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Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

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Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/8993120/Five-thoughts:-How-Fla.-Atlantic-beat-Central-Mich.

CollegeFootballNews.com's Five Thoughts on the Motor City Bowl:

1. When the Dan LeFevour Fan Club convenes, I'll be staying home. I'm not wowed by the Central Michigan quarterback. Sure, he's got the numbers and can certainly make plays with his legs, but in terms of the total package that pro types look for, he looks an awful lot like a system guy who's feasted on plenty of bad MAC defenses. Admittedly, I can watch LeFevour at length for only two or three games a year, but his Motor City Bowl performance was telling. His footwork in the pocket is inconsistent. He sails a lot of passes. And he's unproven beyond the short and intermediate stuff. In other words, he'd benefit from another year in Mount Pleasant rather than leaving school with a year of eligibility on the table. —Richard Cirminiello


2. Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones is likely to be second guessed and third guessed after taking a big chance in the fourth quarter, when the team was down by 11, to go for a touchdown instead of take the almost certain field goal, but that was hardly the team's biggest issue. Much will be made around Florida Atlantic about how Rusty Smith had a great day, and CMU will almost certainly be barking about getting hit by a key roughing-the-passer call, while Dan LeFevour took a few big shots that were never called. But the difference in this game came down to the Florida Atlantic offensive line in the final three minutes. With CMU's offense rolling, and after an ill-advised and unsuccessful onside kick, all the defense had to do was come up with a stop, give LeFevour the ball back, and hope to still have one of the two timeouts left in the bank to go on a march for a game-tying field goal. But instead, FAU's offensive line, particularly the right side, blew the Chippewas off the ball for five straight plays, Charles Pierre twisted and turned his way to 34 yards and three first downs, and the Owls had the game won. The FAU offense that relies so much on passing and precision ended up closing by being more physical than a defense banking on seeing the running game. And now FAU, and the Sun Belt, has a huge win to offset the Troy loss to Southern Miss. — Pete Fiutak

3. I stand here in complete amazement at Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger. The guy was the offensive coordinator when the Miami Dolphins had their perfect season … 36 years ago. He won a national championship with the Miami Hurricanes a quarter-century ago. And here he is, on the brink of his 75th birthday, still reaching milestones. In what might be his crowning achievement, Schnellenberger has won back-to-back bowl games at Florida Atlantic, the program he helped give birth to less than a decade ago. In an era when Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are the favorite sons of the AARP, it's easy to lose sight of what's been taking place in Boca Raton. By upsetting Central Michigan in Michigan, Schnellenberger is now 6-0 in bowl games, a record among NCAA head coaches. — Richard Cirminiello

4. I was touting this game all along as the potential for fun and excitement with two great quarterbacks, high-octane passing offenses and little expected from the defenses. Instead, it became a good defensive battle until late with plenty of intrigue in a competitive game down to the end. Not to sound like Mr. Up With Bowls, but a close game like this turned out to be might be a better advertisement for the MAC and Sun Belt than a blowout by either side would be for the league with the winning team. I know the numbers. I know that the MAC and Sun Belt just don't bring in the readers and don't have the fans of one big-time BCS team, but fans of college football might have watched this game and realized that sometimes it can be fun to watch the nonbig boy teams play. It doesn't have to be Florida-Alabama every week for there to be good games. — Pete Fiutak

5. Officiating decisions and currently existing NCAA football rules played a huge role in deciding this game. First of all, the officiating crew applied the letter of the law by throwing a roughing-the-passer flag against Central Michigan, which was immediately followed by a Florida Atlantic touchdown on a home-run pass from Smith. Central Michigan and quarterback Dan LeFevour weren't so lucky when a Florida Atlantic defender landed on LeFevour's helmet long after a play ended. On this occasion, the refs applied the spirit of the law and withheld the yellow laundry as a result. The Chippewas would get stopped, and would have to settle for a field goal.

Now, about the football rulebook:

Late in the third quarter, Central Michigan receiver Antonio Brown took an end-around 72 yards for a touchdown. Florida Atlantic jumped offside on the play, but at the Owls 20, Central Michigan receiver Kito Poblah —blocking downfield — committed an offensive face mask penalty.

The officiating crew properly applied the existing rules. The offside penalty and the face mask penalty offset, requiring the down to be replayed. The point of mentioning this series of events is to show that the rulebook needs to be changed.

If FAU had not jumped offside, Central Michigan would have gained a first down at the FAU 35, because Poblah's face-mask penalty (15 yards, of course) would have been marked from the spot of the foul, which was the Owls' 20. Let's make this clear, then: If the defensive team (FAU) had not committed a penalty, the offensive team (CMU) would have gained 37 yards.

But since FAU did make a mistake and commit a penalty, the offense did not receive the benefit of a 37-yard gain.

Very simply, the rulebook needs to be changed: If a big downfield play involves a blocking penalty, that penalty cannot be treated as an offsetting foul. Those in charge of reshaping and tweaking the rulebook need to look at other similar situations in which penalties enjoy a level of equivalence they do not in fact deserve. — Matthew Zemek

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

People may argue that we got lucky in a lot of ways with the offensive face mask and such, but even if we did get lucky, we still had to put work to get the points we got. Yes it helped having a new set of downs, or that CMU touchdown being called back, but we still had to keep playing. I have one thought on why we won this game and this that we took advantage of what was given to us. Everytime we were given new life or something like that, we made them pay, which is what has to happen for upsets like this to happen. We had to play near perfect, as well as get some help.
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Re: Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

There's a bunch of crying in that article….. :D
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Re: Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

Usually the face mask is something that would happen to us. Like the hold on Gent when Pierre ran for a long TD against Michigan State

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Five thoughts: How Fla. Atlantic beat Central Mich

3. I stand here in complete amazement at Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger. The guy was the offensive coordinator when the Miami Dolphins had their perfect season … 36 years ago. He won a national championship with the Miami Hurricanes a quarter-century ago. And here he is, on the brink of his 75th birthday, still reaching milestones. In what might be his crowning achievement, Schnellenberger has won back-to-back bowl games at Florida Atlantic, the program he helped give birth to less than a decade ago. In an era when Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are the favorite sons of the AARP, it's easy to lose sight of what's been taking place in Boca Raton. By upsetting Central Michigan in Michigan, Schnellenberger is now 6-0 in bowl games, a record among NCAA head coaches. — Richard Cirminiello


This is sooo true, he is often over looked when it comes to "great college coaches"
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