FAU Fails To Capitalize On A Prime Opportunity Against UCF

The biggest game in recent FAU history didn’t disappoint. UCF traveled to Boca to take on an aggressive, offensive team in FAU. The stadium was rocking with a sell-out crowd waiting to see an upset, and early on, the Owls gave UCF a run for their money. Don’t let the score fool you. This was a much better game than the 40-14 final score.

FAU did what they have done all season: score on their first drive of the game, showing how explosive this offense can be. UCF would answer with a John Rhys Plumlee touchdown to tie it up. FAU would again score right after with a powerful running game and Zuberi Mobley’s 15-yard rushing touchdown to cap off the 1st quarter with FAU winning 14-7.

People may not realize FAU has a great college football atmosphere. They had the stadium rocking and full of energy. You could feel the energy and how badly the students wanted this win. I’m not particularly eager to talk about morale victories, but people should pay attention to the culture building down there. The atmosphere was just incredible. Sadly, FAU wouldn’t score for the rest of the game. 

FAU blundered repeatedly; they could easily be up 21-7 or even 24-7 at the half. The Owls just kept shooting themselves in the foot. They had multiple bad snaps and even a fumble by N’Kosi Perry deep in UCF territory. They also allowed the Knights to convert on two fourth downs. It just seemed FAU was breaking down deeper and deeper into the game. In the second quarter, UCF scored nine straight points to take a 16-14 lead into halftime. The stadium was still energetic because FAU fans knew they were in this game. 

In the second half, things got messier after a quick touchdown by UCF to start the second half. FAU found themselves in a hole. They would get shot at life when a John Rhys Plumlee interception was returned to the one-yard line. The stadium was about to explode. Everyone was going crazy, thinking FAU would cut the deficit to two. FAU’s 1st down on the one-yard line would not only fail to score a touchdown but also not even get any points out of the trip. FAU once again shot itself in the foot.

Larry McCammon fumbled the snap out of a wildcat formation. Although he recovered it, they lost about ten yards. FAU wasn’t able to move the ball and had to settle for a field goal, but again, hopefully, you are starting to see a theme here as UCF blocked the field goal. Once it was blocked, you could feel all the energy in the stadium leave. After that, FAU had no fight in them anymore and rolled over the rest of the way as UCF ran away with the game. 

I by no means want to take anything away from UCF. They struggled early on with their offense but made adjustments and came out dominating from the second quarter. Plumlee was terrific through the air and the ground, throwing for over 300 yards and rushing for over 100; proving everyone wrong based on last week’s game. UCF’s WR duo of Ryan O’keef and Javon Baker were sensational. Those are two NFL-level guys, and FAU had no answers for them. To go along with them, the surprise performance of the game was TE Alec Holder, who had over 100 yards receiving. He was able to get behind the FAU defense over and over again for big chunk plays. UCF’s offense was firing on all cylinders; you still felt like FAU gave this game away their mistakes and play-calling.

FAU won’t reach its season goals if they are this bad in the red zone; for a team averaging over 30 points a game to rank outside of the top 50 in red zone percentage is mind-blowing. They weren’t that good in the red zone last year, and so far this year, there hasn’t been any improvement. Barring an upset against Purdue, it’s safe to say that the non-conference part of the season was wildly underwhelming. FAU fans deserve better. I’m close to hopping off the FAU train and getting aboard the fire Willie Taggart ship.