Florida Atlantic head coach Howard Schnellenberger knows a thing or two about building programs in the Sunshine State.
Schnellenberger led Miami from national obscurity to its first national title, and now he is attempting to do similar wonders at Florida Atlantic, located in Boca Raton. The Owls will have the biggest game in their seven-year history on Saturday afternoon when they host the No. 6 Bulls, the highest-ranked team FAU has ever faced. South Florida is a 16.5-point betting favorite on WagerWeb.com.
"USF is a great example of what Florida Atlantic could be," Schnellenberger said, "should we do the right things."
When FAU decided it wanted to have a football program, Schnellenberger was hired and visited USF to see how the school laid its football foundation. The Bulls are only in their 11th season and, amazingly, are the highest-ranked of all the Florida teams, not to mention the fastest program in the modern era to be ranked in the Top 10.
"I'm so proud of what they are doing up there," Schnellenberger said. "I feel like they are an older brother. They have been very hospitable. I couldn't think of anyone better to get the best blueprint I could get.
The Owls, who could win the Sun Belt Conference this season, are off to a good start with their program, hope to have a 30,000-seat stadium for the 2010 season on campus, and beat Minnesota of the Big Ten earlier this year.
The Owls (3-2) will face their second straight ranked opponent after losing to then-No. 14 Kentucky 45-17 last Saturday.
Florida Atlantic forced two turnovers against the Wildcats, including a pick from Tavious Polo to snap Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson's NCAA record of 325 consecutive passes without an interception.
"We're just going to have to go back to the drawing board, look at all of the mistakes we made, and get ready for the next game," Polo said.The Owls committed a season-high three turnovers, and had 307 yards of offense after gaining 986 yards in their previous two games combined.
USF, meanwhile, is off to its best start since opening 5-0 in 1998, when it was I-AA. But Coach Jim Leavitt says his team won't overlook the Owls.
"Everybody is good, and at the end of the season we'll look back and see how good we were," Leavitt said. "We're good enough to win the first four games. That's all we've done.
USF's defense was good in last week's upset of West Virginia, forcing a season-high six turnovers and holding WVU to 188 rushing yards - 135.2 below its season average. Linebacker Ben Moffitt was named the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week after intercepting two passes and returning one for a TD.
The Bulls have forced the third-most turnovers in the nation (17), but Florida Atlantic is second with 18.
Florida Atlantic has lost the only two games it has played against ranked opponents since joining Division I in 2005.
"When we look at USF, they're only a couple years ahead of us ... and they're already in the top 25, top 10," FAU quarterback Rusty Smith said. "In a couple years, that could be us. They get a lot of players from the state of Florida. We get a lot of our players from the state of Florida. So, there's no reason that can't be us in a couple years."
The lowdown: Expect a natural letdown from USF after last week's program-defining win, and you know Schnellenberger will have his club fired up. FAU covers.
The 2007 NCAA football season is not even close to over! Get your college football bettig lines at WagerWeb Sportsbook. We also offer NCAA football stats and news.
No comments:
Post a Comment