Owls Fall to ECU

Box ScoreBOCA RATON, FLA. – The Florida Atlantic University football team (4-6, 3-3 AAC) fell to the East Carolina Pirates (2-8, 1-6 AAC) by a score of 22-7 on Saturday afternoon.

GAME HIGHLIGHTSFAU found their score of the game thanks to their efforts on the ground. Junior wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, the Paul Hornung Award Watch List member, showed off his signature versatility with a 12-yard run in a drive that culminated in redshirt junior quarterback Michael Johnson Jr. taking a read option into the end zone from three yards out.

Defensively, the takeaways kept coming with the Owls’ 16th of the season. Graduate safety Jarron Morris snagged an interception for his team-leading third of the year. The Owls also continued to put forth an effective pass rush. Their three sacks on the night puts them up to 26 on the season, tied for most in a year since 2020, and the unit combined for 15 tackles for loss. Overall, the team finished with 15 tackles for loss, tying a single game team record that goes all the way back to 2002.

OFFENSE

Johnson Jr. has six touchdowns on his 18 touches, meaning every time he has touched the ball this season, he finds the end zone one-third of the time.
With 36 rushing yards and 20 receiving yards, senior running back Larry McCammon III led the offense with 56 yards from scrimmage
Wester tallied 50 yards from scrimmage: 38 receiving and 12 rushing

DEFENSE

Desmond Tisdol collected a team-high nine tackles and added a sack
Sophomore linebacker Jaylen Wester’s role within the defense is growing each week and he continues to earn more snaps, this game recording eight tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss
Junior defensive lineman Evan Anderson recorded a sack to add to his career-high season total of 3.5
Sixth-year safety Kaelen Skipper made his first start of his Owls career and logged seven tackles

QUOTABLE

Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Tom Herman
“We tend to have the mindset of fans and we let records and we don’t listen to our coaches and we don’t watch the film, you don’t realize how good of a football team you are about to play. This is uncharted territory for myself and most of our staff, but the one thing I do know is we played well enough for about a month there to put ourselves in position to play a Top 25 team at home with an opportunity to stay alive in the postseason and that hasn’t happened in here for three years. We still have a lot to play for and we have to get up and go tomorrow.”

Graduate safety Jarron Morris
“We can always play better. I know we held them to five field goals, but it wasn’t enough to win a game. We just have to eliminate more points and continue to do our job.”

Junior quarterback Daniel Richardson
“Watching film all week, their record wasn’t how they played. I thought our defense played a great game. Watching them on film, they fly around the ball which they did today. They made plays all over, got penetration up front and then the secondary played really well. We have to do better, get our balls to our playmakers.”

Sophomore linebacker Jaylen Wester
“There is always room for improvement, but our defense stuck together and we just got back to our training, listening to coach Roc (Bellantoni).”

Redshirt senior safety Kaelen Skipper
“I am blessed to have this opportunity to be in this position. It was nice being out there, it has been a lot of hard work going into this.”