The Road to Relevance ~ An FAU Owls Dynasty

[DrGravyBoat]

Texas Impresses with with over TCU

Boston College Falters, dropping to 12th

Louisville loses again, this time to USF

[DrGravyBoat]

This week, the Owls look to bounce back to .500, taking on an underachieving Tulane team in Boca Raton.

Tulane comes into this Saturday's matchup a measly 2-5 on the season, with a 1-2 conference record. The media can't figure out why Tulane hasn't produced. They aren't a terrible team whatsoever, so this team could catch fire at any time, meaning FAU needs to be ready.

And now, as it seems to be a tradition in these pregame summaries... Stephen Curtis.

Curtis may be the most interesting Quarterback in college football. He can't keep possession of the ball, and can't complete passes to open receivers to save his life but, has still lead FAU to more wins than the past two seasons combined. One game, he's terrible. The next game, he's brilliant. It's a mystery with Curtis, you never know which version of him you're going to get.

Consistently, inconsistent.

Jonathan Wallace. Last week proved he benefits greatly from playing in a weak conference. However, he still leads the Owls to wins in C-USA play. He doesn't need to produce big games against Power 5 teams because FAU doesn't play Power-5 teams often. Expect a bounce back against Tulane.

Finally, the matchup. Expect a close, must watch game between the two sides. This'll be a game decided by who wants it more. Tulane is fighting for the chance to have a small chance at a bowl game. FAU is fighting for a chance to keep their slim C-USA championship game hopes alive. We have FAU coming away with a 31-21 victory, but don't be surprised if the score is higher.

[DrGravyBoat]

FAU Holds on over Tulane

It wasn't necessarily as pretty as one would like but a "W" is a "W".

The Owls hung on after a comeback attempt by the Green Wave to earn their fourth victory of the season moving them to .500 overall and 3-2 in C-USA play.

The game started swimmingly for the Owls, as they won the coin toss, electing to receive the opening kick off. A Martese Jackson return gave the Owls decent starting field position.

Out came Jonathan Wallace.

The first drive proved fruitful for the Owls, as a 23 yard TD by #27 was the ultimate result. The potent Owls rushing attack gashed the Tulane secondary with explosive runs. It only took 3 plays for the Owls to have a 7 point advantage.

On the defensive side of the ball, Cory Henry violated the offensive line protecting Tulane QB, Nick Montana. It only took 3 plays to get FAU the ball back.

However, it only took another 3 plays to give Tulane the ball back.

They capitalized, scoring on a Orleans Darkwa TD run after a great balanced passing and rushing attack. They also got help from the poor tackling Owls.

The score would remain knotted at 7, with teams trading possession, until Mitch Anderson hit his 7th field goal on the year with 1:42 to play in the first quarter.

Again, the teams played the "field-position", with punts being kicked and received by both teams. Tulane would make a big mistake however, with Justyn Shackleford fumbling the football at the football on Tulane's side of the field. The fumble was forced by Jeremy McKnight.

One play later, the Owls had a 17-7 lead.

On maybe the most perfect option play of all-time, Stephen Curtis kept the ball, rather than hand it off to Wallace, before running for a while, making a Tulane safety commit to the QB, and quickly lateraled the ball to Marcus Cunningham.

The teams would once again, trade turns with the ball.

Just before the half, Tulane would cut FAU's lead back down to 3 with a Ryan Grant touchdown reception from 13 yards out. With Tulane getting the ball to start the second half, it was perceived FAU would throw a deep ball, trying to extend their 3 point lead.

Nah.

A simple handoff to Wallace would serve just as well, as he scampered 76 yards to paydirt, just 15 seconds after Tulane added 7, as he restored FAU's 10 point advantage.

The third quarter began with a Tulane punt, followed by a failed deep pass attempt by Curtis that was picked off, giving Tulane back the ball, around their 30 yard line. A great drive, in which they ran the ball effectively and Montana found his receivers when needed brought Tulane to the Owls side of the 50. Inside the 10 yard line to be exact. But a couple great plays by the Owls defense, a deflection by Keith Reaser and a sack by Lance Burlingame (to move him into sole possession of the team record for sacks in a season) forced the Green Wave to call on Carlos Santos for a 31 yard field goal.

FAU would respond with another solid attack on the ground, capped by a 12 yard run by Stephen Curtis to push the Owls' lead to 31-17 heading into the fourth and final quarter.

Tulane would open the fourth quarter scoring with a Matt Marfisi to shrink the 2 possession to a single possession. FAU gave the rock to Wallace to kill clock and to try to get Wallace to 200 yards on the day. He would eventually reach 200 yards and also score his 3rd TD on the day, to tie Alfred Morris for FAU's season record for TDs on the ground.

Tulane responded with another Matt Marfisi TD, and FAU would punt the ball away giving Tulane a chance to tie the game.

The Green Wave drove to the FAU 25 yardline before a Tackle For Loss, a run and incomplete pass set up Tulane in a 4th and 8. Keith Reaser was given the assignment of covering Marfisi. The ball was thrown in the talented Tulane Tight-End's directed but the experienced Owls FS sealed an FAU win with his breaking up of the pass.

FAU takes on Louisiana Tech next week, in Louisiana. While Tulane looks to keep their slim bowl game hopes alive against UTSA.

FAU Player of the Game: Jonathan Wallace: 24 carries, 200 yards, 3 TDs

Tulane Green Wave PASSING C/A YDS TD INT N. Montana 28/35 296 3 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD O. Darkwa 19 121 6.3 1 R. Kelley 3 13 4.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M. Marfisi 10 94 9.4 2 X. Rush 5 66 13.2 0 J. Shackleford 5 28 5.6 0 R. Grant 4 80 20.0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD E. Williams 6 0.0 0 0 J. Sullen 6 0.0 0 0 K. Davis 5 0.0 0 0 D. Monroe 5 0.0 1 0 R. Carthon 5 0.0 0 0 S. Scofield 4 0.0 0 0 J. Batiste 3 0.0 0 0

Florida Atlantic Owls PASSING C/A YDS TD INT S. Curtis 9/13 148 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD J. Wallace 24 200 8.3 3 M. Cunningham 2 42 21.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J. Stoshsk 3 81 27.0 0 W. Dukes 2 30 15.0 0 N. Dorvilus 1 5 5.0 0 M. Cunningham 1 3 3.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Johnson 13 0.0 0 0 J. McKnight 9 0.0 0 0 C. Henry 8 1.0 0 0 A. Glanton 7 0.0 0 0 D. Glanton 7 0.0 0 0 D. Smith 5 0.0 0 0 C. Leblanc 4 0.0 0 0

[DrGravyBoat]

Around the Nation



Ohio State, Georgia and Nebraska all fall

Florida Moves up with win over a top 4, as well as Purdue and Northwestern

Alabama stays at #1, with Miami in Second