BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s football team will travel to Lafayette, Ind. this weekend for a meeting with Purdue. Kickoff between the two schools, who will be meeting for the first time, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be aired on BTN. Fans also may listen to the game on Fox Sports 640 AM South Florida.
While the meeting might be the first between the two, both coaching staffs are familiar with each other and have worked at similar schools. FAU Haggerty Family Head Coach Willie Taggart played collegiate football at WKU and later served as Hilltopper’s head coach. Purdue head coach Jeff Braum served as an FAU assistant in 2010 and later led WKU to prominence as the Hilltopper’s head coach.
Dale Williams, Purdue’s former offensive line coach, served in a similar position at FAU. Boilermaker linebackers coach David Elson served under Taggart at WKU, as did Ryan Wallace.
QUOTABLE
Haggerty Family Head Coach Willie Taggart
On moving on from the loss against UCF and looking towards Purdue
“I think you look at the big picture of everything. We are going to own that loss. We didn’t play well enough to win. When you play in a game like that, you have to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, and we didn’t do that. We are going to own that and move forward. We have a lot of ball to play. We have no time to sit around and pout and complain, we have to continue to work and get better. That’s our focus this week, to get better, learn from our mistakes and see if we can go out and correct it against Purdue this weekend.”
On stopping Purdue’s offense and QB
“Whenever you’re playing a team that can throw the ball, you want to get the rush to them. You have to get pressure and make him uncomfortable. They have a really good QB, he’s an NFL prospect, they have good receivers, big tight ends, and they do a good job of having plays that complement each other. We have to be disciplined, play tighter in our coverage, and compete when the ball is thrown in the air. I think it all starts with up front and being able to do some things to make him uncomfortable.”
On improvements to make
“We have to play a better second half. We have to find a way to come out of halftime and play better. It all comes back to executing, and we have to be able to do that for four quarters, play at a high level, play winning football for four quarters. There’s no secret to anything, we just have to go out and execute and do what we know we’re capable of doing. It can’t be sometimes, it has to be for four quarters, we have to be consistent in our play…and then when we get takeaways, especially against good football teams like Purdue and UCF, we have to answer offensively. Those are the winning plays.”
On Purdue WR Charlie Jones
“He’s a straight baller. He plays the game the way you’re supposed to. He’s competitive, he can run, and he knows how to get open. He’s their guy and they find ways to get the ball to him.”
On preparing for road games
“Especially for a team like Purdue, you know you’re going to get crowd noise. We have to be able to work and be able to operate with crowd noise. That’s going to be a big part of it, but other than that, we’re going to do what we do from a practice standpoint and prepare for our guys and make sure we understand what we’re supposed to do and then understand our gameplan. And then it goes back to just executing the gameplan the right way. Then we as coache have to make sure we’re not giving our guys too much so that they can execute and play the right way. We have to do a good job as coaches putting them into position to make plays they need to make, and then it’s on our guys to go out and execute and get it done.”
On Junior ILB Eddie Williams
“I’m so excited for Eddie, because he has waited his turn. He has waited around for a while, guys being in front of him, having coaches that believe in him. He finally got his opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it. We all knew Eddie can play. He knew he can play. Now that he’s the guy, he’s taken it and ran with it. He comes to work every day and he practices the way that he plays in the game. He’s quick, he’s instinctive, and he plays the game like you’re supposed to at linebacker. He’s not the biggest, but he plays big. I love when these young men take advantage of opportunities when they come their way, because they all come to school wanting to play, (but) you never know when you’re going to play. I always talk to our guys about being ready when the opportunity comes so you can take advantage of it. He’s done a great job of it.”
On Redshirt Junior Safety Dwight Toombs
“It’s the same thing as Eddie (Williams). Both of those guys have been here since I have been here, so I’ve watched them when they were young and playing behind guys while developing and getting themselves in better shape and better conditioning. With Toombs, I think playing behind Teja (Young) has really helped him. You have a guy as talented as Teja, not only that, Teja is a coach. Teja spends time with those young guys going over film and teaching them things. And those guys listen. I think it’s pretty cool when you have young players listening to older players, listening to their peers and admire what their peers are doing in front of them. For Toombs to come in and play the way that he did, and not have a drop off was really good. He’s another young guy that will have a few more years around here. It was good to see him get in the game and play that way in a game like that. And to make the interception that he did was pretty cool to see.”
FAU AT UNT BROADCAST
Conference USA has announced that Florida Atlantic’s game at North Texas, on October 1 at 4 p.m., will air on ESPN+.
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FAU Coaches Radio Show
For free mobile listening of all game broadcasts and coaches shows, FAU fans can download the Varsity Network app for iPhone or Android. The app features instant access to free gameday audio streams and the ability for fans to receive push notifications to remind them of games starting or upcoming audio broadcasts. Local fans can tune in to Hubbard Radio (Fox Sports South Florida 640 AM) to follow the team.
FAU Television Inside the Owls Burrow
This week’s show will include a sit down with Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Willie Taggart. Show host and producer Frank Forte and Taggart will review last week’s game versus UCF and will look ahead to this week’s contest at Purdue. The show will also feature tight end Austin Evans and earning a scholarship. Latrell Jean will be featured in “Pads Off” plus tight end and special teams coach Chad Lunsford will go one-on-one with Forte. As a programing note: the show will air on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. on Bally Sports Florida and will re-air Saturday morning at 7 a.m. due to live tennis programming that will air in the Owls’ normal Saturday time slot.
TICKETS
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