South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Owls get some reinforcements
BOCA RATON — The FAU Owls’ inactive list was a lot shorter versus UTSA Saturday at FAU Stadium than it was against Marshall lastweekend.
Florida Atlantic, which was without 43 players (28COVID-19 related) in its loss totheThunderingHerd, onlyhadtwonovel coronavirus-related absences against theRoadrunners.
Marquise Robinson and BJ Etienne returned to the starting lineup as the Owls’ left and right tackle, respectively. They both missed last week’s game, with Devin Hayes and Doug Johnson Jr. starting in their place.
FAU’s running back unitwasn’t asdeepas usual, withBJEmmons (sprained ankle) inactive for Saturday after FAU coachWillie Taggart said the senior running back was questionable heading into the game.
Sophomore running back Larry McCammon IIIwas also inactive versus the Roadrunners due to an ankle sprain sustained against Marshall.
Emmons was injured in the first quarter of FAU’s win against CharlotteonOct. 3anddidn’t play against theThunderingHerd. He hadfour carries for 13 yardsversus the 49ers.
McCammon and Emmons’ absences allowed more rushing opportunities for the Owls’ other running backs, with Malcolm Davidson rushing for 65 yards on eight attempts in the first half — including three rushes of 15-plus yards.
Among other key absences for FAUon Saturdaywere:
Backup quarterback Javion Posey, who returned to practice earlier in the week. Justin Agner andWillie Taggart Jr. were both available versusUTSA.
Redshirt freshman defensive endMarlon Bradley and redshirt senior defensive tackle Marcel Southall were out for Saturday’s game with injuries.
Offense starts strong
The Owls bounced back from their slowoffensive starts in their first two games.
FAUscoredonitsopeningdrive of the game for the first time this season with Vladi Rivas kicking a
24-yardfield goal to cap a 10-play,
58-yard drive to the Owls’ their first opening quarter points on the season.
Theyscoredontheirnextpossession after forcing a three-and-out.
James Charles ran for 15 yards on fourth-and-1 before starting quarterback Nick Tronti connected with wide receiver Aaron Young on the next play for
a27-yardtouchdownto giveFAUa
10-0 lead with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
The Owls put together a nineplay, 80-yard drive that finished with Tronti rushing for a 2-yard touchdown toward the end of the second quarter to give FAUa 17-3 lead heading into halftime.
FAUhad nine points in the first halfof its previoustwogames. The Owls gained 6.7 yards per play
(241 yards on 36 plays) in the first half versus UTSA after 234 total
yardson67plays againstMarshall and 315 yards on 55 plays versus Charlotte.
Tronti attributed the better offensive start to being able toplay games consecutive weekends for the first time this season.
“Your first game, you’re always getting back into the groove of things and then you have to wait another threemoreweeks to play anotherone, soit’s kindof like you playyourfirstgameallover again,” he said. “Playing back-to-back helps a lot andwe showed flashes of our offense tonight.”
Streak over
TheOwls’ streak of games with at leastonetakeaway, whichdated back to Sept. 14, 2019, against Ball State, endedat 14afterFAUdidn’t force a turnover versusUTSA.
The Owls lead the nation in takeaways with 33 in 14 games last season and have three so far this season.
Romain “Smoke” Mungin nearly had two interceptions against the Roadrunners, including one he caught at the beginningof the fourth quarter butwas called back because of an Owls’ offside penalty.
“Well, if his teammate didn’t jump offsides, he would’ve had one,” FAU coachWillie Taggart said. “That was a hell of a catch there. I toldhimthisweekhe’dget one, too. I wanted that interception to count because I would’ve been able to tell him ‘I told you I was right.’ It’s going to come.”