Kiffin, FAU focused on finishing strong
BOCA RATON — It was one of the most impressive comments Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin heard fromone of his players.
After the Owls clinched a berth in the Conference USA championship game by defeating rival Florida International on Saturday, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair uttered the words, “Charlotte is on the clock” during the postgame interviews. He was referring to their opponent in the lastgameof the regular season.
It was proof the team isn’t just satisfied by achieving one of the season’smain goals. They have refused to lose focus because there is so much more to accomplish.
“That is very satisfying,” Kiffin said. “That’s a good analogy. I think that does speak volumes for where the team is at. I think they were excited as you could see them go get the trophy. They were excited in the locker room but [the celebration] was a little maybe shorter for themagnitudeof getting to the championship, winning the division, beating your rival. That’s a good thing.
Even though their matchup against North Texas in the league title game is already set for Dec. 2, the Owls are hardly treating this like a bye week. A win would complete an undefeated conference season and continue the momentum. The Owls enter the final weekend on a schoolbest seven-game winning streak.
Kiffin said there is no chance they rest any players to prepare for their two postseason games. After the conference championship, the Owls will play in a bowl game for the first since 2008.
“We don’t care where we play or who we play,” Kiffin said. “Our job is to win. We don’t think thatway. It’s not the NFL where the game doesn’t matter because you’ve already clinched. A lot of times they won’t play their starters. That’s different. We want to be undefeated in the conference. We want to leave no doubt about the regular season, how we played, and end on that.”
Closing the season with a victory could also help the Owls attain another goal. For the first time in school history, they received four votes in the Top 25 poll this week. The team has never finished ranked since moving up to the Division I-A level in 2004.
“It doesn’t matter until the end,” Kiffin said. “That’s what is remembered. Nobody says,H`ey in Week 11, you guys were at this ranking.’ Just like the College Football Playoff stuff, none of thatmatters. It matters to fans. That’s whywe need to keep improving, keeping get better. If you want to be a Top 25 program, then you need to finish thatway.”’
The Owls have no plans to let Charlotte’s 1-10 record affect the way it prepares for the game. The 49ers are only ahead of winlessUTEP in the conference standings. Kiffin said he was able to nitpick some mistakes in the 52-24 victory against FIU to keep the players motivated.
“I don’t think we played very well on offense, which is shocking to me in that type ofgame, the magnitude of that game,” Kiffin said. “We had a lot of points, a lot of yards. I thought we played well on defense. I don’t know why that is. We just didn’t have the mentality of really finishing them… This is not about the opponent that we’re playing. It’s about us. It’s about getting better everyweek.”
srichardson@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @shandelrich