High-Flying Owls Roll to Victory over SLU

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University football team (2-1) cruised to 42-9 victory over Southeastern Louisiana (0-2) inside FAU Stadium on Saturday night.

HOW IT STARTED

After lightning in the area delayed kickoff by just over 90 minutes, the Owls started fast, marching into SLU territory on the opening drive. The Lions intercepted a N’Kosi Perry pass, however, to delay the game’s first score.

After the defense turned the Lions away with a three-and-out, the offense marched 80 yards and finished it off in the end zone this time. A career-long 58-yard run by Larry McCammon set the tone, and three plays later, Perry hit Zuberi Mobley on a 14-yard screen pass for a touchdown.

TURNING POINT

The Owls broke it open with touchdowns on each of their first two drives in the second quarter. Perry found LaJohntay Wester on a 36-yard score to make it 14-0 and then scampered for a two-yard run himself on the next drive to open up a 21-3 advantage.

Just before halftime, FAU cashed in on another 80-yard drive culminating with a one-yard run by McCammon as time expired in the quarter.

HOW IT FINISHED

The third quarter became the Zuberi Mobley show as the redshirt freshman torched the SLU defense for 83 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries. The Owls’ scoring was capped off in the fourth with one more long Perry to Wester touchdown pass. The 42-yard strike put FAU up 42-3 at the time. The Lions would register a late consolation score to bring the game to its 42-9 final.

QUOTABLE

Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Willie Taggart
“It was a really good bounce back game for us. I’m really proud of our football team. All week we talked about going out and fixing our problems, fixing the issues that we had the week before. I felt that our guys bounced back and did that. The week before, I felt like we were not fundamentally sound in a lot of areas defensively. Our guys fixed that tonight and did a better job, especially when it comes to tackling. It was good to see those guys flying to the ball, really good to see our defense stop the run and good to see our offense run the ball. There was a lot of positives about tonight and there needed to be.”

THE OFFENSE

Mobley finished with a career-high 146 yards on 20 carries
McCammon also set a new career-high with 126 yards on 15 totes
Marvin Scott III and Robert Armes took over in the fourth quarter and the Owls finished with 366 rushing yards as a team
The damage wasn’t all done on the ground though – Wester posted eight catches for 140 yards (another career high) to go along with his two scores
Perry finished with three passing TDs and 259 yards through the air
The Owls nearly tripled up SLU in total yards (631-246)

THE DEFENSE