[el_rousso]

38 - 10

Owls defeat Raiders despite injury to Warren

MURFREESBORO -- Florida Atlantic didn't leave anything to chance against Middle Tennessee, relying on their proven running game to pound the ball into the endzone. Four of their 6 scores of the game came on the ground, with a 9yd pass to junior TE Willie Wheeler and a 23yd field goal by Jeremy Carter the only points not coming from either Jay Warren or backup junior RB Rob Wilkinson. The Owls' 495 yards of offense overshadowed the paltry 153 yards of their opponents, of which only 5 were gained on the ground.

Jay Warren started the game strong, scoring once in each of the first two quarters, but fell to an injury later in the second, when he was tackled by senior LB Michael Banks, and did not get up by himself. Warren had to be carried off the field, and did not return for the rest of the game. Backup Wilkinson took it upon himself to acrry the Owls' running attack, gaining 190 yards on the ground and scoring the last two touchdowns for his team. Middle Tennessee's only scores came towards the end of the second quarter, as they were held scoreless in each of the other periods.

On the defensive side of things, since FAU had the ball so often, the Raiders could put up some big numbers, with four of their defenders recording double-digit tackles, led by Banks with 13, including one quarterback sack. Redshirt freshman FS James Bridges followed closely with 12 tackles of his own. One notable defender on the Owls side was junior cornerback Bo Coleman, who picked off Raiders' quarterback Johnathon McCreary for the only turnover of the game.

With the win, the Owls climb to 5-2 (3-0 C-USA) on the season, good enough for a first place tie with heated rivals FIU. FAU will finally play at home next week, as the host the UTSA Roadrunners (1-6, 0-3 C-USA). The Owls will try to get the same result as they did last year against UTSA, when they won 52-23 as they visited the Roadrunners in San Antonio.

Florida Atlantic Owls at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Oct 21, 2017	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Florida Atlantic Owls (4-2 (2-0))	7	14	0	17	38
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (3-3 (1-1))	0	10	0	0	10

Team Stats Comparison
	FAU	MTU
Total Offense	495	153
Rushing Yards	381	5
Passing Yards	114	148
First Downs	32	8
Punt Return Yards	27	0
Kick Return Yards	42	190
Total Yards	564	343
Turnovers	0	1
3rd Down Conversion	12/15	4/9
4th Down Conversion	1/1	0/0
2-Point Conversion	0/0	0/0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5/1	1/1
Penalties	4-23	1-10
Possession Time	38:26	5:34

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		FAU	MTU
	(FAU) J.Warren, 2yd TD run (XP)	7	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		FAU	MTU
	(FAU) J.Warren, 4yd TD run (XP)	14	0
	(MTU) J.Matthews, 24yd FG	14	3
	(FAU) W.Wheeler, 9yd TD pass from G.Hankerson (XP)	21	3
	(MTU) E.Stanford, 3yd TD pass from J.McCreary (XP)	21	10
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		FAU	MTU
	(FAU) J.Carter, 23yd FG	24	10
	(FAU) R.Wilkinson, 6yd TD run (XP)	31	10
	(FAU) R.Wilkinson, 1yd TD run (XP)	38	10

Florida Atlantic Owls PASSING C/A YDS TD INT G.Hankerson 10/14 114 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R.Wilkinson 35 190 5.4 2 J.Warren 23 92 4.0 2 E.Thomas 9 57 6.3 0 G.Hankerson 6 42 7.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD W.Wheeler 5 45 9.0 1 S.Vereen 1 40 40.0 0 R.Yates 3 19 6.3 0 K.Woods 1 10 10 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M.Humphrey 4 0 0 0 A.Downs 3 0 0 0 B.Coleman 3 0 1 0 J.Lowe 3 0 0 0

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT J.McCreary 14/30 148 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD J.McCreary 2 5 2.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD S.Smith 5 83 16.6 0 R.Tyree 2 37 18.5 0 L.Hamilton 2 10 5.0 0 E.Stanford 2 9 4.5 1 K.Thomas 3 9 3.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M.Banks 13 1 0 0 J.Bridges 12 0 0 0 B.Barber 11 0 0 0 K.Hayden 10 0 0 0 T.Beamon 9 1 0 0