FAU took a step back on Saturday evening, losing to UConn 48-14 in demoralizing fashion, sending the Owls to 1-3 and leaving FAU Coach Tom Herman with many questions.
It was a regression defensively from what the Owls were able to do a week ago against FIU, as they allowed 87 yards against the Panthers, but against UConn they reverted back to the struggles they had in the first 2 games, allowing 421 yards.
Alongside the 421 yards, FAU was plagued by nearly 100 yards of penalties as the Owls had 12 flags on the day for 93 yards which set them back immensely.
UConn did whatever they wanted in the run game, as they carried it 66 times for an average of 6.4 yards per carry and 4 scores, with both Mel Brown and Durrell Robinson rushing for 156 yards a piece.
The Owls offense was once again erratic, as during the first half Cam Fancher was only able to complete 4/7 passes for 10 yards, adding 56 yards on the ground, but the offense had 3 3-and-out’s, and all 5 of the FAU drives ended in punts, all lasting 6 plays or less.
With the Owls having little-to-no offense, Uconn was able to control the game by dominating in the trenches, doubling FAU in time of possession 40 minutes to 19.
FAU established a run game with CJ Campbell Jr late in the second half, finding the endzone twice including a 38 yard scamper, but it was far too late.
The struggles on both sides of the ball perplexed Tom Herman, and after a week that saw so much positive, the Owls are back to the drawing board with added pressure to get things right before the season goes by the wayside.
“To be honest with you, didn’t see that coming. I think we all knew how good of a team UConn was, but I didn’t anticipate us, not with a week of practice that we had us playing so poorly on both sides of the ball, and so that’s, that’s what’s left me, perplexed. Coach Mora has done a phenomenal job. That’s a really good football team, and they’re going to win a lot of games this year, but we, I’ve got to figure out, we as coaches need to figure out why. You know, a decent week of practice did not translate into quality play tonight but as I told the radio guys, they asked me, Are you discouraged? I’m discouraged right now, but I’m not, certainly not discouraged for the future. You know, we played arguably, three of the, I don’t know, top five teams will play all year in our first four games, and that’s no excuse. But we still have a lot of time and a lot of room for improvement. We’ve got Wagner coming into town, followed by bye week, and then seven conference games that I think we all know and are confident that we can win them, but we’ve obviously shown that we need to play a lot better in order to do that, so I’m a bit perplexed,” Herman said.
Game Recap
FAU started the first 3 games of the season with a 3 and out and that didn’t change against UConn, as the Owls picked up 2 yards on first, and after an incompletion on 2nd forced FAU into a 3rd and long, they were unable to convert, giving the ball back to UConn.
The slow starts early in games is something that has plagued FAU through the first 4 matchups of the year and it’s something Tom Herman knows is a major issue that has to be addressed.
“That’s four straight games offensively we haven’t started well, and so that’s a that’s a problem, and we’ve got to figure that part out in a hurry,” Herman said.
The defensive struggles for FAU started on the first drive of the day, as the Owls allowed Huskies QB Nick Evers to find his confidence early, completing 3 of 5 passes for 29 yards, also adding another 9 yards on the ground. The penalties were a struggle for FAU all day and it started on drive number one, as following a 14 yard Evers completion, CB Daedae Hill was flagged for roughing the passer which helped UConn get into solid field position and they capitalized on it, converting on a 34 yard field goal to go up 3-0 with 10:09 to play in the 1st quarter after 10 plays and 57 yards.
FAU went 3 and out once again on their ensuing drive, gaining 5 yards on a Fancher scramble but failing to turn a 3rd & 5 pass short of the sticks into a first down.
UConn began to institute their run game heavily on drive number 2, getting 3 different backs involved on 6 straight carries to start drive number 2, and an Evers carry on the 7th play of the drive looked to pick up another first down past mid-field. Wendol Philord had different plans however, as the Owls transfer slot corner stripped Evers of the ball, putting it on the ground for Eddie Williams who recovered at the FAU 37 yard line ending the Husky threat.
Despite the defense forcing the turnover, the Owls were not able to pick up momentum, going 3 and out once again, with Fancher unable to connect with Cj Campbell on back to back targets on 2nd and 3rd down.
UConn got the ball back with 5:50 to play in the 1st quarter and this was where their domination began. On the second play of the drive, Evers was able to connect with Skyler Bell over the top for a gain of 43, which jolted the Husky offense.
UConn began to ground and pound following that one, as 7 of the next 9 plays came on the ground picking up 28 total yards with 3 different running backs. After a previous TD pass was nullified due to an illegal man upfield, Nick Evers bounced back and found Mel Brown from 5 yards out on 2nd and Goal to go up 10-0 with 11:32 to play in the 2nd quarter.
With FAU needing a response, Fancher looked to put his team on his back with his legs, picking up a big chunk with a 24 yard scramble; however the Owls were only able to get 6 yards outside of that and the drive stalled, punting back to the Huskies after just 5 plays.
UConn took over once again with 7:45 to play in the half following the Owls punt and put together one of their best drives of the day. Backed up inside their own 10, the Huskies marched down the field in 12 plays, 10 runs, grinding out consistent yardage with Mel Brown, Evers and Robinson, capping it off with an 8 yard Robinson score to go up 17-0 with 1:50 to play in the half.
The Huskies seemingly were getting whatever they wanted on the ground and early on Tom Herman thought they may have been sending out different rush looks that they prepared for, but after looking at the film, it was simply just a lack of execution.
