FAU won’t lowball Louisiana Tech

BOCA RATON — The record shows Florida Atlantic should be a favorite in Saturday’s game at Louisiana Tech.

Just don’t expect the Owls’ to pay much attention to wins and losses. FAU coach Lane Kiffin thinks the 4-5 Bulldogs have one of the most deceptive records in Conference USA.

“I don’t look at the conference record of these guys,” Kiffin said. “The last seven games came down to one possession game in the last four minutes of the game for them.”

Louisiana Tech has lost three games by a point. Another loss came in overtime against Southern Miss.

“They went into another one in overtime [against Southern Miss] and had South Carolina beat,” Kiffin said. “... They were ahead. South Carolina basically had to throw a miracle pass … otherwise they were going to win at South Carolina.”

The Owls’ defense will spend most of the preparation week searching for better consistency on third down. For a second consecutive game, it had trouble during stretches before getting it together when needed.

“I think it was a story of two halves,” Kiffin said. “I believe in the first half they went 6 of 8. In the second half, I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was a lot lower. Again, two games in a row we played a lot better in the second half on third-down defense and then at the end of the game there we have got to put them away.”

Next game: FAU at Louisiana Tech, Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN3, WTCN

— Shandel Richardson