Tag: Florida Atlantic Owls

Sep 14, 2024; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Connecticut Huskies quarterback Nick Evers (3) prepares to throw the football during the first half of the game against Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

UConn ready to settle in at home vs. Florida Atlantic

Posted on | by Field Level Media

UConn looks to set the tone at home Saturday night when it welcomes Florida Atlantic to begin a string of six straight games at East Hartford, Conn.

The Huskies (1-2) breezed to a 63-17 romp over visiting Merrimack on Sept. 7 and put a scare into host Duke last Saturday before dropping a 26-21 decision.

Cam Edwards rushed for 106 yards against the Blue Devils and found the end zone for the third time in two games. He leads UConn in carries (32), rushing yards (153) and rushing touchdowns (two) on the season.

The Huskies rushed for 179 yards on 4.8 yards per carry versus Duke. Two turnovers and a missed field goal, however, led to UConn’s undoing as it was unable to hold onto a 21-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“It’s not good enough. We have to win those games. That’s the step we have to take,” Huskies coach Jim Mora said.

UConn, which fell to 0-2 on the road, does not play its next game away from home until Nov. 9 against UAB.

FAU (1-2) avoided its first 0-3 start since 2015 by posting a 38-20 victory over Florida International last Saturday.

Zuberi Mobley rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns — his first TDs since the 2022 season — to help the Owls’ potent ground attack. Mobley became the first FAU player to rush for three scores since Malcolm Davidson accomplished the feat on Nov. 9, 2019.

Cam Fancher and C.J. Campbell Jr. combined for 125 rushing yards and two scores to lift the Owls to their seventh straight victory in the Shula Bowl.

“We’re going to celebrate the (heck) out of this,” Owls coach Tom Herman said. “It’s been almost a calendar year since we’ve won a game, and we won a rivalry game to boot.

“But I think we all know that the competition level is going to increase, and we have to continue to increase our level of play in order to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish.”

–Field Level Media

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith watches over the action during the first day of football camp on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in East Lansing.

Aidan Chiles, new-look Michigan State to test mettle vs. FAU

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Oregon State wasn’t one of the former Pac-12 teams that joined the Big Ten this season. The Beavers, however, will have two prominent former members making their Big Ten debuts on Friday night.

New head coach Jonathan Smith was hired as Michigan State’s head coach after leading Oregon State to winning records over the past three seasons. Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles followed him to East Lansing, Mich. and he’ll start in the Spartans’ home opener against Florida Atlantic on Friday night.

Chiles has so impressed his new teammates that he’s already been named one of the team’s captains.

“I think he’s definitely ready for this,” Smith said. “He’s a competitive player. And a true competitor understands it’s not going to go perfect every snap, and things are going to take place. There’s gonna be some really good plays, too. But there’s nothing like experience. And the guy’s been out on the field playing big-time football before.”

Chiles appeared in nine games as a freshman in a backup role. He completed 24-of-35 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns. None of his attempts were picked off.

The Spartans are coming off a woeful 4-8 season and Chiles will be just one of many new faces suiting up this fall. A whopping 38 players departed via the transfer portal. Smith and his staff brought in 61 newcomers either as transfers or freshmen.

Florida Atlantic is coming off a 4-8 season, including losses in its last four contests. The Owls also will have a new starting quarterback in Cam Fancher, a Marshall transfer. He threw for 2,162 yards last season with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The Owls also faced a Big Ten team last season, dropping a 23-17 decision at Illinois.

“It’s going to be a really difficult place to play,” head coach Tom Herman said of this year’s opener. “I know Coach Smith does a phenomenal job and will have those guys ready. It poses unique challenges, too, in Week 1 to (face) a brand new staff. Very little of our film study has been on Michigan State.”

–Field Level Media

Oct 10, 2020; Provo, UT, USA; UTSA quarterback Lowell Narcisse (10) carries the ball as BYU s Zayne Anderson (23) and Troy Warner (4) close in for a tackle in the second half during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Provo, Utah. Mandatory Credit: Rick Bowmer/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports

Tronti leads Florida Atlantic past UTSA

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Nick Tronti passed for one touchdown and ran for another as the host Florida Atlantic Owls defeated the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners 24-3 on Saturday afternoon at Boca Raton, Fla.

FAU’s defense came up with seven sacks, forced eight punts and turned UTSA over on downs once. UTSA managed just 230 total yards.

Tronti completed 11-of-19 passes for 136 yards as FAU (2-1, 2-1 Conference USA) won for the first time since Oct. 3 in a season that has been interrupted a couple of times by Covid-19.

