Kiffin not used to being on low side of lopsided scores

Lane Kiffin is used to being the bully, the Power Five coach handing out the crushing loss to a lower-level program.

Call Saturday’s 63-14 loss to No. 7 Oklahoma — which led 56-0 in the third quarter — a humbling experience for the second-year Florida Atlantic University coach.

“I’ve not been in situations like that where the games are out of hand that early,” Kiffin said Sunday. “You figure out how long do you play your starters, do you keep going fast even though we’re not having success on offense, but that’s the best way to have success . ... That’s what happens when you have two teams that go fast.”

A late rushing touchdown by redshirt junior Kerrith Whyte (Seminole Ridge) kept the Owls from tying for the worst defeat against a Power Five team in program history. Kansas State routed FAU 63-7 on Sept. 17, 2016, just months before Kiffin was hired to turn around a program that hadn’t posted a winning record since 2008.

The 63 points were the most allowed by a Kiffin-led team, surpassing the 62 allowed in a blowout loss to Arizona State in 2013 when he was head coach at Southern Cal. Kiffin was infamously fired at Los Angeles International Airport after that game.

Kiffin, a USC assistant from 2001 to 2006 and Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016, has been on the winning sideline against overmatched programs plenty of times. Coincidentally, his home debut with the Crimson Tide came in a 41-0 win over FAU.

Kiffin’s days at Alabama were a distant memory Saturday, when FAU was outgained 650 yards to 324. The Sooners pulled most of their starters late in the second quarter and still outscored the Owls 21-14 in the second half.

FAU scored at least 50 points four times last season, including a 69-31 win over North Texas. Kiffin compared Saturday’s loss to that game but “in reverse.”

Quarterback update: Kiffin said there has been no discussion about who will start at quarterback against Air Force on Saturday (2 p.m., CBS Sports Network) in FAU’s home opener.

Redshirt freshman Chris Robison, a transfer from Oklahoma, struggled against his former team, completing 15 of 26 passes for 157 yards and no touchdowns. Graduate transfer Rafe Peavey and redshirt junior De’Andre Johnson were a combined 3 for5 for 35 yards with an interception.

Neither Peavey nor Johnson has made a start at the FBS level, although Johnson started for East Mississippi Community College in 2016. Johnson ran for 39 yards on nine carries and was praised by Kiffin for “making plays with his feet.”

Hard knocks: Although teams rarely have full-contact practices during the season, Kiffin said the Owls will need to work on tackling this week before facing Air Force. The Falcons run a triple-option offense that is capable of giving FAU’s defense fits, as Navy’s did a 41-19 win over the Owls last September.

Premature celebration: At least one person thought the Owls managed to pull off the biggest upset in program history. A mass text sent to alumni Saturday evening from the Florida Atlantic University Alumni Association congratulated the Owls, who “just beat #7 ranked OU on their home field.”

Several people who received the text said they thought it was a hoax before learning others had received it.

The alumni association has not issued a statement clarifying how or why the text was sent.