Interim Coach Wright?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTO BY CANDICE EBLING

There aren't too many things the USC Trojans and FAU Owls have in common, but there is one major similarity between both universities.

Each school made mid-season coaching changes and the early returns have been excellent.

USC fired Head Coach Lane Kiffin after a 62-41 loss on the road to the Arizona State Sun Devils which dropped the Trojans to 3-2 on Sept 29.

Kiffin was replaced by Ed Orgeron, who has made the most of his opportunity and the interim coach is 6-1 including a 20-17 upset victory over No. 4 Stanford.

If Orgeron continues to win, I wouldn't be surprised to see him buy a home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Here in Boca Raton by the Atlantic Ocean, Brian Wright is making the most of his opportunity as well.

After taking over for Carl Pelini, who resigned because of drug use, Wright rallied the Owls to an impressive 34-17 Homecoming win over the Tulane Green Wave (6-4) on November 2 at FAU Stadium.

The Owls took advantage of the bye week and then returned to action to blast Southern Mississippi (0-10) on the road 41-7 and improved to 4-6 overall and 2-0 under Wright.

The inspired football continued Saturday, as FAU faced the Independent New Mexico State Aggies (1-10) and pounded them 55-10. This was the first meeting between these schools and New Mexico State will be playing in FAU's old conference in 2014 joining the Sun Belt.

FAU improved to 5-6 and the Owls are 3-0 under Wright.

Should the Owls defeat FIU (1-10) Friday and improve to 6-6, they'll become bowl eligible.

A win would give Wright a 4-0 mark and Owls Athletic Director Patrick Chun will have a tough decision if he decides to look for another coach or retain and keep the continuity with Wright.

Against New Mexico State, FAU cruised to a 21-0 lead by the beginning of the second quarter and took a 28-7 lead at halftime. Owls QB Jaquez Johnson threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns. One of Johnson's touchdown passes was a 64-yard strike to Lucky Whitehead.

Johnson ended the game with 321 yards, three touchdowns and had a career high in rushing yards with 60. This is the fourth consecutive week Johnson has led all rushing for FAU.

FAU amassed 585 yards in total offense.

FAU blocked a punt for a touchdown in the first quarter which gave the Owls a 14-0 lead. On September 1, 2001, FAU's first touchdown in school history was a punt return for a touchdown by Todd Poitier against Slippery Rock.

Detroit native Senior Wide Receiver Daniel McKinney led FAU with three receptions for 83 yards with a long of 48 yards in the opening half.

McKinney, 6-0, 205, finished the contest with five receptions for 138 yards. This was his game high for the season.

When the game was over, the FAU win was the largest margin of victory against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in the program's history.

It's FAU's third straight win in double figures and after the game, Wright refused to take any credit and deflected all of the praise to his players.

"I told my players that we had to go 1-0 each week and that's our goal this week is to go 1-0, " Wright said. "We're on a mission. The players are enjoying playing football, they have fun preparing during the week, and they are having fun showing up on Saturday and playing, and it's fun to watch them. And I just feel a sense of togetherness out there as a unit. It feels like a football team out there and that's fun to watch.

"I told the guys that we're on a mission to purse excellence and I told them not to focus on the scoreboard as much, but to purse excellence and be the best men that they can be as people first, and as football players, as students and then score and the wins will take care of itself.

"You find out the character of men when they rally around adversity. These players and seniors deserve the best effort and this team is resilient. We don't care if we run or pass, we just want to win football games."

These late season runs used to occur when Howard Schnellenberger was coaching and leading the team to a pair of bowl wins.

The last time FAU finished 6-6, the Owls defeated FIU which led to a Motor City Bowl bid and a win over Central Michigan in Detroit.

Time will tell if this happens again.

But one thing is certain, Pelini must be going crazy that a young interim coach is reaping the benefits of the players he recruited and is winning with them.

This interim coach will either be the next permanent coach or certainly one of the hottest prospects out there for another program.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com.

