of the Owls had himself a day. He led the Owls with tremendous passing, and great running about to the USC side of the field. A brilliant HB screen to Damien Fortner on 3rd down kept the drive alive. It would be capped off by a Jonathan Wallace TD, his 8th on the season. However, Wallace did not have a good day otherwise, rushing for only 17 yards.

The teams would trade possessions to end the quarter, giving USC the ball.

The Trojans would eat quite a bit of time off the clock, and driving down the field with relative ease. However, down near the goal line they ran into the Owls stellar short yardage defence. On a 3rd down though, the Trojans got in. Derrick Morgan would dive from less than a yard out, knotting the game at 7.

FAU would get the ball back, and the nerves kicked in at this point after seeing the display put on by the opposition. They would be forced into a 3 and out.

USC took this as their opportunity to get a lead. And they used their chance somewhat well. A good drive stalled. Max Wittek, the Trojans starting QB threw the ball all over the yard before a sack, a short run, and a failed screen pass led to an Adam Heidari 25 yard field goal.

USC would get the ball back with only 31 seconds to go after Curtis brutally missed the Owls dark horse for player of the year, Nexon Dorvilus.

The Trojans need one play to go up by 10.

Marquise Lee was found, and 59 yards later, the Owls were down 17-7 heading into the half.

Up to this point Curtis had thrown the ball well, and the offense had not turned the ball over (other than the TOD). The Owls, though trailing remained loose. And it showed on the opening series of the second half.

Marcus Cunningham, Jenson Stoshak and William Dukes all had receptions as FAU torched the Trojans through the air. All the success through the air lead to a 17 yard option keeper by Curtis, scoring his first of 2 rushing TDs on the day.

The next series, the defense came out firing. Motivated by the offence perhaps?Forcing USC to a long 3rd down. The Trojans converted.

No big deal, we'll get 'em next time. Right?

Another long 3rd down. Another conversion.

Well... Those were fluky plays...

Another long 3rd down. Another conversion.

At that point, the Owls were so tired that a 18 yard reception over the middle led to a Wittek TD scamper.

4th Quarter, Owls 14, Trojans 24.

Just 2 minutes in, and the Owls deficit was down to 3. Another poignant drive through the air lead to Curtis' second 300 yard game this season. And it was capped off by the man himself, as a 1 yard run game him his second 6 point effort of the day.

USC would respond just over 2 minutes later, through the air with a Robbie Telfer 6 yard reception after a drive in which FAU stopped the run well, and didn't allow massive gains through the air.

However, that score put the Owls away, who fell to 3-4 on the year while USC moved to 4-2. Overall it was a good game for the Owls who played just as tough a game as ASU did against the Trojans.

Next week, FAU has a bye before taking on Tulane in New Orleans.

Owls Player of the Game: Stephen Curtis: 25/44, 330 Yards, 2 Rushing TDs

Florida Atlantic Owls PASSING C/A YDS TD INT S. Curtis 25/44 330 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD S. Curtis 14 30 2.1 2 J. Wallace 9 17 1.8 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M. Cunningham 7 105 15.0 0 N. Dorvilus 5 72 14.4 0 W. Dukes 4 53 13.2 0 J. Stoshak 4 29 7.2 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Eugene 8 1 0 0 R. Johnson 6 0 0 0 C. Leblanc 6 0 0 0 A. Glanton 5 1 0 0 D. Parms 5 0 0 0 C. Henry 5 0 0 0 D. Smith 4 0 0 0 J. McKnight 3 0 0 0

USC Trojans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT M. Wittek 22/25 275 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD S. Redd 21 115 5.4 0 D. Morgan 4 5 1.2 1 M. Wittek 5 0 0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD R. Telfer 5 89 17.8 1 S. Redd 5 2 0.4 0 M. Lee 4 89 22.2 1 V. Blackwell 4 43 10.7 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD L. Dawson 12 0 0 0 A. Brown 11 0 0 0 D. Wright 6 0 0 0 G. Uko 5 2 0 0 K. Bigelow 4 3 0 0 A. Woods 3 0 0 0 M. Breslin 2 0 1 0

[DrGravyBoat]

Quote: Originally Posted by Miles Perry

Nooooooo never drop 10 in coverage with the game on the line

Thanks for your comment,

Honestly, we had an okay pass rush with just one guy, which was surprising.

As for what I was doing, I think I got the idea from reading about quarter defenses. I heard this story about how a few times Bill Bellichick how dropped 10 in coverage.

Lesson Learned:

If you're not Bill Bellichick, don't pretend to be Bill Bellichick.

[gsutiger]

hanging with a high powered team like USC is something you can build on. FAU well do special things

[DrGravyBoat]

Oregon Falls for the First Time to Washington State

Stanford is back into the Top 25 with a win over UCLA

Louisville takes Tumble in the Polls after loss to UCF

Please Note: I used to the wrong poll (coaches) for the last 2 weeks, I am now using the AP poll. So if you're confused about why certain teams have or haven't move now you know. My apologies for any confusion.

[DrGravyBoat]

Quote: Originally Posted by gsutiger

hanging with a high powered team like USC is something you can build on. FAU well do special things

That's exactly what I was thinking. It hurts not to get the win but I was quite impressed with how close it was. I definitely think there could be an upset next year or maybe this year against BYU.

Thanks for checking in.

[DrGravyBoat]

The Bye Week Update

Player Stats:
*Bold indicates the Player starts and the stat display is relevant to the player's starting position

We are roughly 2/3 of the way through our first season, and a Recruiting Update is in order as the Owls have received some commitments.

Adam Fuller, WR

Status: Signed L.O.I to attend FAU
Hometown: Crystal City, Texas
Overall:68
3 Key Attributes: 96 Speed, 86 Carrying, 78 Route Running
Needs to Work on: Catching (68)

Fuller has finally committed. After the USC game, Fuller faxed his L.O.I to the university. The Owls' top target of the season looks to slot into a starting gig next season with the departure of William Dukes.

A.J. Jones, CB

Status: Signed L.O.I to attend FAU
Hometown: White Oak, Ohio
Overall: 63
3 Key Attributes: 90 Speed, 78 Man Coverage, 72 Hit Power
Needs to work on: Tackling (66)

A.J. has been deemed academically eligible and thus, signed his Letter of Intent to join the Owls next season. He made the tough decision to leave his mom and brother behind in White Oak, Ohio to pick FAU over Akron. His brother, Derek Jones also verbally committed to the Owls, however cannot sign with the team, as he is currently a Junior.

Richard Cox

Status: Verbally Committed to FAU
Hometown: Peachtree City, Georgia
Overall: 65
3 Key Attributes: 93 Speed, 86 Carrying, 77 Acceleration
Needs to work on: Catching (60)
Scholarship: Offered
Visit: Week 12 vs Southern Miss
Percent Locked: 72%
Lead: +1,075 over Georgia State

Cox is a prospect we didn't have the chance to go over in our last update. He's quick, just like the other receivers being heavily recruited by FAU. However, not unlike the other prospects recruited by FAU, he can't catch the ball well. That being said he'll be more than welcome at FAU.

________________

Sorry for the ridiculously long post, I just felt it would sort of work together well.

Thanks for reading,

On to New Orleans!