FAU’s football team will play against Georgia Southern for its first home game of the season on Saturday. This will be the first football game held at FAU Stadium since Nov. 20, 2020.

The Owls will look to repeat their perfect home record last season, but they open up against the Eagles, a team they have only faced once and lost.

FAU and Georgia Southern met for the first time last season, which ended in a 20-3 blowout defeat for the Owls. This meeting saw an FAU team with two redshirts playing the quarterback position in Nick Tronti and Javion Posey. Tronti is a junior this season and Posey is a freshman. Graduate wide receiver TJ Chase was also among the players who were new to the team. It was also the first season with Willie Taggart as head coach.

This season, the Owls have many returning players who will want to prove they are better than a Golden Eagles team that barely escaped with a win over Gardner-Webb last week. FAU does have a new quarterback in graduate transfer N’Kosi Perry, but he is experienced. 

Here are some keys to the game if FAU wants to get past Georgia Southern to win its first game of the season:

Avoid Turnovers

FAU turned the ball over four times when they faced Georgia Southern last season. Posey fumbled the ball and threw an interception in the second quarter, and threw another interception in the third quarter. Willie Wright Jr. fumbled the ball in the third quarter as well. 

Instead of committing turnovers, they need to force them. FAU intercepted the Gators twice last week.

Establish the Passing Game

The Owls were still getting used to having Perry at quarterback, but the offense began to find their rhythm in the fourth quarter last week. Perry threw for 261 yards and a touchdown on 19 completions. If Perry can connect with a couple of different receivers quickly, they may be able to pull away. He threw to nine different players last week with his longest completion being to redshirt sophomore wide receiver DeMarcus Adams for 46 yards. 

Shut down the Offense

Last week, FAU allowed a total of 553 yards (400 rushing and 153 passing). Georgia Southern posted similar numbers in their opener with a total of 500 yards (365 rushing and 135 passing). The Owls’ defense will need to find their rhythm early if they want to pull ahead in this game.

The Owls’ home opener against Georgia Southern is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11 at FAU Stadium. The game will be broadcast on Stadium. FAU will give tank tops to students prior to the game.

Bryce Totz is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @brycetotz.