Fau vs UTSA
1st Half: UTSA Overcomes Early Mistakes
The Florida Atlantic Owls (3-3, 2-0 AAC) continue its conference schedule against UTSA Roadrunners (3-3, 2-0 AAC). It’s the Owls’ homecoming weekend! With spirits high and coming off of a 2 game winning streak, the Owls will look to continue their winning ways. FAU would win the coin toss but would defer the ball and allow its defense to get on the field first.
UTSA would waste no time getting on the board. QB Frank Harris would go 8-10 for 80 yards on the opening drive. With a pair of successful 4th down attempts, FAU was backed up to their 15-yard line. The Roadrunners RB Robert Henry would take it in for the score from 15 yards out.
Giving UTSA their first lead of the game. With 9:43 to go in the 1st Qtr, UTSA led FAU 7-0.
The Owls would continue to go with Daniel Richardson at QB, who has shown some great flash in his 2-0 start with the Owls. The opening drive for the Owls would be no different. On a 3rd and 7, Richardson would find WR Je.Quon Burton for a deep 39-yard corner route to put the Owls in UTSA territory. Richardson and Burton would connect again later that dive on a 19-yard pass but his left foot was out of bounds.
The Owls would have to settle for a 37-yard FG by K Logan Lupo. With 6:20 left In the 1st, the score was UTSA 7 -3 FAU.
In the next 2 drives for the RoadRunners, the zOwls defense would come up huge. QB Frank Harris would continue to find the deep ball but CB DaeDae Hill was having none of it. He would record his 1st INT of the season giving the ball back to his offense. The Owls drive would start at their 25-yard line. The Owls offense would put together two first downs but would have to hunt the ball back to the Roadrunners.
The next drive another Owl would record their first INT with the program. DL Latrell Jean would take the INT back for a score! Giving the Owls their first lead of the game. With .23 sec left in the 1st Qtr FAU lead 10-7.
At the start of the 2nd, UTSA would put together a 9-play, 58-yard drive that would set them up for a successful 34-yard FG attempt by K Chase Allen. The Owls would look to get an offense going that has been stagnant at this point in the game. The OC would call 2 run plays that wouldn’t result in much result. But a short 18-yard screen pass to RB Larry McCammon would get the chains moving.
Disaster would strike for QB Daniel Richardson’s next play when he attempts a routine curl route. UTSA CB Owen Pewee sees it the entire way and gets his first INT of the season with 10:31 to go in the 2nd. The game is tied 10-10. The Roadrunners would capitalize on their turnover. UTSA would go on a 9-play 65-yard drive, capped off by a 10-yard pass TD to WR Willie McCoy. UTSA would take the lead 17-10 with 6:47 left in the 2nd Qtr.
Throughout the rest of the 2nd Qtr, the Owls would try to get its offense and running game going. UTSA’s defense made a big statement. Even though, they had only created 1 turnover. The defense had recorded 8 TFLs. This was huge, because the Owls were terrible on the first down yard gained. Averaging just 2 yards on 1st down is not enough. The Owls would get another chance to drive the field at the end of the 2nd but would have to give the ball back to UTSA in a great field position.
The Roadrunners would start their drive after a 21-yard punt retune by Chris Carpenter with great field position. Starting on the Owls’ 37-yard line. After holding UTSA to a 3 and out. K Chase Allen would extend UTSA’s lead 20-10 at the end of the half.
The Owls are going to look to kickstart an offense that only produced 107 yards total in the first half.
On the first drive of the 3rd, QB Daniel Richardson got the ball back into the hands of his favorite target Je’Quon Burton for an 11-yard gain. After trying to get the running game going UTSA’s defensive line continued to give up no roads on the ground. UTSA would force FAU to punt the ball back after a quick 3 and out. Midway through the 3rd qtr, FAU had not put together a single scoring drive. 5 straight punts leading back to the 1st Qtr.
It couldn’t have been a tale of two different sides UTSA offense was able to move the ball at will on the Owls. With 10:34 on the clock in the 3rd qtr. UTSA would go on a 6-play 77-yard drive that would end in 7 points for the visitors. UTSA QB Frank Harris continued to improve after the two early mistakes. With quick passes resulting in big gains – 11 yards, 13 yards, 12 yards. One after the other, Frank Harris was able to find open receivers everywhere in an Owl defense that wasn’t holding it together. QB Frank Harris capped off the drive with a 42-yard strike to WR Tykee Ogle-Kellogg to give the Roadrunners a 27-10 lead in the 3rd.
The Owl’s offense would continue to struggle to move the ball. After their defense gave them a vital stop to keep UTSA from scoring and punting. On the ensuing drive, the Owls would get a safety. Giving the Roadrunners a 29-10 lead at the of the 3rd Qtr.
The Owls offense had negative yards in the 3rd Qtr.
The Owls would have some life at the beginning of the 4th qtr. Linebacker Jaylen Wester would cause QB Frank Harris to fumble. The Owls Xavier Peters would recover the fumble giving the Owls great field position. The Owls once again, would do nothing with the opportunity given. After a false start, the owls would look to make the “big” play again. On a slant-and-go route, QN Richardson would try to find his speedster WR Lajohntay Wester, old for the ball to be tipped and intercepted in a crazy play on the sideline. The UTSA player to make the play was CB Nicktroy Fortune.
FAU 4th qtr would continue as the rest of the game had. No real rhythm or any play-calling to get the offense ahead. UTSA would go on to score again late in the 4th with a little over 2 minutes to go to make the score 36-10. There was never any real danger from the Owls, outside of the first drive.
The Roadrunners controlled the line of scrimmage, so therefore they controlled most of the game. FAU’s defense did give them chances to score but their offense was really bad, to say the least today.
First-year Head Coach Tom Herman is still learning the ins and outs of these teams. But after a perforce last week against USF, more was expected of the offense this week for sure.
This is the first loss FAU will have in conference play this season, while UTSA will move on to 3-0
Final Score UTSA 36- 10 FAU
Key Stats
QB Frank Harris:26-35 for 261 yards. 2 Td – 2 Int
WR Willie McCoy: 31 yards, 1 TD
RB Kevrian Barnes: 10 rushes for 56-yard
QB Daniel Richardson: 19-34 142 yds, 2 Int
RB Larry Mc Common 15 att 30 yds
WR Je’quon Burton: 5 catches for 68 yds
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