Florida Atlantic football fed off the hot hands of its young running back and quarterback on its way to a 42-25 victory over Rice University, snapping a seven-game losing streak in the process.

Redshirt sophomore Jason Driskel replaced redshirt freshman Daniel Parr during the team’s third drive of the game. Down 7-0 at the time, he drove FAU (2-7, 1-3 Conference USA) 73 yards downfield before handing the ball off to freshman running back Devin Singletary for his first touchdown of the game.

One drive later, Driskel needed just three plays to take a 14-7 lead. After Rice (1-8, 0-6 Conference USA) tied the score at 14, Singletary carried the team back down to capture a 21-14 lead entering halftime.

The freshman running back finished the half with 129 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. He went on to increase his total to 252 yards and three touchdowns before the game was over, both accomplishments being career highs for Singletary.

Driskel continued to build off his first half success by collecting 317 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. His go-to target this Saturday was junior wide receiver Henry Bussey, who collected a career-high of 132 receiving yards to go along with a touchdown.

Freshman receiver John Mitchell caught his first touchdown of his career on the team’s second scoring drive.

FAU’s defense allowed the offense time to get comfortable early on. After giving up a touchdown on the first drive of the game, senior defensive end Trey Hendrickson and sophomore linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair both collected two sacks and held Rice to 133 yards during the rest of the half.

Al-Shaair finished the game with 12 tackles while sophomore defensive back Ocie Rose collected 10 in addition to recording an interception.

Overall, FAU outgained Rice with 657 total yards compared to 440. Of those 657 yards, 336 came via the rush.

The win marked the Owls first victory since the season opener, a 38-30 win over Southern Illinois. It was FAU’s first conference win since last season’s finale.

Rice on the other hand, remains winless in Conference USA.

FAU will return to Boca to host the University of Texas at El Paso next Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.

Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @feeney42.