BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Nov. 30, 2019) – Chris Robison threw three touchdown passes, all to All-American candidate Harrison Bryant, and Florida Atlantic University football forced five Southern Miss turnovers to sew up the Conference USA East Division title for the second time in three years, 34-17. The Owls will face the West Division champions next week (still yet to be determined) in the 2019 Ryan Conference USA Football Championship, with the matchup taking place at FAU Stadium at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7.
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Quotable
“When you get five turnovers on defense, two more fourth-down stops, you’re going to win a lot of games,” said head coach Lane Kiffin. “We’re number one in the country in turnovers and number one in the country in turnover margin. I’m proud of these players, two of three years to win the division, now to have the conference championship at home, it’s a good spot to be in.”
Quick Hits
· FAU (9-3, 7-1 C-USA) won the toss for the 11th time this year out of 12 games. They chose to defer to USM (7-5, 5-3 C-USA) to the second half
· The team traded three-and-outs to start. Two drives later, a seven-yard USM punt set up very good field position for the Owls, on the visitor 33
· The Owls picked up 11 yards on five plays, and Vladimir Rivas split the uprights from 40 yards out for the game’s opening score
· On their next possession, FAU would need just two plays and 47 seconds to notch the first touchdown of the day. Robison’s jet sweep to Deangelo Antoine went for 39 yards; Robison then found a wide-open Bryant for a 38-yard score
· USM drove to have 1st and goal to start the second quarter, but back-to-back tackles for loss by Leighton McCarthy and Tim Bonner pushed it back out to the 12. A pass to the goal line was intercepted by Meiko Dotson, his seventh of the year, and he returned it to midfield (with a penalty on the Golden Eagles moving it to the USM 34)
· Again, it took just two plays – and this time, 29 seconds – for an Owl touchdown. A screen pass to James Charles netted 19 yards, and Robison found Bryant for their second TD connection of the day, for 15 yards, and a 17-0 lead
· USM got on the board midway through the second quarter on a 23-yard field goal. The very next play, an interception with a return took it to the FAU eight, and a rushing touchdown consequently made it 17-10
· Dotson picked off his second pass of the day late in the second, setting a new program single-season mark with eight
· Owls were forced to punt on their first series after the break, but the defense’s third interception of the day came on USM’s first play from scrimmage. This one was by Akileis Leroy, and he returned it to the Golden Eagle three-yard line
· BJ Emmons took it in on the very next play to take the lead back out to two scores at 24-10
· Leroy would then force a fumble while sacking the USM quarterback, with William Davis recovering it
· Noah Jefferson came up with the team’s second sack for back-to-back QB stops by the Owl defense
· USM put together a 14-play scoring drive, covering 8:10, for a late third quarter score to cut it to seven
· The fourth quarter began with a 40-yard rush by Emmons, the Owls’ longest play of the day, and two snaps later, Robison found Bryant in the end zone for the third time
· McCarthy’s 3rd down sack forced another USM punt that would go for just 23 yards
· The Owls extended the lead on a 31-yard field goal from Aaron Shahriari, the first of his FAU career
· Leroy put the icing on the cake with his second interception, with 2:12 left. His line of the day was 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and the two picks
Stats and Records
· Bryant’s three receptions on the day totaled 75 yards and all went for scores. In 2019, he is now at 965 yards receiving, on 61 receptions, and doubled his TD output to six on the season
· Dotson’s eighth pick set the single-season record; his seventh had tied the mark previously set by Jalen Young (2017), D’Joun Smith (2013) and Tavious Polo (2007)
· The team now has 19 interceptions on the year, tied for second all-time with the 2007 squad, behind only the 2017 team’s 20. Add in Leroy’s forced fumble/Davis’ recovery, and the team’s turnover margin through 12 games is now +19. Dependent the completion of Alabama’s game, that very well could be the top mark in the nation (the Crimson Tide came into Saturday at +17 and had committed two turnovers to forcing one through three quarters of their game at Auburn)
· Robison started the game 0-for-4, but each of the next two drives were both made up only of passes, in which he went 4-for-4 for 111 yards and two touchdowns
· Emmons led the running backs corps with 71 yards on 11 carries and added his third rushing touchdown of the year
· Leroy hit double digits in tackles for the fifth time this year with his team-high 11. Fellow linebackers Smith and Hosea Barnwell V were next, with nine and eight tackles, respectively
What’s Next
The Owls will host the 2019 C-USA Championship next Saturday at FAU Stadium, against whoever takes the West Division crown. Kickoff will be at 1:30 p.m., and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or click HERE.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research andscholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
