Last night, the Florida Atlantic University Owls (1-2) took home their first win of the season against long-time rivals the Florida International University Panthers (1-2) 38-20. With the win, the Don Shula Bowl trophy stays in Boca Raton, making FAU seven-time back-to-back Shula Bowl champions.

Despite the rough first quarter, FAU quarterback Cam Fancher seemed to become more intune with running the offense compared to previous games. Fancher ended the game with no turnovers, something he had been struggling with to start the season.

“The game started off slow,” Fancher said. “I feel like the guys responded well. Still a lot of room for improvement but I like the response the guys had.”

The unofficial MVP of the Shula Bowl was FAU running back Zuberi Mobley, who scored three touchdowns in the first half and had 134 yards on 20 carries for an average of 6.7 yards a carry. 

“Excited to get the win. Excited to get the win in the Shula Bowl. Excited to get the win for our team” FAU head coach Tom Herman said in the post-game press conference. “To go through the frustration of the first couple of weeks knowing we didn’t play up to our standard for most of those games… I was so proud of our guys for responding… I don’t know if we could have withstood that first quarter just two weeks ago but we did.”

Notching the first win of the season after an 0-2 start, Herman said the team will soak in the win but be looking forward to the next game as soon as possible. “We’re gonna celebrate the hell out of this… but I think we all know that the competition level is going to increase as we continue our season and we’ve got to continue to increase our level of play in order to accomplish the things we want to accomplish”. 

Next week, FAU will take on the University of Connecticut Huskies on the road at 7:00 P.M. on Sept. 14. The game can be streamed through the CBS Sports Network.

Recap

After winning the coin toss FAU decided to kick the ball to FIU. The Panther’s offense started off hot. FIU Quarterback Keyone Jenkins threw nothing but darts on his first plays of the game, quickly driving the ball down to the FAU 32-yard line before throwing a 32-yard dagger to FIU wide receiver Eric Rivers for a touchdown. The kick by FIU kicker Alejandro Prado was good, putting FIU 7 points up on FAU only a minute and fifteen seconds into the game. 

Although expected to respond, Fancher’s first set of downs did not pan out the way he, or the fans, wanted. On first down he threw the ball way off target resulting in an incomplete pass. On second down FAU opted for a QB hand-off play which resulted in Fancher dropping the ball and almost caused a turnover if it wasn’t deemed an incomplete pass before the fumble recovery could occur. Rattled, Fancher threw yet another incomplete pass on third down resulting in FAU taking the punt on fourth down.

With a three and out on the first offensive possession for FAU, the pressure was on the defense to make a big play to swing the momentum their way. 

That momentum shifter came with two minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock where Jenkins, on a run to the FIU 12-yard line, was tackled and proceeded to drop the ball. FAU defensive lineman Jaden Wheeler then rushed to the ball and picked up the recovery. 

Wheeler’s fumble recovery gave the FAU offense the morale and momentum booster to come back into the game and make a huge play. Fancher came back into the game looking like a completely different quarterback, completing his first pass of the game to wide receiver Jayshon Platt who took the ball to the FIU one yard line. After a run by running back Zuberi Mobley for no gain, Mobley ran the ball again to finally give FAU their first touchdown. FAU kicker Morgan Suarez successfully completed the field goal for the extra point, tying the game 7-7. 

After the touchdown the FAU defense made a crucial play, managing to get a stop that led to FAU’s offense drawing up a run play that gave Mobley a hole down the middle and sent him down the field for a 72 yard rushing touchdown. 

On the very next play FAU’s defense created another opening for the offense with cornerback Daedae Hill intercepting Jenkins pass. This opened up the offense to drive the ball to field goal range and allowed Suarez to kick a 28-yard field goal to give the Owls three points.

Nearing the end of the first half, FIU fumbled the ball on a Jenkins pass to wide receiver Dean Patterson which was recovered by FAU safety CJ Heard. This fumble led the Owls to take the ball all the way to FIU’s 1 yard line where Mobley hammered the ball in, scoring the touchdown. After the made kick by Suarez the first half ended with 24-7 with FAU in the lead.

FAU started out the second half hot. The FAU offense took the ball to the FIU 12 yard line where Fancher ran the ball into the endzone for a touchdown, this being Fancher’s first rushing touchdown this season.

After the turnover on downs by FIU the next play, FAU scored yet another touchdown with FAU running back CJ Campbell Jr. running two yards. Suarez’s kick for the extra point made the score 38-7 FAU.

FIU fired back with a touchdown of their own the next play, with Jenkins completing a pass to Patterson for a touchdown and extra kick, reducing the gap to 24 points. FIU’s defense made a stop on the next play, forcing FAU to punt the ball. From this FIU scored yet another touchdown with a Jenkins pass to wide receiver Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis for a touchdown. However, FIU attempted a 2-point conversion which failed and essentially sealed the fate of FIU this game. 

To further rub salt in the wound after forcing FAU to punt the ball yet again FIU’s offense was looking for a quick score to minimize clock usage and potentially mount a comeback with 7:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, a pass made by Jenkins was intercepted by FAU defensive back Khazir “Buggs” Brown, dashing away any hope that FIU could come back in this game.

FAU ran down the clock on the next play, winning the game and defending their title as Shula Bowl champions.

Stephen Uter is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email him at stephenuter04@gmail.com or DM him on Instagram @steph_uter.