Owls Celebrate Game No. 250, Hosting Marshall

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University football team is heavy into its week preparation and to play host to Conference USA member Marshall. The game will also mark the 250th game in Owls’ program history. This week they will do it versus the Thundering Herd, who is tied at the top of the Eastern Division lead with FAU.

Both teams will take 5-3 overall records and 3-1 C-USA records into the game, which will air on CBS Sports Network (on Facebook) live at 6 p.m. The Thundering Herd hold a 7-1 all-time record over the Owls and were the last team to defeat FAU at home with a 30-25, 2019 victory. The Owls will work for the win and to keep their home winning streak, which stands at 12, alive.

This week’s game also will celebrate the United States Military. A pregame tailgate will be held for all active and former military members (ID needed for entry). Military vehicles will be on display. The national anthem will be sung by Terriance Y. Hamilton, a 20-year veteran and Bronze Star recipient, while other veterans will be highlighted throughout the day. A live swearing in ceremony will be held for the US Army.

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Michael Johnson
On Military Appreciation Week:
“My dad was in the army. My grandfather was in the army. I grew up in a military-style family. I had a little more discipline than the average person. When I was coaching my son in high school, I was the director for the Semper Fidelis High School All-American Game, so I got a chance to work with the Marines a lot. I really appreciated a lot of the values they represent and embody every day. I look at it differently than a normal person.”

On how his military background helps him as a coach:
“When you talk about discipline, anything that is good has discipline. When you talk about a good player, a good coach, a good CEO, they’re all disciplined in what they do. There is certain structures you have to follow and certain small details you have to make sure you carry out and master. I think it carries over from who you are as a person and part of your life to what you do in life.”

On facing Marshall’s defense:
“They’re a good football team. They have good athletes. They play hard. They have a good scheme and it’s going to be a good, physical football game. We have to prepare like that. They have our respect and we’re going to do our due diligence all week and make sure we’re prepared and ready to go on Saturday.”

On the pressure of facing Marshall and staying undefeated at home:
“We’re treating this as we have to go 1-0 this week. Marshall just happens to be that team this week. Things have not gone [well] in the past, but a lot of us had not been here. We’re preparing hard, expecting a good football game against a good opponent. Our motto is we don’t lose at home, so we’re going to try to do our best to make sure we keep that streak going.”

On running the ball against Marshall:
“We want to be physical. We feel that everything we do starts with the run game. We want to try to get that going because it opens up everything else that we do. If we’re effective running the ball, then we’re hard to deal with. Each game, whether we’re playing Marshall or any other opponent, we’re going to try to establish the run some way.”

On what he expects out of FAU’s offense Saturday:
“Consistency, detail, fundamentals and execution. We want to play a clean football game. We want to make sure that we’re locked in, not making mental mistakes and give ourselves an opportunity to let our athletes play. If we can do that, I think we’ll have a good chance of winning this game.”

Defensive coordinator and safeties coach Mike Stoops
On Military Appreciation Week:
“I certainly appreciate the military in a lot of different ways. Just protecting our freedom and liberties is something we all should value and appreciate what they do to protect and serve such a great country. I don’t have a great military background. (My family’s background) has all been in coaching. We took that road but that doesn’t mean we all shouldn’t appreciate everything the military does unselfishly.”

On what he liked from the defense in the UTEP win:
“When you play a team like that, that team is 6-1. That’s a good football team. I thought we played physical up front, controlled the run game, gave up a couple of balls down the field. That’s going to happen. They have a really good quarterback and some good wide receivers. I like the way our kids competed. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Points were a premium. We set our offense up a couple of different times in very positive field position. Any time you can do that, you’re doing a lot of good things. I thought our players, for the most part, really locked in and played well. I thought Smoke [sophomore cornerback Romain Mungin] did a great job coming in and giving us a lift in the secondary. I thought our guys really played well and made some big plays in key moments.”

On the safety room, featuring graduate student Jordan Helm and redshirt sophomore Teja Young:
“I appreciate them, along with Korel (Smith) and Ahman (Ross). They understand the game very well. They understand what we’re trying to do. They understand strengths and weaknesses in every call and where they can help. I’ve really enjoyed coaching those guys. They want to learn. They’re very good football players. I think all of them have played at an extremely high level and we’re blessed to have all of them. If you have that part of your defense, that’s the last line of defense, you can usually play pretty good defense.”

