South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Owls secure undefeated regular-season home record
Florida Atlantic rolls over UMass behind 90 rushing yards from QB Javion Posey
FAU 24, UMASS 2 (LATE FRI.)
BOCA RATON — If the FAU Owls approached their offensive ceiling last week against FIU, then they played more to their floor in the first half of their 24-2 win versus UMass Friday.
Florida Atlantic (5-1, 5-1 Conference USA) didn’t display the same offensive prowess versus the Minutemen as it did in its Shula Bowl win over the Panthers.
But two third-quarter touchdowns helped the Owls secure their fourth consecutive victory and an undefeated regular-season home record (4-0) for the first time in program history.
“I’ll always be satisfied with a win,” said FAU coach Willie Taggart, who’s 5-0 at FAU Stadium in his coaching career. “Am I satisfied with the way we played? No. We could’ve played a lot better than how we played.”
Javion Posey, who made his second start at quarterback versus UMass, finished 13 of 27 for 203 yards and struggled to connect with his receivers — especially in the second quarter. The redshirt freshman went 1 of 6 in the second quarter, with FAU only gaining three yards on 14 plays in the quarter.
“[I] could’ve been way better,” Posey said. “This is just something I’ll have to work on moving forward. I’ll feel like I’ll help the offense out if I pick up my game.
“[There were] a lot of mistakes I made. A lot of missed throws and bad reads. Bad clock awareness. Just a lot of things I have to correct moving forward to help this team.”
The Owls recorded 143 total yards on 35 plays (4.1 yards per play) in the first half, and finished with 368 yards on 74 plays (five yards per play) after averaging
6.8 yards per play against FIU last week.
Posey rushed for a team-high
90 yards and one touchdown on 19 attempts. BJ Emmons also scored a rushing touchdown. Posey was sacked six times and the Owls finished with 140 yards on 44 attempts for 3.2 yards per rushing attempt — their second least efficient rushing performance on the year.
“We were getting beat on one-on-ones,” Taggart said about the offensive line. “Just as the quarterback was handing the ball off, we were getting hit in the backfield. Those things can’t happen. Our backs couldn’t get going because they were getting hit two, three yards in the backfield.”
FAU scored on its first possession of the game for the second consecutive week, putting together an eight-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Emmons getting his first touchdown of the season.
Posey rushed for 31 yards on
4th-and-four before fumbling with the Owls recovering one yard before the endzone. Emmons powered his way into the end zone to give FAU a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.
The Owls forced four threeand-outs on the Minutemen’s eight first-half possessions and held UMass to 69 yards on 31 plays in the first two quarters. The two points they allowed were the fewest on the season.
FAU’s second and third possessions of the game ended with Posey fumbling and the Owls turning the ball over on downs, respectively.
The Owls had two three-and-outs in the second quarter and only gained yards on four plays in the quarter.
FAU scored on its first two drives of the second half. Nick Tronti replaced Posey at quarterback for two plays after Posey briefly left the game with an injury. The redshirt junior connected with Brandon Robinson on a 13-yard touchdown pass to put the Owls up 14-0 with 6:47 left in the third quarter.
Posey stepped back in at quarterback on the next drive, rushing for
70 yards and getting into UMass’ endzone on the possessions’ first play to put FAU 21-0 with 4:27 left in the quarter. Posey’s touchdown was the longest run of his career and the longest by an FAU quarterback in program history.
The Minutemen scored their lone points of the game and prevented FAU from getting its first shutout of the season on the next drive when they blocked Matt Hayball’s punt out of the Owls’ endzone for the safety.
“We wanted [the shutout] a lot,” linebacker Ahman Ross said. “That’s something we want to accomplish as a defense. It’s coming soon.”
FAU forced seven three-and-outs and held UMass to 147 yards on 55 total plays. Out of UMass’ 14 drives, 10 ended with punts, two ended on a turnover-on-downs and two concluded with FAU interceptions.
Teja Young and David Belvin both recorded interceptions against the Minutemen for the Owls’ first turnovers in four games.
“These guys have been working really hard to try to get [turnovers],” Taggart said. “Our coaching staff has done a great job emphasizing it throughout practice.”
Vladimir Rivas scored the game’s final points with a 30-yard field goal with 4:58 left in the game.
FAU will close out the regular season with road games against Middle Tennessee State (Nov. 28), Georgia Southern (Dec. 5) and Southern Miss (Dec. 10).
“Being on the road is a mission,” Ross said. “We’re not there for fun and games, we’re there to accomplish business.”