When the Owls travel on the road to play teams in powerhouse conferences, Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger calls them “advanced training” games. But after a close loss to a conference foe at home, the Owls could use a little more training.
The Owls (0-3, 0-1 in the Sun Belt Conference) fell to University of Louisiana at Monroe 27-25 at Lockhart Stadium on Saturday evening despite a career game from sophomore running back Alfred Morris and solid second-half play from the defense.
“They won by a play here, a play there and a missed play there,” said Schnellenberger after the game.
The Owls arguably lost the game on the coach’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-10 on the ULM 48 with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter. Quarterback Rusty Smith’s pass was incomplete for tight end Darian Williams, which led to a turnover on downs and a three-play, 30-yard drive that ended with a 39-yard field goal by Warhawks kicker Radi Jabour to give ULM a 20-15 lead at halftime.
Schnellenberger defended his call to go for it after the game.
“I would take a gamble of not getting the first down and giving them the ball back with 20-some-odd seconds versus us getting the ball at around the 40 and us getting a field goal,” said the 75-year-old coach.
With the score 27-25, and with 2:06 remaining in the fourth quarter, FAU had a chance to win the game with at least a field goal after getting the ball on their 8-yard line following a ULM punt.
But the Owls offense failed to get within field-goal range after two costly penalties on linemen Lavoris Williams and Carl Spitale set them back 21 yards to give ULM (2-2, 1-0) the win.
“We were just trying to get it set up for the score and get it past the 50,” said tight end Jason Harmon, who finished the game with 11 catches for 132 yards. Harmon was tackled near midfield to end the game for FAU.
Penalties would also be FAU’s undoing in this game. The Owls finished with 10 penalties for 93 yards.
“We cannot win football games like that. It’s impossible,” said a frustrated Smith after the game.
Smith finished the game 30 of 50 for 347 yards and two touchdowns, but most of those numbers came during the fourth quarter when the Owls were forced to pass the ball.
Morris finished with a career game of 23 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown, the first of his career.
“We knew we were going to put it in the end zone, but it didn’t turn out how we wanted it to,” Morris said.
FAU has lost their last two home games against ULM. In 2007, the Warhawks beat FAU 33-30 in what was also the Owls’ homecoming game.
The Owls will get another chance to earn their first win when they take the field on Saturday, Oct. 3, against Wyoming at Lockhart Stadium.
