In a Sunshine State AAC battle, Florida Atlantic (FAU) dominated the South Florida Bulls (USF) 56-14.
The Owls came into this matchup after an impressive 20-17 victory over Tulsa and were looking to take advantage of a USF team that just came off a blowout loss the week prior.
Florida Atlantic got off to a great start as their opening drive of the game went seven plays for 67 yards, which ended in a five-yard touchdown by Zeke Moore.
USF got off to an ugly start to begin the game as they punted on three of their first four drives of the game, and had a fumble on their second drive.
FAU backup quarterback Michael Johnson Jr had his first score of the day in the second quarter on a nine-yard run to put the Owls up 14-0. USF responded immediately with a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive of their own on the ensuing possession. Nay’Quan Wright ran in an eight-yard score to get the Bulls on the board as they trailed 14-7.
The Owls got on the board again with a Larry McCammon three-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by LaJohntay Wester, who had an incredible 21-yard grab that got FAU all the way down to USF’s 14-yard line. The Bulls would close the half out strong with a two-yard touchdown grab from Gunnar Greenwald, as they trailed 21-14 going into the locker room.
The second half was dominated by FAU as they out-scored and shutout USF 35-0, en route to winning the game. USF’s first two drives of the second half were three and-outs that both resulted in punts. The Bulls’ last three drives of the second half all resulted in a turnover on downs, which led to them finding zero points in the second half.
Florida Atlantic came out scoring a touchdown on their first four offensive possessions of the second half, including a 67-yard punt return touchdown by LaJohntay Wester. Michael Johnson Jr had his second touchdown of the day on the opening drive for the Owls with a five-yard score.
In the ensuing possession for the Owls, quarterback Daniel Richardson had a big fourth down conversion as he scrambled to USF’s 17-yard line on a gain of 22. The drive was capped off by a LaJohntay Wester 17-yard touchdown score to put the Owls up 35-14 at that point.
In the fourth quarter, Florida Atlantic just poured it on USF with two more touchdown drives. A six-play drive resulted in a 23-yard grab by Tony Johnson in the endzone, and the last score of the game was a 12-yard touchdown run by Kobe Lewis.
I asked USF head coach Alex Golesh postgame about how the team and coaching staff can make proper adjustments when the game begins to slip away from them:
“The conversation is adjusting the game plan if something is not working. Offensively it felt like we weren’t running the ball in the first quarter and a half. Defensively the biggest thing we talked about at halftime was applying more pressure, and trying to force some off-schedule throws. We didn’t execute that well enough.”
USF has now lost the last two games by a total margin of 63 points and will be looking to bounce back next week on the road at UConn.
For the Owls, they had a great game-plan, they executed better, and got a huge road win that got them back to a 3-3 record, and they’re now 2-0 in conference play. FAU will take on UTSA next weekend and will look to make it three consecutive wins in a row.
A big takeaway for FAU is the play of quarterback Daniel Richardson. Due to the injury (ACL) that Casey Thompson suffered against Clemson, Richardson is now FAU’s starting quarterback, but FAU will do just fine with him at the helm. The Central Michigan transfer completed 31-of-38 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns.
Also, the Owls have a totally-reliable receiver in Wester, who caught 10 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. He even added a punt return touchdown, showing off his world-class speed. Funny enough, Wester leads the nation (all of college football) in receptions.