FAU has record-setting night against North Texas
BOCA RATON — The night was set up to honor the Florida Atlantic football team that won a bowl game 10 years ago.
It turned into a display of perhaps the program’s next postseason team.
The Owls continued their strong play with a record-setting 69-31 victory over North Texas on Saturday at FAU Stadium. They are tied with Marshall atop the East standings in Conference USA. The Owls have won three consecutive games for the first time in four years. They are also over .500 during the second half of the season for the first time since 2008.
“Very proud of our players,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin said. “There were some obstacles in this game as far as handling success. … We probably played our best two games so the challenge was can we maintain that.”
When the homecoming crowd cheered for the 2007 FAU team that won the New Orleans Bowl after the first quarter, the current version was well on the way to another impressive performance. They rode running back Devin “Motor” Singletary, who finished with 123 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.
Singletary needed just seven games to set the school’s single-season touchdown record. He now has 14, surpassing teammate Gregory Howell Jr.’s mark of 13 set a year ago. With 26 career touchdowns, Singletary is just one shy of tying Alfred Morris’ school record.
Just a sophomore, Singletary has plenty of time left to continue making his mark in the FAU record books. He opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run. On the Owls’ next possession, he scored from 3 yards out to make it 14-0 with 6 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“Running backs, we feel like we’re tempo-setters for the offense,” Singletary said. “We’ve got to make something happen every game.”
The Owls (4-3, 3-0) made easy work of a North Texas team that entered undefeated in conference play. They scored the game’s first 24 points, including a 69-yard pass from quarterback Jason Driskel to freshman receiver Willie Wright, and never let up.
The Owls had 460 yards of total offense before halftime. They finished with a conference-record 804 yards, which is the secondhighest in the Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) this season. Missouri had 815 against Missouri State in September.
Howell finished with 70 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Driskel completed 24-of-35 passes for 357 yards and two touchdowns before leaving late in the third quarter.
It was the second consecutive game the Owls scored at least 50 points. After setting the previous school record with 58 points against Old Dominion, they broke that mark when third-string running back Kerrith Whyte scored on an 82-yard run at the end of the third quarter. It is the longest run in school history.
The performance proved the Owl weren’t affected by the bye week. They initially feared the time off would slow momentum. It did the exact opposite. The Owls scored on their first 11 drives, scoring nine touchdowns and kicking two field goals.
“We want to score more and more every week,” Howell said. “It’s not surprising because when we’re on a roll, we feel like nobody can stop us. We’re just out there having fun, that’s the main thing.”