Sunday, September 16, 2018

FAU Owls, Singletary Rush Past Bethune-Cookman, 49-28

BOCA RATON, Florida  – "Motor" Devin Singletary scored four rushing touchdowns in the first quarter alone, towards a school record of five on the night, and the Florida Atlantic University football team upended Bethune-Cookman on Saturday night at FAU Stadium, 49-28.

Quotable
"Obviously the tale of two games," said Head Coach Lane Kiffin. "Started off 29-0. First quarter for four rushing touchdowns from Motor in one quarter shutting them out and we really played sloppy after that. No excuses. We got to play better than that. So, it's always a challenge in a game that was so easy in a quarter to get guys to buy into you and still play in at the same intensity level. We started to relax. It was 29-0. They didn't sing the fight song in there. They were kind of ripping each other about how they played, especially defensively. Our defense really expected to shut out today like last year, so it's good to see them change the standards around here. You know, win the game by 21 points and everyone in there is upset. It's a long ways from when we first got here."

PHOTO GALLERY


Junior Tight End Harrison Bryant

"It was a good night for the tight end room and really for the whole offense, but we left a lot of yards out on the field and we were not really happy with our performance."
On De'Andre Johnson's touchdown...
It was really awesome to see. His helmet almost came off, but he still scored."

Junior Offensive Lineman Brandon Walton
"We were moving the ball pretty well in the first half and got (Devin) some pretty good yards, I feel like we fell off at some point and we lost our drive and that's what we need to focus on for the next week."

Junior Running Back Kerrith Whyte, Jr.
On the team's performance...
"We need to work harder, it was not to our standards...we have a lot of work to do."

Quick Hits
  • On the opening drive, the Owls (2-1) held the Wildcats (1-2) to a 3-and-out, and on FAU's ensuing 3rd down, Chris Robison found tight end Harrison Bryant for 21 yards for the team's first 1st down
  • On 4th-and-3 from the BCU 27, it was again Robison-to-Bryant, this time for a gain of 22 down to the 5-yard-line
  • Three plays later, Singletary made it 16 straight games with a rushing touchdown, from seven yards out. That is a new Conference USA record
  • Robison found Jovon Durante for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead at 10:10 in the 1st
  • Owls forced another 3-and-out, and punt, with Willie Wright taking the return 51 yards into BCU territory to the 32
  • It took the Owls 57 seconds and just four plays to score again, with Singletary going in from 18 yards. Vladimir Rivas' extra point pushed the lead to 15-0
  • On FAU's third drive, Robison had a 27-yard rush that ended with a leaping hurdle over a BCU defender
  • Singletary notched his third score three plays later (a two-yard run), and Rivas was successful again to make it 22-0
  • After the FAU kickoff unit forced a fumble (Ahman Ross jarred it loose, Silver Saunders recovered it), 37 seconds later, Singletary made it four and a 29-0 advantage
  • That, in just one quarter's time, tied FAU's single-game mark, recorded previously by Doug Parker (2001), Jason Driskel (2017) and Singletary twice last season
  • BCU scored on the first drive of the second quarter, on a 4th down pass that covered 31 yards, from Akevious Williams to Jimmie Robinson
  • After a Rashad Smith interception, his second in as many games, the Owls again faced 4th down, but again Robison would find Bryant, this time for 19 to the BCU 5
  • Singletary would go in for his fifth touchdown for a new school game record to make it 36-7, midway through the 2nd
  • The Wildcats scored with under a minute to go in the first half, on a five-yard pass from Williams to Keavon Mitchell
  • On the Owls' first drive of the 3rd, Kerrith Whyte, Jr. had back-to-back 13-yard runs, and again FAU got big yardage on 4th down (at that point going to 4-for-4 on conversions in the game), with Robison finding Durante for 32 yards into BCU territory
  • Robison to Durante would end up capping the 12-play, 89-yard drive, a 10-yard score to extend the lead to 43-14
  • BCU answered with a long bomb, for 41 yards, Williams to Jonathon Thomas late in the 3rd, cutting it to 43-21
  • Early in the final period, De'Andre Johnson came on and had a fantastic touchdown run from 21 yards out, as he kept inbounds on the near sideline and into the end zone. The extra point was not good, but the Owls' lead became 49-21
  • A 4-yard rushing score just under three minutes later by Williams
  • Whyte would set a new career high on the Owls' next drive, surpassing 80 he had versus North Texas a year ago. He led the squad on the night with an even 100 yards on the ground, just ahead of Singletary's 84
  • Only a bad snap on 4th-and-5 with under 2:30 to go prevented FAU from being perfect on 4th down conversions. They were 7-for-7 to that point
  • The Owls outrushed the Wildcats on the night, 376 to 122
  • Saunders picked up the first carries of his FAU career, eight of them for 46 yards. Robison had 42 yards on the ground, and Gerald Hearns chipped in with 31 yards on four rushes
  • True freshman Malcolm Davidson came on on the last drive and had a 32-yard gain up the middle and sophomore James Charles, on his first rush ever, ran for 10 yards on the final play of the game
  • Durante and Bryant paced the Owl passcatchers. Durante had the most catches, seven, for 72 yards, while Bryant led in yards, 82, on five receptions 

Looking Ahead
FAU hits the road for a Friday night primetime contest against UCF in Orlando. The Owls and the Knights kick off at 7 p.m., for a nationally-televised ESPN broadcast. UCF, currently ranked No. 18 in the country, has won 15 straight games, which includes a 13-0 mark last season.


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