FAU running back Malcolm Davidson rushed for 115 yards on 14 carries (8.2 average).

UTSA (4-4, 2-2) was led by quarterback Frank Harris, who completed 12-of-26 passes for 109 yards. He also ran for 66 yards on 14 carries (4.7 average) as UTSA fell to 4-2 when Harris starts this year.

Roadrunners star Sincere McCormick, the reigning Conference USA’s Player of the Week, was held to 54 rushing yards on 16 carries (3.4 average). He entered the game leading nation with 867 rushing yards.

FAU scored on the game’s first possession, getting Vladimir Rivas’ 24-yard field goal. That capped a 10-play, 58-yard drive.

The Owls capped the first-quarter scoring on Tronti’s 27-yard TD pass to Aaron Young, capping another 10-play drive. Young ran a slant pattern, catching the ball in between two defenders to end an 80-yard march.

UTSA had a would-be score taken off the board as Harris’ 18-yard TD pass to Brenden Brady was wiped out by a holding call on Spencer Burford with 3:10 left in the first.

The Roadrunners finally got on the board on Hunter Duplessis’ 49-yard field goal with 8:55 left in the half. That capped a crazy 15-play, 43-yard drive that included three third-down conversions.

FAU closed the first half with a 17-3 lead, getting Tronti’s two-yard TD run on run/pass option. Tronti’s 36-yard pass to a high-reaching T.J. Chase set up the score.

The Owls then put the game away on James Charles’ 2-yard touchdown run with 2:35 left in the fourth.

–Field Level Media

Sep 19, 2020; Huntington, West Virginia, USA; Marshall Thundering Herd safety Derrek Pitts (1) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Appalachian State Mountaineers at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

No. 22 Marshall aims to remain unbeaten, faces FAU

Posted on | by Field Level Media

While Marshall is off to its best start in six seasons, Florida Atlantic has barely gotten its collective feet off the ground during this unique and uncertain 2020 campaign.

The No. 22 Thundering Herd aim to go 5-0 when they host FAU in a Conference USA contest on Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va.

For the first time since 2014, Marshall (4-0, 2-0 in Conference USA) is undefeated through its first four games. It’s the Thundering Herd’s best start since going 11-0 in 2014. That season, the program went 13-1 and won its most recent Conference USA title.

“There’s so much love here,” safety Derrek Pitts told Marshall’s official website.

“Nobody is out for themselves. Everybody wants it for everybody else. I love competing, and this is a team that competes all of the time.”

The Herd can thank a strong defensive showing for their early success. They’ve allowed 38 total points while yielding an average of 272.8 yards. Marshall held Louisiana Tech to just seven total rushing yards and recorded six sacks in last weekend’s 35-17 road victory.

“We’ve had the opportunity to make teams one-dimensional,” Marshall coach Doc Holliday told the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “We’ve stopped the run and obviously got pressure on the quarterback.”

Offensively, Marshall is averaging 213.8 yards on the ground while scoring 37.3 points per contest. Running back Brenden Knox has rushed for 455 yards and seven touchdowns. Meanwhile, quarterback Grant Wells threw two of his six touchdown passes this season against Louisiana Tech.

Knox ran for 220 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 36 seconds remaining, in last season’s 36-31 win at Florida Atlantic. The Thundering Herd are 6-1 all-time against FAU and will be looking for a third consecutive victory in this series.

COVID-19 issues inside the program and among its opponents have hindered FAU’s season thus far. The Owls have played just one game during the Willie Taggart era, winning 21-17 over league-foe Charlotte back on Oct. 3.

They enter this contest coming off an open week that has certainly left Taggart’s players itching to get back on the field. And, definitely eager to build on their initial victory that seems like a lifetime ago.

“It’s tough because we want to play so bad,” running back James Charles told Florida Atlantic’s official website. “We can only control what we can control. That’s our attitude.

“We have to keep having that drive. Which I know we will. … We know what we have to do. It is all about us. It has never been about the opponent.”

Paced by Charles, Larry McCammon III and quarterback Nick Tronti, the Owls totaled 217 rushing yards while rallying from a 10-0 hole to beat Charlotte. Tronti, who rushed for 94 of those yards, threw for two touchdown passes. Defensively, FAU held Charlotte to just 82 rushing yards.

“Keep pushing each other and keep having that same drive whether we have a game or not,” Charles added. “We know what’s at stake. We want to win a conference championship.”

–Field Level Media