Victory 4 MSU

This Saturday will be the first meeting between the Spartans of Michigan State and the Florida Atlantic Owls of the Sun Belt Conference. The Owls have experienced a meteoric rise in the college football world since becoming a division 1-A program only four years ago. Under the instruction of head coach Howard Schnellenberger the team went 8-5 in 2007 and defeated the Memphis Tigers of C-USA in the New Orleans Bowl. For a more detailed look at FAU check out my Opponent Overview of them right here.

Let’s take a look at what they’ve done so far in 2008 and look ahead to our matchup Saturday. The Owls kicked off their ‘08 campaign in Austin, Texas against the Longhorns in front of 98,000+ fans. There was a bit of talk coming from the upstart Owls prior to the season opener, and surprisingly the best bulletin board material came from coach Schnellenberger himself. In a FAU student newspaper the coach was quoted as saying “Texas always has been a very polished team that has great talent, but they aren’t tough. They aren’t a physically tough team.”

The Longhorns apparently took offense to this and displayed just how tough they are, slaughtering the Owls 52-10. Texas was also able to stifle the potent Owl passing game while starting two freshmen at safety in their very first collegiate game. The first half may have been a wake-up call to the Texas secondary as they allowed 226 yards through the air, but they shut it down in the second; allowing only 53 total yards to FAU. Click through for this week’s matchups.

(more…)

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…

(more…)