Victory 4 MSU

Florida Atlantic University… what can I say? Not a whole lot without doing a bunch of research I found out. I have heard that they are returning an obscene amount of starters, which is good for them. I also know that the Spartans are playing a 2-for-1 with them. MSU travels to Boca Raton in 2010 for the opening of the Owls’ new 30,000 seat stadium, which is expected to break ground in the Spring of 2009. For those who don’t know, Boca Raton is a city of approximately 90,000 located about 50 miles north of Miami on Florida’s Atlantic coast. It appears to be a very charming city, at least on wikipedia and google images; perhaps a nice spot to vacation in September of 2010. A little sidenote: that’s also the year that we start our home-and-home series with West Virginia, which should be fun.

The Owls return again to East Lansing in 2011 to finish the series. I’m hoping the Floridians enjoy early Autumn in Mid-Michigan as much as we are sure to enjoy their beaches and warm weather. I’ve only been to the Gulf coast, so maybe I’ll make it down there to check out the East side. So, how about their football team? Will their 2008 team improve upon a promising 2007 campaign? Click through to find out…

2007 Season

The Owls’ 2007 season was certainly a success with a co-championship in the Sun Belt conference, a bowl game victory in the New Orleans Bowl, and a final 8-5 record. Certainly an improvement over the 5-7 2006 season. That bowl victory was the program’s first and came over the Memphis Tigers of the C-USA conference. Legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger has accomplished a great deal in his seven years as head coach of the Owls. The rise of this program has been unprecedented as they enter only their fourth year in division I-A football.

While they handled all of their conference opponents except for Louisiana-Monroe, their out-of-conference schedule was at times too much for the emerging club to take. Looking at the outcomes of games versus “major conference” opponents, the Owls seem to be lacking something. Against BCS conference teams they went 1-4; the lone win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big 10. Before you say “Wow, they beat a Big 10 team?”, just remember how absolutely horrible Minnesota was last year. The Gophers lone win in 2007 was against Miami at home. Not the Hurricanes, the Redhawks. Yeah that Miami. Other features of Minnesota’s craptacular season were losing at home to Bowling Green and North Dakota State. North Dakota State. So FAU’s win over 1-11 Minnesota last year doesn’t tell much. Actually the fact that it was at home for the Owls and that it was a close game tells us more about how much more needs to be done at FAU than anything else.

The other four games against BCS opponents didn’t go as well for the Owls. Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Florida all blew them out. FAU was competetive against South Florida, but in the end were beaten soundly there too. So is this team the real deal coming into East Lansing? Let’s take a look at what they bring.

Offense

Owls head coach Howard Schnellenberger sure does like his quarterbacks tall. Returning junior Rusty Smith measures in at 6′5 and 212 lbs and sophomore backup Jeff VanCamp also stands at 6′5 and 210 lbs. On top of that, two freshman quarterbacks will be entering the program this year: 6′6 Graham Wilbert and 6′7 David Kooi. Yeah, a 6′7 200 lb quarterback, talk about a toothpick. Anyways, back to 2007 Sun Belt MVP Rusty Smith. Rusty had a phenomenal year in ‘07 passing for 3,688 yards (good for 12th in the nation) and 32 touchdowns. He also completed 58.7% of his passes, threw only 9 interceptions and finished the season with a 141.62 quarterback rating. All of this in only his redshirt sophomore season. The Owls should be set at quarterback for a while.

In 2007 the FAU running game left much to be desired. The Owls averaged only 126 yards per game and no rusher went for over 100 yards in a game. Senior Charles Pierre returns as the starting running back. Pierre rushed for 782 yards and seven touchdowns last season. He will be backed up by senior Di’Ivory Edgecomb who had 190 yards and four touchdowns in ‘07. Edgecomb is the lighter and quicker of the two while Pierre is more of a power back. I expect their numbers to improve this season.

Florida Atlantic is similar to the new strategy employed at MSU by Mark Dantonio in that they utilize the fullback and tight ends extensively. Junior Willie Rose returns as the starting fullback for the Owls. He had 333 yards on the ground for one score as well as 264 yards through the air for 7 touchdowns. Returning at tight end is senior Jason Harmon who had a terrific season last year catching 63 passes for 824 yards and five touchdowns. The Owls have a two tight end set and filling the other spot is junior Rob Housler.

