| MIAMI – Florida Atlantic University football (5-5, 4-2 C-USA) dominated the FIU Panthers (4-6, 2-4 C-USA) from start to finish en route a 52-7 win in Shula Bowl XXI, marking the Owls’ sixth-straight Shula Bowl victory, on Saturday night at Riccardo Silva Stadium. HOW IT STARTED The Owls never let off the gas from the opening snap to the final whistle. After kicking off to the Panthers to start the game, Jaylen Wester intercepted FIU’s Grayson James on the first play of the game. The freshman’s first career interception gave the Owls the ball at the FIU four-yard line. N’Kosi Perry punched in on a one-yard quarterback sneak to put the Owls on top, 7-0, a lead FAU would never relinquish. Perry connected with Je’Quan Burton, who toe-tapped at the back of the endzone on a five-yard touchdown pass to give FAU a 14-0 lead. The Owls added another score before the first quarter came to a close as Perry scored his second rushing touchdown of the day on a three-yard scamper up the middle to give the Owls a 21-0 lead after one. FAU added three more off a Morgan Suarez 31-yarder less than a minute into the second quarter to push the Owls lead to 24 unanswered. HOW IT FINISHED After taking a 31-7 lead into the locker room, FAU continued to dominate the Panthers as FIU just couldn’t find an answer to the Owls. LaJohntay Wester got into the endzone for his first score of the night on a nine-yard rush to push the Owls lead to 31. With just over three minutes to go in the third, Perry found Tony Johnson for his second passing touchdown of the contest on a 17-yarder, pushing the FAU lead to 45-7. Willie Taggart Jr. came on in relief in the fourth quarter and tallied the Owls final touchdown of the contest on a 12-yard run to bring the score to its final, 52-7. QUOTABLE Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Willie Taggart “I’m really excited about how our entire football team played. That was by far the best game we’ve played this year as an entire unit, from special teams, offense, and defense. They took what our coaches gave them during the bye week and came out here and executed really well. That was really good to see because we were a little nervous coming into the game because N’Kosi hurt his hand earlier in the week in practice and didn’t practice on Wednesday. Thursday, he came out and threw it around a little bit, but he fought through some things today and did a great job for us.” THE OFFENSE Perry finished the night 14-for-22 for 104 yards and a pair of passing touchdowns, while adding three carries for 16 yards and two rushing scoresBurton led the Owls’ pass catchers with 42 yards on five receptions and a touchdownJohnson also had a fantastic day, collecting 43 yards on two receptions, including a game-long 26-yarder, and a touchdownLarry McCammon led the Owls rushing attack, turning in 104 yards on 26 carriesLaJohntay Wester also had a solid day on the ground, recording 67 yards rushing on three attempts, including a career-long 52-yarder THE DEFENSE Armani-Eli Adams led the Owls’ defense with five tackles, including a team-high four solo. He added a tackle for loss, three pass breakups, and a forced fumble.Jaylen Wester also had a day, tying for a team-high four solo tackles, a team-high two tackles for loss, an interception, and a quarterback hurry.Romain Mungin collected the Owls second INT and Jake Holaday also had a forced fumble on the day SPECIAL TEAMS Morgan Suarez finished the night 1-for-1 with a 31-yarderRiley Thompson had four punts for 215 yards, including a 70-yarder WHAT’S NEXT The Owls hit the road next weekend as they head to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to take on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on Saturday, Nov. 19 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN+. |
