Owls celebrate berth in C-USA title game
Win over FIU sets up Dec. 2 meeting with North Texas.
BOCA RATON — Only the Lane Kiffin era at Florida Atlantic would see school president Dr. John Kelly dancing in the locker room after a big win.
Now that FAU (8-3, 7-0) is Conference USA East champions after a 52-24 Shula Bowl win Saturday night over FIU, Kelly and the Owls were free to celebrate.
“It’s big just to know that everybody has our back,” junior safety Jalen Young (Seminole Ridge) said. “Everybody at FAU believes in us. We actually came through for them ... We let a lot of people down (over the years).
The standards of years past — the one where the Owls fell in close games and went 3-9 for three straight seasons — has changed after Lane Kiffin’s hiring last December. Both Kelly and FAU Athletic Director Pat Chun were taking a risk with Kiffin, who’d been unceremoniously fired from the NFL’s Oakland Raiders and the USC Trojans — mixing an abrupt, couch-burning departure from Tennessee into the mix as well — before spending 2014-16 as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.
After taking selfies with FAU fans who sprinted on the field — the same fans who may have been challenged to name even one returning player from this year’s team — Kiffin proved the Lane Train is more than a simple marketing tactic.
“It’s neat just because I don’t think it’s a story any of us would have written the way that it was,” said Kiffin, who is only two wins away from becoming the second-winningest coach in FAU history behind only Howard Schnellenberger (58 wins).
On Dec. 2, Kiffin and FAU will host North Texas for the C-USA title game (noon, ESPN2). FAU had over 800 yards of offense in a 69-31 romp over the Mean Green on Oct. 21 at FAU Stadium.
Calling FAU’s 2017 season improbable to this point may be an understatement, especially when the season began with a 42-19 home loss to Navy which ended at 1:48 a.m. after lightning delays. FAU then went to Wisconsin where it lost 31-14 to the still-unbeaten Badgers and was stuck afterward for about a week because of Hurricane Irma, and followed that by splitting the two games to begin conference play with a 1-3 record.
Since a 34-31 loss to Buffalo on Sept. 23, in which star linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair didn’t play, the Owls are 7-0 and have outscored opponents by a 337-179 margin.
“Everything we’ve been through since I’ve been at this program — (three straight seasons of going 3-9) — and now you have a complete shift,” said Al-Shaair, who now has a career-high 115 tackles on the season. “Coach Kiffin tells us all the time, ‘Nobody picked us to win. Not a single person.’”
Kiffin has not only brought wins to Boca Raton, but national recognition as well. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBS, and more have all visited the small commuter school, while ex-NFLers Clinton Portis and Calvin Johnson — as well as former Yankees manager Joe Girardi — have all stopped by FAU to hang out with Kiffin and his players.
“You’re seeing a championship team,” Kiffin said. “That’s why (FAU) won the Eastern Division championship because they’re doing those things that, hey, all of a sudden (an aspect of the team isn’t working) and they pick each other up. They have a blast doing it ... it’s been awesome to see.”
Named to the USA Today Freshman All-American Team in 2015, Al-Shaair was nominated for the inaugural Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award earlier this month. Both Lane (Coach of the Year) and defensive coordinator Chris Kiffin (Broyles Award for best assistant coach) are up for national awards. Kicker Greg Joseph is up for a Lou Groza Award.
Then there’s sophomore running back and Doak Walker semifinalist Devin “Motor” Singletary. After a 164-yard, two-touchdown night against the Panthers, Singletary is fourth in the nation with 1,524 rushing yards and a nation-leading 24 rushing TDs. No other player has more than 20.
“You gotta have that swag, confidence when you’re going out there,” said Singletary, now the FAU single-season rushing yards leader after breaking Alfred Morris’ 2009 record of 1,390.
The improbability that comes with the Lane Train continued against a team that FAU had lost to in three of its past five matchups. Saturday night’s win saw Jason Driskel, who’d never thrown for more than two touchdowns in a game, finish with a career-high four. Kalib Woods, the fifth-year senior wide receiver suspended for the season’s first half following a June arrest, recorded 172 yards through the air and two touchdowns on the team’s senior night.
And as the players screamed the school’s fight song for the eighth time this season, Kelly began to break it down with them.
“That made my night,” running back Buddy Howell. “Dr. Kelly’s got some work to do ... I gotta give it to him.”