Owls’ offense piles up points
Singletary, Howell lead ground game to school records.
BOCA RATON — Buddy Howell has become accustomed to ranking among the career leaders at Florida Atlantic.
The senior running back is the single-season touchdown leader and is third on the program’s all-time rushing yards list.
But with the Owls (3-3, 2-0 Conference USA) breaking offensive records this season, even Howell expresses awe at how dangerous coordinator Kendal Briles’ scheme is.
“We see it on game days that the (opposing defense) decides they can’t really keep up and they’re wasted and we keep going,” Howell said.
Through the season’s first six weeks, FAU ranks third in C-USA with 34.2 points per game and fourth with 432.3 total yards per game.
The Owls lead the conference with an average of 258.7 rushing yards, with Howell contributing 403 yards and two touchdowns on 7.2 yards per rush.
FAU has broken the program records for most rushing yards in a game (439 against FCS member Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 16), rushing touchdowns in a game (eight against Old Dominion last Saturday) and points in a game (58 against the Monarchs).
With a 109-yard performance Saturday, Howell became only the third Owl to reach 2,000 yards rushing, now trailing Alfred Morris and Charles Pierre.
In the same game, Jason Driskel became the first quarterback in program history and only the fourth Owl to rush for four touchdowns in a game.
The third player, sophomore Devin Singletary (American Heritage), accomplished the feat a week earlier and is two touchdowns shy of tying Howell’s 2016 record of 13 TDs in a single season.
With his next score, Singletary would pass Pierre for the second-most rushing touchdowns in school history and come within four of passing Morris, a twotime Pro Bowler in the NFL.
“I said it last year!” Howell said of Singletary. “I knew it, like how he works, his abilities, and how he plays. He’s gonna break a lot of records.”
With Driskel, who ran for four touchdowns last season and has shown agility before, Howell admitted to being a bit more surprised.
“You score four times in a game and, shoot, a couple of them” went for more than 20 yards, Howell said. “Hey, he did his thing.”
With his next rushing touchdown, Driskel would become only the seventh Owl to reach double-digit scores in a career and the second quarterback.
Jaquez Johnson, who ran for 19 touchdowns from 2013-15, was the first.
Senior center Antonyo Woods, a mainstay on a healthy and improved offensive line, acknowledged the offense’s historic pace but said he doesn’t closely follow how close the team is to establishing records.
“If I’m watching, that’s not a good thing,” Woods said, laughing. “Up front, as a whole offense, we just do what we’re told to do. If the call is made, we gotta execute it.”
The Owls are off this week but will have an opportunity to break more records on Oct. 21, when they host North Texas.