For the first time this season, FAU’s offense hit a play of more than 40 yards. For the first time this season, FAU’s offense managed to score more than 30 points. And for the first time this season, FAU’s offense carried the team to victory.
After starting the season winless, largely in part to the offense’s struggles, the Owls won their first game of the year by defeating the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Fouts Field. The 44-40 Sun Belt Conference triumph was not the prettiest victory the Owls ever had, but it was a step in the right direction for a team that was low on morale.
“Those four losses in a row were beating us down,” said Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger. “We have plenty to get beat down about this game, but we have the big thing that brings us back to the surface and says, ‘Here we are’: a win.”
FAU appeared to be doomed to a paltry 0-5 record after North Texas began the match with touchdowns on their first two possessions. Mean Green running back Lance Dunbar ran for 128 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, and the Owls defense appeared to have no answer for the fast-footed, shifty sophomore.
Then the second quarter began.
With the Owls trailing 13-0 (Mean Green had an extra point blocked), quarterback Rusty Smith spectacularly led his offense to 30 points — 23 of which were unanswered — to close out the first half, leaving the 23,319 fans in attendance stunned. It was the offensive magic that FAU fans had been waiting for, and it was a showing the offense knows it must repeat.
“We ran the ball extremely successful; we threw the ball extremely successful; we were clicking on all cylinders,” said Smith, who finished the game 21-40 for 309 yards and four touchdowns, one of which was a 17-yard scamper. “That offense in the second quarter is our offense. That is what we are supposed to do all year. We are all upperclassmen; we’ve all been doing this for a long time. If we can put the second-quarter offense together for a full game, we will be hard to beat.”
The offensive onslaught did not stop there. FAU opened up the second half with a touchdown drive that gave it a commanding 37-19 lead. The game seemed to be all but over. The defense, however, would collapse again, allowing North Texas to score 21 unanswered points.
Trailing once again, and with the defense getting run ragged, it was time for Smith and the offense to shine once more.
With a heavy dose of running back Alfred Morris having worn down the Mean Green defense, Smith jump-started a fourth-quarter drive with a 51-yard bomb that wide receiver Chris Bonner grabbed despite tight coverage. The pass, which is the longest play of the season for the Owls, helped set up Morris’ game-winning touchdown run from a yard out.
“It feels good, real good [to win],” said Morris, who rushed for a career-high 146 yards and two scores. “It is the best I have felt in a long time.”
Morris’ words were a common refrain among the players postgame, and the team’s high spirits came from knowing that not only did they win a game, but they won a vital conference game (FAU improved to 1-1 in conference play).
“In the locker room we were so excited to get our first victory, especially with it being a conference win,” said Smith. “Now, hopefully, we can get a snowball effect going and get some momentum going for our season.”
For that snowball effect to take place, the Owls offense will need to continue to demonstrate the ability it showed against North Texas by putting up numbers in bunches while also circumventing the costly turnovers and penalties that plagued the team in its first four games.
“It was a tale of two sides: an offense that played its best game, a defense that did not play as well as it had in the losses we have had,” said Howard Schnellenberger.
The defensive issues — specifically, the lack of ability to tackle — are concerning, and they will need to be addressed if the Owls are to achieve their goal of winning a third consecutive bowl game.
But on this day, that is not important. What is important is that the Owls offense showed it is capable of living up to its lofty expectations, and it did so in a victory.