FAU in Big East?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On Friday when I was picking up My Game Credential at the Tom Oxley Athletic Center, FAU Assistant Media Relations Director Justin Johnson and I were joking around about the fact that the new Owls Football Stadium could expand two more times. It can be expanded to 45,000 and 65,000 fans in two different phases.

We did agree that it's doubtful that both of us we'll be around when these expansions take place.

But as I sit on the Sixth Floor in the Press Box with a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean 2.1 miles east, watching the Owls Homecoming Game against Arkansas State, it's very easy to let your imagination allow you to meditate about what the future holds for the FAU Football Program.

As I continue to watch the college football landscape change, and as conferences find new teams to fill the void left by the departures of other schools, it makes me think of where FAU will land one day?

My best guess, and I repeat, best guess, would be the Big East.

Even though the Big East plans to enforce their bylaws to keep Pittsburgh and Syracuse from moving to the ACC immediately and West Virginia, which is Big 12 bound, to maintain any credibility long term, they'll eventually have to have 12-16 teams in football even when the 27 months end.

There are plans to invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only. Central Florida, Houston and SMU would participate in all sports. The total with these additions and subtractions would be 11.

Why would FAU be a good fit for the Big East?

The conference lost it's presence in the South Florida market when the Miami Hurricanes joined the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2004.

The Big East added the University of South Florida and gained the Tampa Bay market and with Central Florida it will add Orlando.

For FAU, the Big East would regain it's presence in South Florida and now with this cozy new stadium in Boca Raton, this would be a natural fit to return.

FAU has approximately 28,000 students and is the Alma-mater to more than 120,000 alumni worldwide.

Add the fact that the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area is a top 10 Television Market plus the West Palm Beach audience, and there is a lot of exposure in the region. I've driven up the Florida Turnpike and once saw a Rutgers Football billboard, therefore, nobody can forget that there are a lot of transplanted Northeasterners that traded their shovels for the palm trees.

But for all of this to happen, we all know that the next major decision Owls Athletic Director Craig Angelos makes will be the biggest.

Who will follow Howard Schnellenberger? Hopefully, we'll find out by the holidays.

The potential is here for big things especially when FAU starts winning and has a high profile coach and packs 30,000 fans at this Cozy Palace.

For the Big East to market the largest cities in Florida would provide great exposure and could only bolster their bargaining power in future television negotiations.

Now we'll just see if the Big East is Smart Enough to recognize this and quit dwelling on who is leaving the conference and find the new members that could expand their market. The addition of FIU in Miami would be a great move!.

To have four Florida Schools in the Big East would also create some good in state rivalries.

There are nothing but positives to this eventually becoming a reality.

Down the road after the coaching search, I do plan to address Angelos about his team going to the Big East.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at http://www.scottsports33.com/.

Home Sweet Home?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH


How did we get to the New FAU Football Stadium?

On October 15, 2010, ground was broken and exactly one year later, the $70 Million Facility hosted the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers as the start of a new era began in FAU Sports History.

Construction workers worked seven days a week giving up their Sundays to make the Saturday October 15th opener a reality.

This is the only stadium in the United States where you can see the Atlantic Ocean. The campus is 2.1 miles away from the Atlantic Ocean.

Prior to the game, the Star Spangled Banner was sung with a Full-Sized American Flag covering the entire field.

But the road to this Beautiful Venue saw Coach Howard Schnellenberger, Athletic Director Craig Angelos, former President Frank Brogan and his successor Dr. Mary Jane Saunders witness some lopsided defeats to some of the most heralded football programs in the country.

FAU took the guaranteed large payouts to Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Texas, and USF.

There were four notable wins as FAU defeated Hawaii, Central Michigan, Memphis and Minnesota. FAU defeated Memphis in the 2007 New Orleans Bowl and followed that triumph in the 2008 Motor City Bowl defeating Central Michigan.