On senior linebacker Caliph Brice’s injury:
“It affects us in a lot of different ways, emotionally, leadership-wise. I said a week or two ago that Caliph [Brice] was coming into his own. He’s put a lot of time into this. He’s had to adapt to a lot of different styles of defense. For him, I think he was starting to become more reactive and instinctive in his play and it showed on the field. That’s disappointing for him and certainly for us. I think Coach [Lance] Thompson has done a great job of getting players ready to play, in Keke [Leroy, Eddie [Williams], and Antarrius [Moultre]. All of these guys are good. We’ll have to keep developing a player or two, a younger player that hasn’t had the reps, but we got to get somebody ready. We’ll adapt and hopefully keep these other guys healthy.”

On defending Marshall’s running backs:
“I’ve worked with Head Coach [Charles] Huff for a couple of years at Alabama. He’s a tremendous running back coach. They take a lot of pride in how they run the football. Just like it was at Alabama, they’re going to have guys that come downhill and try to be physical with you. It’s going to be another very physical football game. That’s how they want to play. We have to make sure we tackle well and be physical at the point of attack.”

On adaptability in the defensive scheme:
“I think adaptability’s a great thing to have in your defense. We try to morph into a couple of different things but getting them to understand with limited repetitions gets hard sometimes. We would like to have more in. I think with this group of players, there’s always somebody that really steps up when we need them. It was Jordan [Helm] one week, it was Teja [Young] one week, it was Zyon [Gilbert] one week, it was Smoke [Romain Mungin] one week, it was Jaylen [Joyner], it was Caliph [Brice] two weeks ago in Charlotte. That says we got a lot of good players. That’s a system that’s doing each guy’s job and when the plays come to you, being ready to make it and do your job is what we try to preach to each guy.”
PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE

Redshirt junior offensive lineman Chaz Neal:
On military appreciation week:
“My brother is in the military, Navy. I’ve got some family relatives in the military. I just pray for people that make the country a better place.”

On changing sides from right to left tackle:
“The move came from Coach T (Taggart). The move is basically saying he wants me to play left tackle. I talked to him about it. Whatever is best for the team that makes us move forward, I do. It shows that I’m versatile and can play right or left. I’m able to process information fast and get up to speed and continue to and push forward.”

On facing Marshall’s physical defense:
“For offensive linemen, we have to finish blocks, get people on the ground, block real hard. Blocking until we hear that whistle. This is my first year here for a Marshall game. This game is worse than an FIU game, I’ve heard. It’s hate week. Every week is a hate week for us but this week it’s personal. Whoever wins this game could end up winning this conference. We’re going to take care of business as it’s going to be very personal up front.”

On running the ball:
“Preparing for this is just us coming in. Learning the ins and outs of every play. I feel like if we do that, we can run the ball how we want to, we can get on double teams how we want to, get to the second level, block those and just allow the running backs to run out.”

Redshirt sophomore safety Teja Young:
On Military Appreciation Week:
“I have a lot of family in the military. I have a couple of family members who work with the federal government, and I have family members who are overseas. It widens my spectrum of life. It widens my spectrum of what could be done in the world to help others and how to help others.”

On facing Marshall’s offense:
“My expectation is to just execute our calls. They have a new offensive coordinator, but they still have some of the same tendencies. We just want to go back to what we know about those guys and be able to execute the calls that we put in.”

On the ending against UTEP:
“We have to finish. The first three quarters mean nothing if you don’t finish in the fourth. If we finish the way we’re supposed to finish, everything will go as planned.”

On the rivalry with Marshall:
“I embrace the rivalry. I love big games. I wish the game was on an even bigger stage. I enjoy competing against the best, so this is my type of team right here.”

On what he wants to see from the defense:
“We really want to clean up mistakes. The goal is to play a perfect football game, which is not realistic as it is, but if you try to reach that goal, you will always get the outcome you want. For us, defensively, it’s getting off the field on third down, stopping the run early, and getting our hands on balls and taking the ball out of the sky.”
2021 SEASON2021 single-game tickets are available. To experience “Football in Paradise,” Click HERE or call 1-866-FAU-OWLS.