FAU can’t hold lead, falls to No. 22 Marshall:

Marshall’s Brenden Knox rushed for 101 yards and caught one of redshirt freshman Grant Wells’ two touchdown passes to lead the Thundering Herd over the Owls.

HUNTINGTON, W.VA. — The good news for the FAU Owls was that they got in their second football game of the season after numerous pandemic-related cancellations.

The bad news was that they couldn’t earn their first road win, falling 20-9 to No. 22 Marshall (5-0, 3-0 Conference USA) on Saturday.

Marshall’s Brenden Knox rushed for 101 yards and caught one of redshirt freshman Grant Wells’ two touchdown passes to lead the Thundering Herd past the pesky Owls (1-1, 1-1), who snapped an eight-game winning streak that stretched into last season.

FAU brought 57 players on its first trip of the season, just above the mandated minimum of 53 available scholarship players during the pandemic. The Owls even held a third-quarter lead before Marshall scored the final 13 points.

With FAU missing both of its starting offensive tackles due to the COVID-19 virus, the Owls were limited to 234 yards of offense.

Marshall came up with another solid performance in stopping the run. FAU quarterback Nick Tronti, who ran for 94 yards in the Owls’ only other game on Oct. 3, was held to minus-45 yards on 11 rushes and was sacked five times. The Thundering Herd entered Saturday third in the nation in rush defense at 68.5 yards per game.

Marshall trailed in a game for the first time this season after Vladimir Rivas kicked a 43-yard field goal to put FAU ahead 9-7 midway through the third quarter.

The deficit didn’t last long. Knox, the preseason Conference USA player of the year, ran 17 yards on third down on the next series and Wells capped the four-play drive with a 41-yard scoring pass to Artie Henry to put Marshall ahead to stay.

A short punt on FAU’s next drive set up Marshall inside the Owls’ territory, and Shane Ciucci converted a 35-yard field goal for a 17-9 lead.

Wells threw what appeared to be his third interception early in the fourth quarter, but FAU was called for a personal foul in the end zone. No one on the FAU sideline protested Marshall getting to keep the ball, even though it appeared to occur after the interception.