A year ago, the Michigan State Spartans were supposed to open up FAU Stadium but that never materialized. FAU's home game was moved to Ford Field as the Owls shared a home with the Detroit Lions. FAU lost this game 30-17.

So instead of seeing the Spartans, Owls fans saw their team lose 20-0 to the Hilltoppers in front of 29,103. The score could have been worse for FAU if Western Kentucky would have converted three field goals and an extra point.

But these numbers tell the story!

FAU had only six first downs, 25 rushing and 121 total yards. More importantly, Owls fans would have to wait until Saturday October 22nd against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders to see the first points in the new stadium at 8:07 PM.

On Saturday October 15th, No. 23 Michigan State defeated state rival No. 11 Michigan 28-14 in East Lansing, a place that wasn't kind to the Owls earlier this year. The Spartans whitewashed FAU 44-0 on September 10 in East Lansing.

When the contest was over, there was a huge sense of happiness and relief that the new on campus stadium dream has become a reality.

By the same token, now that the opener is over, reality has set in that FAU dropped to 0-6 and 0-3  in the Sun Belt Conference. The Owls are in last place and know they have to start winning games.

Quarterback David Kooi said, “Our offense was shaky and we put no points on the board. We didn't execute and just hurt ourselves. This was a great atmosphere and we didn't get the job done. I just want to say I'm sorry to the fans.”

Running back Alfred Morris added, “ I'm very disappointed and wanted it so bad. We just couldn't get it together. This was a very exciting atmosphere, it was crazy. We'll try to get them next time.”

Senior defensive back Marcus Bartels was in a somber mood when he said, “I never expected this. We feel like we let everybody down. I want to apologize to the fans.”

Coach Schnellenberger said, I've never been in a situation like this before. We worked so hard and so long to make this stadium. We played badly on the offensive side of the ball. We expected to win this game but yet played so poorly in front of dedicated fans. That's what happened and I have to deal with that. I'm the coach and I have to do fix this situation.”

Former Owls QB Rusty Smith now of the Tennessee Titans came in town due to his teams bye week. On this day, the Owls could have used him in his old No.11 jersey.

But now, the stadium is open for business. The team has to focus on winning since there will be no more hype.

It's all business as the Owls hope to send Schnellenberger out on a respectable note to end his 52-year coaching career
 
Game 2 at the new stadium would produce another loss and it was ugly.
 
The attendance was listed as 16,344 but in actuality, it looked like the crowd was in the 10,000 range.
 
What they saw was a team that fell behind 21-0 as Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee scored 41 unanswered points. The Owls broke the scoring drought with 9:57 left in the second quarter. The Historical Touchdown was a Wilbert Graham to Darian Williams five-yard connection that was set-up by a 48-yard run by Morris.
 
In the first half, Middle Tenessee Sophomore QB Logan Kilgore set a school record with 19 straight completions for a school that's been playing football for 100 years. He used 10 different receivers to set the mark.
 
When the game was over, the Blue Raiders offense gained 479 yards to roll to a 38-14 win. FAU had eight fumbles, five were lost to go along with two interceptions and 55 yards in penalties. Morris did gain 153 yards.
 
At his post-game press conference, Schnellenberger looked like he was trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube.
 
"With all the experience I have, I can't figure out all the problems we have," he said. "It will be harder to teach and an involved process."
 
One thing is certain, FAU will have two weeks to digest the fact that its record has dropped to 0-7, 0-4 as it hosts Arkansas State on November 5th. In the meantime, there will be no bowl game in 2011 and the Owls can only hope for "A Win."
 
I do believe that when they field a competitive team, FAU Stadium will be a fun place to watch a game. It's a beautiful stadium.

But for now, the fallout of the first two weeks have given mixed reviews with plenty of more chapters to be written before we can say this indeed is a "Home Sweet Home."
 
Scott Morganroth's blog can be seen at http://www.scottsports33.com/ and he can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com.