It was an electric first half in more ways that one between two South Floridian schools on Friday night. A late first quarterback lightning delay was apropos for not only the temperamental Floridian summer weather, but for the mood that was apparent early emanating from the excited home FAU crowd.
There was a clear emphasis placed on the night for the home team. The Owls wore never before seen be-dazzled uniforms and helmets donning the new bespoke moniker, “Atlantic”, written across a silhouette of the Floridian peninsula.
It was FAU’s first home sell-out since the inception of their field in 2011. At capacity, the venue holds just under 30,000, and every bit of concrete and metal was buzzing during last’s night bout. For a region who has deep-rooted indoctrinated Hurricane fans, a solid turnout for both teams helped fan the metaphorical flames.
“You could feel the hopes of the FAU fans right before kickoff,” said Miami legionnaire Stephen Deiner, “you could feel that they wanted to prove something—that maybe they belonged—but you could tell that even Miami fans were thinking the same thing."
On the field, the game lived up pre-season hype during the first half. A 12-play touchdown scoring drive by Miami was immediately answered by an FAU field goal. It was enough for both the home team and fans to believe they belonged on the field with the long-time D-1 staple.
Even when senior quarterback, Jaquez Johnson, left the game with less than 5 minutes of game time played, the Owls galvanized around redshirt freshman quarterback, Jason Driskell—brother of former Florida quarterback, Jeff Driskell. Things fared well for the home team early on with Driskell leading the offense to a creative roll-out throwback touchdown to sophomore tight end Nate Terry.
Even after half time (and after the hour long lightning delay) FAU stood step-for-step with the Hurricanes led by junior running back Jay Warren who finished with 11 carries for 132 yards and one touchdown. By the start to the third quarter, the Owls tied with the Hurricanes on a 32 yard Greg Joseph field goal set up by a methodical 13 play drive set up behind the pads of running-back Greg Howell.
Then something…changed.
The Hurricanes transformed from a barely fence opening category-one attack to a ferocious, roof tearing, car rolling, category five. Sophomore duo Brad Kaaya and Joseph Yearby connected on a 52 yard pass play culminating with Yearby finishing the job from one yard out. The honeymoon phase for Jason Driskell—who finished the night with 155 yards one touchdown and two interceptions—quickly faded as the offense failed to gain any traction against Miami’s defense.
After the first scoring drive of the 3rd quarter, Atlantic’s two subsequent drives were one play affairs consisting of a a fumble and interception. Throughout the majority of the second half, Miami dominated the time of possession and strung together multiple multi-play drives to the joy of the mostly pro-Miami late game crowd.
All in all, it was a tough conclusion to a promising start for the burgeoning FAU Owls. The team has dug an early season hole starting the season off going 0-2 after this 44-20 loss at the hands of Miami. FAU will be facing out of conference opponent University of Buffalo in eight days. Head coach Charlie Partridge and the Owls will use the extra day to right the ship and hopefully get the ball rolling their way for the rest of the season.