On Saturday, Aaron Sanchez scored three touchdowns to lead the Owls over Edward Waters 49-15. Danny Embick got the nod as starting quarterback and not Jared Allen, which surfaced many rumors very quickly. Sources close to the team say that head coach Howard Schnellenberger was not letting the seniors start after their practical joke on Wednesday that Coach didn’t think was very funny.

Their joke: not showing up to practice on Wednesday. However, senior Chris Shepard started in his usual guard spot, which raised the question; Why some and not all?

FAU’s offense got the ball and stalled out, punting it to Edward Waters. The punt was fumbled and FAU recovered, however, FAU would fumble and that gave Edward Waters the ball on the 16. They quieted the crowd of just over 5,100 after scoring on their first drive of the game. A 17-play, 84-yard drive was capped off with a five yard touchdown pass on fourth down.

FAU wouldn’t score until there was 10:36 left in the second quarter when Doug Parker punched the ball in from the one-yard line. FAU would score again on their next drive, with an eight-play, 64-yard drive finished off with another D. Parker touchdown, this time from three yards out.

Before the half, Allen led the team down the field for their third touchdown in 10 minutes, making the score 21-7 on an Aaron Sanchez touchdown run, his first of the day. Sanchez would score on FAU’s first play of the second half on a one-yard touchdown run, making the score 28-7. the score was set up by a Chris Laskowski nine-yard tackle for loss on fourth down.

Late in the third quarter, Brittany Tellis returned a punt 40 yards which set up another Sanchez touchdown. His third on a day came on a 14-yard pass from Embick. Edward Waters got the ball back, and threw an interception to Troy Pindell, who returned it 40-yards for another Owl touchdown, making the score 42-7.

In the fourth quarter, Daveon Barron saw most of the action on the Owls offense. On a ten-play drive, Barron carried the ball six times for 23-yards and also caught a 21-yard pass. Barron would score a touchdown on a six-yard run, making the score 49-7. Edward Waters scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion, finalizing the score at 49-15.

The Owls had 400 yards of total offense, including 293 through the air. Allen went 8-for-13 with one interception and 183 yards while Embick went 8-for-13 with one interception, one touchdown and 110 yards passing. Sanchez was the leading rushing for the Owls with 39 yards, followed by Barron with 38 and B.J. Manley who had 28.

Next up for the Owls is on Saturday against Florida International. This will be the third time the two schools have met, with FAU winning twice. The game will be played at Pro Player Stadium. The Shula Trophy as well as the Golden Football Trophy are both at stake in this year’s Shula Bowl. The Ying Yang Twins, who were originally scheduled to perform at half-time and post-game in an effort to draw more fans (the goal was 30,000), will not be performing. Sources close to the Athletic Department say that the profanity the hip-hop group uses would not have been acceptable for FAU fans, thus they canceled the performance. FAU would have needed 37,341 to reach 75,000 fans for the year, which would mean they met the 15,000 fans per home game average to move to Division 1-A. The Owls will certainly need a Miracle on 34th Street to get 37,341 fans through the gates at Pro Player, seeing as how they only have 37,659 the entire year combined.