Owls enjoying added attention
National media taking notice of FAU’s streak
At first, Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin wanted the program to avoid attention.
He was fine with the Owls keeping a low profile. Now, with his team on a three-game winning streak and gaining national attention, Kiffin is willing to accept a little of the spotlight.
“Success brings attention, and that’s what you want on your program,” Kiffin said. “From the standpoint of recruiting and national exposure, that part’s good.”
The Owls (4-3, 3-0 in Conference USA) are above .500 at this point in the season for the first time since 2008. They are suddenly are on the national media’s radar, with Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports among the outlets to praise their success.
While the applause is welcome, Kiffin still wants the players to remain focused.
“You go to class, you go to restaurants now and everybody is telling you how great you are,” Kiffin said. “It’s hard at any age not to listen to that, especially at their young age.”
The Owls were among the most talked about teams in college football after their recordbreaking performance last
week against North Texas. The Mean Green entered as one of the top teams in the conference but left on the receiving end of a 69-31 beating.
FAU gained 804 total yards, which is the secondhighest in Division I-A this season, and scored on its first 11 possessions. The Owls did not punt.
“Obviously, you hear about it all week,” said FAU linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, the team’s leading tackler. “Coaches are going to tell you how good the other team is and stuff like that, but we’re good too.”
The next step for the Owls is playing that well on a consistent basis. They ran into complacency issues earlier this season when they followed an impressive victory against BethuneCookman with a letdown loss at Buffalo.
“I think what we talked about, and the players will tell you that, you’ve got to earn respect,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got to do that every week. We try to send a message to each opponent in the conference because … we know we’ve got to play those guys.”
The Owls are focused on building the program. That showed in the way they handled the bye week. They woulnd’t let the idle time slow momentum. It only added steam to what the students on campus are calling “The Lane Train.”
“Most teams take it easy on the bye week,” said receiver John Franklin III, who transferred from Auburn in the offseason. “We actually went harder … I think we’re on a roll right now.”
The FAU name is starting to appear alongside some of college football’s elite programs. The Owls’ 285.6 rushing yards per game ranks ninth nationally, just one spot below Alabama. Sophomore running back Devin “Motor” Singletary is tied with Auburn’s Kerryon Johnson for first with 14 rushing touchdowns.
The Owls are fourth in the country with 12 interceptions. It has all added up to creating a winning environment, something most were unaccustomed to. They went 3-9 the last three seasons.
“Like I said last time, we’re addicted to winning,” running back Gregory Howell Jr. said. “We’ve got to get another one, another one and another one. It’s a great feeling to not follow the same footsteps of last year. We’ve got four wins, Now, we’ve got to get five.”