Unsurprisingly, FAU also returns all of its starting wide receivers as well. The trio is led by junior Cortez Gent who had 64 receptions for 1,082 yards and nine scores last season. Behind Gent is sophomore receiver Lester Jean who had 246 yards on 19 catches with a touchdown in 2007. The third returning receiver is junior Chris Bonner who had 25 catches for 420 yards and three TDs last year. Taken together this group of wide receivers is definitely a threat to opposing defenses.

Four of five offensive linemen return for the Owls. This group allowed only 15 sacks last year; good for 13th in the nation. A trio of seniors return on the line: John Rizzo at right tackle (a four-year starter), Nick Paris and Brandon Jackson at center and left tackle respectively. Juniors David Matlock and Kevin Miller round out the line at left and right guard.

The Owls’ offense is sure to be a potent weapon in 2008 with all that they return. The quarterback is well protected by a talented offensive line, and all the skill position players return. If the running game can get going this season, the FAU offense could be truly elite.

Defense

The defensive line for the Owls needs to step up this year if they want to be successful. Last season the line put little pressure on opposing quarterbacks, only recording 16 sacks, good for 110th in the nation. All of the starters from last season return except for one. Right end Josh Pinnick was injured mid-season in 2007. His replacement for the remainder of the year was Jermaine Council (6′5, 275), now a fourth-year junior and is expected to be the starter in 2008. The other end is returning senior Robert St. Clair who is 6′4 250 lbs. Returning at tackle are junior Josh Savidge (6′2, 280) and senior Jervonte Jackson (6′3, 280).

Linebacker is one of the few positions that FAU doesn’t return all of its starters. The Owls lose the second-leading tackler Cergile Sincere, who had an all-conference year in 2007 going for over 100 tackles. Even with that loss, linebacker appears to be a strength for the Owls. They will start three seniors on this year’s squad. Returning in the middle is 6′1, 229 lb Frantz Joseph, who had an incredible 131 tackles last season, good for best in the Sun Belt and best ever for a player at Florida Atlantic. At outside linebacker, 6′1, 220 lb Andre Clark is back after a 68-tackle performance in ‘07. On the weak side, 6′0 220 lb George Allen makes his debut.

FAU returns its two starting cornerbacks from 2007, but another player is making a big push for a starting role. 5′10, 170 lb senior Corey Small and 5′10, 160 lb sophomore Tavious Polo are both back after very productive seasons. Small had 103 tackles and five interceptions while Polo had 53 tackles and seven picks. Redshirt junior Erick McIntosh (6′0, 180) was academically ineligible last year but is nipping at the heels of Polo, challenging him for the spot. The Owls will have to start two new safeties this year and the likely candidates are senior Greg Joseph (5′11, 195) and senior Carldayle Brantley (6′1, 200). Both go into this year recovering from past injuries that kept them out of the lineup and are looking for playing time.

The Owl’s defense is a mixture of experience, and some of that experience needs to improve upon the play of last season. While the offense looks to be explosive, the defense is where FAU may struggle in 2008.

Special Teams

Senior Warley Leroy is back as kicker after a mediocre 2007 in which he went 19 of 27 on field goals. Two punters return as well: sophomore Mickey Groody and junior Keegan Peterson. Their punting averages have been, well, average at just 35.5 and 40.2 respectively. And returning punts and kickoffs will be DiIvory Edgecomb, who did very well in that regard last year.

Coaching

Coach Howard Schnellenberger is a legend in the world of college football. He brought the Miami Hurricanes and Louisville Cardinals from the depths of mediocrity to the national spotlight, winning the championship in 1983 with the U. His goal for Florida Atlantic is nothing less than to compete for a national title. They may do that someday, but unless the Owls can upset the Spartans and Longhorns as well as take care of the Sun Belt, don’t expect it in 2008.

2008 Season

The Owls face another rough out-of-conference schedule in 2008, starting August 30th with a road game at Austin. It would take an Appalachian State-like miracle to upset the Texas Longhorns, but it’s certainly not impossible. The Owls then get to beat up on UAB (like the Spartans did last year, 55-18) at home before traveling to beautiful East Lansing for the showdown with the Spartans. MSU cannot take this game lightly, and I expect a much closer game than Eastern the previous week. The Owls then go to Minnesota to perhaps cement their superiority over the Gophers… or lose to a squad seeking revenge. After that the Owls should pretty much run the table. They face their conference opponents whom they should be favored over as well as Western Kentucky, and I had no idea WKU had a football team so the Owls will likely be favored there also. Overall the Owls are likely to have another successful season and reach the 2nd bowl game of the program’s history. If they can upset one of the Longhorns or Spartans… who knows what could happen.

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Tags: Florida Atlantic Owls

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Opponent Overviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.