“No, I thought the same thing (that UConn surprised FAU), maybe early. And, you know, the iPad certainly helped. I knew everything that they were doing, they played 19 to the field, a little bit more than they had shown, but we had practiced against that as well. So no, not a whole lot in terms of the surprise element, we didn’t execute,” Herman said.
17-0 was the score heading into halftime, as the Owls went 3 and out on their final drive of the half and Uconn was unable to do anything with a little over 50 seconds left. It was an utter disaster of a half for FAU and unfortunately for the Owls, it didn’t get much better in half number 2.
UConn started with the football and once again marched down the field, this time completing only 1 pass and rushing it 11 times for 60 yards and finishing it off with Nick Evers’ first career rushing touchdown from 3 yards out to put the Huskies up 24-0 with 8:09 to play in the 3rd.
It got worse for the Owls as on their first drive of the second half, after just 2 plays Fancher was intercepted as Zuberi Mobley bobbled an inaccurate pass that was intercepted by Jaylen McDonald, which was returned back to the FAU 23.
FAU’s defense was able to hold Uconn to a 3 and out on the ensuing drive which resulted in a field goal that put the Huskies up 27-0 with 5:47 to play in the 3rd.
The Owls were finally able to find something to hang their hat on offensively on the next drive, as Fancher was able to quadruple his passing totals at the time with 46 yards on 2 completions to Campbell Jr. and Jabari Smith JR. A few plays later after defensive holding set up 1st and goal from the 5, Campbell was able to power his way in for the Owls first score of the day to make it 27-7 with 2:17 to play in the 3rd.
UConn was in machine mode by that point and the ensuing drive took only 6 plays for the Huskies to find the endzone, 5 rushes and 1 incomplete pass, getting a 46 yard run from Mel Brown to set up 1st and Goal from the 2 where Nick Evers punched it in to open it up to 34-7 with 14:26 to go in the game,
Following a 3 and out for FAU, Uconn took over once again with 12:57 to play and by this point the Owls defense was suffering from attrition, as Robinson gashed them on 3 straight runs of 28, 8, and 10, the latter a 10 yard score to make it 41-7 with 11:45 to play.
UConn was dominating the trenches and at times it felt like no matter what FAU called defensively the Huskies were going to find a way to turn it into a positive and that is something Herman acknowledged after the game.
“I told everyone on Tuesday, this is probably the best offensive line we’ll play, They have good running backs, and we got pushed around. I did not see that coming. We can kind of understand a little bit when Army rushes for what they did. But to see this, and really, there’s not a whole lot you can do as a play caller, as a defense. You know when you’re supposed to be in your gap and you’re not, or you’re supposed to make the tackle and you don’t? You know it’s hard. I felt for Roc (Bellantoni) tonight. You know that that’s hard. You’re searching for things to help your defense, and it didn’t matter what he called,” Herman said.
The Owls added one for pride on the ensuing drive, going 75 yards in 5 plays, getting 28 yards on 2 Fancher passes to Caleb Coombs, and a 38 yard Campbell JR TD run which made it 41-14 with 9:57 to play.
Facing a gassed FAU defense UCONN had no problem running the ball as on the next drive, the Huskies rushed it 6 times, gaining 20 yards between Brown and backup QB Joe Fagnano. Following a 3rd and 9 pickup of only a yard, Jim Mora and UConn opted to go for it up 41-14, and they converted in a big way, getting a contested catch from Shamar Porter in the endzone to go up 48-14 with 5:02 to play.
Both teams had one final drive, with FAU once again going 3 and out, this time with Kasen Weisman at QB and UConn picking up 43 more yards on the ground before kneeing it out and finishing off FAU 48-14 in front of a crowd of over 21,000.
Now at 1-3, FAU has to turn the season around before the wheels fall off and Tom Herman is aware of the importance of the next part of the schedule and what it could mean to the teams chances at Bowl eligibility.
“I’d be lying if I you know didn’t acknowledge the kind of critical juncture, we’re at in our season but we met a tough stretch here, We didn’t handle it as well as we would have liked, but we’re going to wake up tomorrow and know that we’ve got a very winnable game at home to get ready for, and then and then, like you said, we’ve got another week to to then take a deep breath and heal up maybe some of the some of the bumps and bruises, I’ve seen us at our best, and that’s maybe what would become so frustrating and perplexing, is, how do we as coaches and the leaders on this team get the best out of us over and over and over again,” Herman said.
Final Thoughts
It was an ugly all around for FAU, as besides a forced fumble in the first half and 2 late CJ Campbell Jr TDs, the Owls didn’t have anything going offensively, and the defense collapsed, but they were also on the field double the amount of time the offense was, and at some point fatigue will set in.
421 yards rushing allowed is a lot, however when you factor in the amount of time the Owls defense was on the field, it can begin to be understood how late in that game it seemed like FAU had no resistance at all to the Huskies run game.
Offensively, FAU has to figure out why they can’t come out of the gates with any type of rhythm as tonight UConn wasn’t going to play down to their opponent and once they established the tempo, FAU was unable to match.
The pass game has provided very little so far and in this one Fancher and the Owls passing game was nearly non-existent at the half, with only 10 passing yards and 4 completions, 2 of which went for no gain.
FAU did rush for 163 yards, but by the time the Owls got their run game going it was too little too late.
It seems to be that FAU is struggling in overall execution, as nearly 100 yards of penalties, 421 yard rushing allowed, and double time of possession given up are just signs a team has flat out gotten beat.
Next week against Wagner will be crucial for the Owls to bounce back and find a way to gain some rhythm heading into their bye week, as things seem to be moving from bad to worse. With conference play yet to officially be in full-swing, the Owls have a bit of time to get their problems fixed, but not a lot.