COVID-19-weary Owls looking for historic win

As No. 22 Marshall looms, FAU has never defeated an opponent situated in AP Top 25

The circumstances for the FAU Owls’ second of the game are less than optimal.

FAU’s most recent coronavirus outbreak, which would’ve forced 38 members of the program to miss the postponed Oct. 10 game against Southern Miss due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing, led to several players not rejoining the group from isolation until late this past week.

The Owls haven’t played a game since their season-opening win versus Charlotte on Oct. 3 at FAU Stadium.

Now FAU, which is coming off a bye week, must play its first game in three weeks against one of the best teams in Conference USA in Marshall on Saturday in Huntington, W.Va.

The Thundering Herd are undefeated to start the season (4-0, 2-0 C-USA) and ranked No. 22 in college football’s Associated Press poll.

Meanwhile, the Owls have had a difficult time building momentum from their first game due to their season’s interruptions.

“It’s tough to tell you where improvements have come from — if they came — because of what happened after the Charlotte game, not having everybody around and not being able

to practice the way you want to,” FAU coach Willie Taggart said. “This game will tell us some things.”

While Taggart said he won’t know the availability of every player until game-day, FAU isn’t making excuses.

The Owls will look to slow down a Marshall team led by 2019 All-C-USA running back Brenden Knox. FAU knows from firsthand experience how dangerous the redshirt junior can be.

Knox ran for a career-high 220 yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts in the Owls’ lone conference loss last season. He’s recorded seven rushing touchdowns (tied for third-best in the nation) in addition to 455 yards on the ground on 93 attempts (4.9 yards per attempts) entering Saturday.

“He’s as good of a back we’ll see this year,” FAU defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt said about Knox earlier this week. “He’s one of the better backs I’ve seen in a long time. And then you got the big offensive line — they’re big, strong and [Knox] finds those creases.

“They’ve got two or three tight ends they use that are all good [and] very athletic. A quarterback that knows where to go with the ball, and good receivers that run well. Do they have any weaknesses? I don’t really see it.”

FAU, which hasn’t defeated a ranked opponent in program history and is 1-6 against the Thundering Herd in the all-time series, hopes it’ll have a better start against Marshall than it did versus Charlotte.

The Owls didn’t score until the third quarter against the 49ers, and they know they can’t waste time against a Marshall defense that’s ranked top-10 in the nation in points allowed per game (third) and yards allowed per game (fifth).

The Thundering Herd have won all of their games by double digits

MICHAELLAUGHLIN | SUN SENTINEL FAU will finally play its second game of the season against No. 22 Marshall after multiple COVID-19 related delays.