The Florida Atlantic Owls (3-3, 2-0 AAC) dominated the University of South Florida Bulls (3-4, 2-2 AAC) on the road at Raymond James Stadium, 56-14, on Saturday evening. This was the Owls’ first road win game of the season.
The Owls are now tied for first in the American Athletic Conference with Tulane University and SMU being 2-0 in the conference.
“There’s no trophy given out for going 2-0 in conference,” said head coach Tom Herman after the game. “They don’t get easier and we know that, we’re going to celebrate it. We know how hard this week’s going to be just like every week.”
Freshman tight end Zeke Moore scored his first touchdown of the year on a pass from junior quarterback Daniel Richardson ending the Owls’ opening seven-play, 67-yard drive to put them ahead 7-0 early.
The Owls’ defense got another big stop to start the game after forcing a fumble on sophomore wide receiver Jaden Alexis and redshirt sophomore safety Amari Wansley recovering the ball for the Owls near the Bulls’ redzone. Although the Owls’ offense had some promising plays on their drive, their scoring opportunity was quickly over as Richardson threw an interception.
FAU redshirt junior quarterback Michael Johnson scored a nine-yard touchdown run on a long 86-yard drive after coming in for his first play of the game, extending the lead to 14-0 with 10:59 to go in the second quarter.
“We couldn’t do it without the guys upfront, hats off to the guys upfront, for both of us,” said Richardson. “Without them, it couldn’t get the party started.”
After the Bulls had a 75-yard touchdown called back, senior running back Nay’Quan Wright’s eight-yard rushing touchdown put USF on the board making the score 14-7 with 9:33 in the second quarter.
FAU responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive ending it off with a rushing three-yard touchdown from senior running back Larry McCammon making FAU lead 21-7 with 5:37 to go in the second quarter.
With two minutes left to go in the half, Bulls redshirt freshman quarterback Byrum Brown and the offense connected on a passing touchdown.
Though USF was able to keep it close early, FAU dominated the second half outscoring the Bulls 35-0. Despite their best efforts, the Bulls were unable to mount any sort of comeback. The Owls scored touchdown after touchdown. Richardson connected with his receivers for long gains and touchdowns with incredible accuracy.
It started with a 47-yard pass from Richardson to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Tony Johnson, but the drive finished with Michael Johnson scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game making the score 28-14 with 13:46 remaining in the third quarter.
The Owls’ offense was clicking on all cylinders by scoring a passing touchdown from Richardson to junior wide receiver LaJohntay Wester for his first receiving touchdown of the game, making the lead 35-14 in the third with 7:50 to go in the third quarter. Less than two minutes later, the Owls’ defense forced another punt which Wester returned 67 yards for his second touchdown of the game, putting FAU ahead 42-14.
The Owls continued to score as the Bulls couldn’t figure it out, turning the ball over on downs leading to the Owls scoring back-to-back drives. Richardson connected on a 23-yard passing touchdown to Johnson, making that Richardson’s third passing touchdown of the game to extend the Owls’ lead to 49-14. Once the Owls got the ball back again from a stop on defense, they had a long 10-play drive totalling 70-yards with graduate running back Kobe Lewis finishing it off with a 12-yard touchdown, ending the game 56-14.
FAU will host the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners (2-3, 1-0 AAC) on Saturday, Oct. 21 for the Owls’ homecoming game. The game will air on ESPN+ at 6 p.m.
Sports Editor Maddox Greenberg contributed to this report.
Anthony Brown is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email Anthony at [email protected] or DM him via Instagram @uno.of.uno.
