BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University football (4-5, 3-2 C-USA) will head into this week’s bye with a football conference that got a lot tighter over the weekend.
UTSA stands at the top as Conference USA’s sole undefeated team. North Texas follows just behind the Roadrunners at 4-1, while both WKU and FAU stand at 3-2.
QUOTABLE
Hagerty Family Football Head Coach Willie Taggart
On Freshman LB Jaylen Wester’s work ethic
“You just see an individual that loves playing football. You tell him you have a chance to go out and get a ball and compete with someone, he’s going to be excited about doing it, and he’s consistent with it every single day. Every day, he has the energy and the juice. He has that smile on him. You love being around him. And he plays the game the way that you’re supposed to (play) defensively. When you meet him, you wouldn’t think he was that way on defense because he’s such a nice young man, always joking and having fun, but when it comes to playing the game, he’s a really good football player.”
On the passing game against UAB
“I thought we were efficient in what we were doing. I thought our guys did a better job of executing when we did throw the football. I thought N’Kosi (Perry) managed the game really well and threw the deep ball well. When you look at the UAB defense and not just us, if you look back at Western Kentucky, I think they only threw for 165 yards on them. The defense is designed to not allow you to get behind them and not be able throw for so many yards on them. We knew coming in that was going to be a challenge for us, but we did think that we had some opportunities to get some balls down the field and it was good to take advantage of it.”
On Saturday setting the tone for the rest of the season
“It’s huge. That was a big win against a good football team coming in here and playing in a much-needed win for us. Whenever you win, you gain confidence. We have to build off of that confidence and momentum, but we also have to understand what it took in order for us to win that ball game and make sure that we continue to play that way. If you play winning football, you’ll win.”
On Freshman Punter Riley Thompson’s stellar performance
“Going in, our gameplan was to make UAB have a long field every time they have a possession. In order for that to happen, we needed to get some first downs offensively and more importantly, we needed our punter to be able to flip the field for us. Not only did he flip the field, he totally flipped it. Punting the ball down to the 1-yard line on back-to-back punts was huge for us. When you think about that ball game, four of his seven punts were inside the 20-yard line. To make them start the ball inside the 20, I would say we accomplished that goal of making them go the long field, which was critical with their style of offense. Riley played a huge part of that. He did a great job punting for us.”
On doing the little things right
“I think a big part of why we won the ball game is because we did a lot of those little things right. We didn’t have many selfish penalties in that game that typically cost you. I go back to taking care of the football, ball security which was huge because they did a great job of ripping the ball out against their opponents, and running the football, which was huge against a team like that. Our coaches did a great job of emphasizing those things in practice, and our guys took it and they demonstrated how they practiced. By no means did we play our best ball game, but we played a complete four quarters of winning football. That’s all we ask for our guys each and every week. If we do that, it’ll give us a chance to win every ball game. I really want to see this football team when it’s at its best. We haven’t seen it yet, but we’re making progress towards that way.”
On the run game against UAB
“We’ll take it however we can. Every game is different. I think in this ball game, we didn’t have much time of possession. We didn’t have many possessions in this game, so it was going to be different from a running standpoint. Each game is different depending on the teams that you’re playing and how many possessions you’ll get. I do think in this ball game, when you play with tempo, you start to get some of those big plays. You saw the one that Zuberi (Mobley) got out. I think that’s the key to our offense is playing with more tempo.”
On the upcoming Shula Bowl
“We understand the importance of this game. It’s big. FIU is playing a lot better than what they had early in the year, I feel like we’re playing better than what we did earlier in the year too, so you have two teams playing better. Playing a conference game, a rivalry game, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. We’re going to work our tail off this week to prepare for them and do the same thing next week and go down there and compete.”
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
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 will review last week’s win over UAB and will discuss FAU’s bye week. Also featured is inaugural team member Yrvens Guerrier in “Where Are They Now?” This week’s “Pads Off” is with linebacker Jamie Pettway, and the one-on-one is a conversation with wide receiver coach Billy Gonzales. Inside the Owls Burrow airs on Thursday and Saturday at 11:30am on Bally Sports Florida.
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