Owls Trounce Wagner – Florida Atlantic University Athletics

09/29/2024

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Football
9/28/2024 10:27:00 PM

Ben Paul

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic’s football team took down Wagner in blowout fashion with a 41-10 victory at FAU Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Owls, who now move to 2-3 on the season, controlled all phases of the game from start to finish, but ran away with 24 unanswered points in the second half.

It was a battle in the trenches that fell in favor of FAU, holding Wagner to 20 rushing yards on 26 attempts and 13 tackles-for-loss on defense while, for the second time this season, hitting an all-time program mark with five rushing touchdowns, tied for fourth most in a single game.

VIDEO RECAP

FIRST HALF

The opening script could not have been better written for the Owls. On the very first play from scrimmage, junior QB Cam Fancher found redshirt sophomore WR Omari Hayes down the left sideline for a 71-yard gain. A four-yard touchdown by redshirt junior RB C.J. Campbell Jr. on the very next play gave FAU a 7-0 lead just 30 seconds into the game.

On the following drive, Carter Davis drilled a career-long 51-yard field goal to extend the score to 10-0. The Owls found the end zone again in the second quarter when redshirt junior RB Zuberi Mobley broke multiple tackles for a 22-yard touchdown.

Florida Atlantic ultimately entered the locker room with a 17-10 lead.

SECOND HALF

Redshirt junior kicker Morgan Suarez kicked off the scoring on a 29-yard field goal, before Campbell added his second touchdown of the evening to build a 27-10 lead.

The fourth quarter offered an opportunity for a pair of Owls to record their first career touchdowns: redshirt freshman QB Kasen Weisman on a four-yard run and a one-yard punch in from redshirt freshman RB Gemari Sands.

OFFENSE

The Owls’ last 12 touchdowns have all come on the ground

For the second home game in a row, Florida Atlantic rushed for five TDs

Campbell’s 145 rushing yards, on just 15 carries, is the most since his teammate Mobley’s 146 on Sep. 10, 2022

The dynamic rushing duo have combined for nine touchdowns on the season, Campbell with five and Mobley with four

Hayes caught six targets for a career-high 137 yards

DEFENSE

13 TFLs in a single game is tied for the third most in team history. Three players recorded multiple: senior DE Chris Jones (2.5), senior DL Devonta Davis (2.5), and graduate DB Wendol Philord (2)

Jones added a sack as well, his first of the season

Redshirt junior DL Jacob Merrifield registered his first career sack

The Owls added seven pass breakups, two of each coming from Philord and senior CB “Buggs” Khazir Brown

SPECIAL TEAMS

Davis’ 51-yard field goal is the third longest in program history and the first 50+ yarder since Greg Joseph in 2017

Hayes returned a punt for 43 yards, a career-long

QUOTABLE

Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Tom Herman
“I want to start off by paying respects to the team that we just played, they gave us all we wanted, not just in the first half but that first drive in the second half. I was really impressed. We took a step. I know who we were playing, but I also know that we got our butts kicked last week and the last time we were in this stadium, we put about two good quarters together…In this one, we came out and started fast, especially offensively, that was really good to see. And then for some reason, we stopped doing our job the way that we are trained to do and we got hit with quite a bit of adversity in the second quarter, but our guys responded…It’s always good when you win by 31 to have a spot where you say that wasn’t good enough. But I’m really proud of our guys for growing, the last time we played well and then got hit with adversity, we crumbled. We didn’t tonight, we came out in the second half and the offense didn’t punt or turn the ball over and the defense didn’t give up any points. I’m really happy with the way our guys responded, we’re going to celebrate this win but we also know that the competition gets really stiff from here on out…We know we have to get better, but we took the necessary steps, especially having slipped a little bit in the second quarter, and we found it again. That was important to me.”

Redshirt Junior RB CJ Campbell
“It felt great to get everybody in the game, just seeing the young guys be able to come in and just continue what were doing for most of the game, dominating the run and just making sure we can get those first downs one at a time. It just shows the young guys that you have to be patient sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t happen right away, sometimes that patience works out for everybody.”

Redshirt Junior QB Cam Fancher
“The coaching staff, offensive staff, Herm [Tom Herman] and [Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Charlie] Frye put together a great gameplan to go into this week and attack them. The theme of this week was “Do your job” and that’s really all we were trying to go out there and do play-in and play-out.”

Redshirt Freshman QB Kasen Weisman

“I was excited to be on the field. It was the first time I have been on the field in a game setting in two years, since high school. The second quarter started off rocky, I made a couple of good throws. I just have to learn how to throw the ball away, not make stupid mistakes; this isn’t high school. This is college football. But I was proud of the way I came out in the second half and how our team responded.”

Senior DE Chris Jones

“We definitely felt getting pressure on the quarterback, but it wasn’t anything about going for a record, it was just all of us doing our job together, making the play that we are supposed to make, and believing in the call that that Coach Roc [Defensive Coordinator/LB Coach Roc Bellantoni] is making.”