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Mid-Season Thoughts

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Owls sit at 3-3 with a bye week ahead, and the remaining 6 games of the schedule. I am interested in where people think we will end up. Here is my take on things. FAU lost 2 games that most would not be surprised about. Sure, preseason hype was at an all-time high, but the reality is that few really thought the Owls could pull off the win against Oklahoma. UCF was a game that some thought we could win, but still a legit top 20 team at the time (now top 10). Some did not expect the win against Air Force. The MTSU loss is a disappointment. However, I think the team will see continued improvement as the conference schedule progresses. My analysis is three-fold. QB play must improve and the defense must buckle down. If one performs poorly, the other needs to step up. Both cannot struggle mightily in the same game. Singletary also needs to get up to speed. He is now the all-time leading rusher for FAU, and he is having a solid year (on pace for 1200 yards.) Despite this, hopes were a lot higher at the beginning of the season. Improvement comes by way of play calling as well as O-Line play. Both will help him to have a stronger second half to the season. I think the Owls finish strong at 5-1 the rest of the way out. There will be some close calls though.

Thoughts??

GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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FAU Schedule My prediction
@ Marshall - very tough road game, but the Herd have not looked as good as expected. FAU wins - 4-3/2-1
LA Tech - typically strong defense, and have a couple of relatively easy games before coming to Boca FAU wins - 5-3/3-1
@ FIU - you never know in rivalry games, but hopefully the offense continues to get better FAU wins - 6-3/4-1
WKU - Hilltoppers appear to be down FAU wins - 7-3/5-1
@ UNT - our defensive issues cost us, as a fired-up Green Machine try very hard for payback FAU loses - 7-4/5-2
Charlotte - roll Owls FAU wins - 8-4/6-2


The MTSU game is going to come back to absolutely haunt the Owls.  I think the Blue Raiders only have 2 real tests left (FIU this weekend and UAB in the last game of the season).  Even if they lose both of those, if FAU loses any more games the Blue Raiders win the division.

As for on-the-field play, we certainly are hurting from the coaching losses and having to throw Robison into the fire.  I think if the offense gets both creative and aggressive, we can keep up the scoring we saw last season (and last week).  The defense has surprised most people, but I honestly think the way the offense has performed and not been able to dictate games/tempo has hurt that side, too.  I totally agree that we are at WORST one game off where most realistically would have us.  The problem is that one game (MTSU) as I said may end up being very costly.  Still - 7 or 8 wins and a bowl game is not what we all wanted, but still is a pretty good season.
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NT beat winless UTEP by 3 this past week (actually UTEP has lost 18 in a row now!).

They started real hot but since beating a BAD Arkansas they have NOT impressed!
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GeorgiaOwl said

NT beat winless UTEP by 3 this past week (actually UTEP has lost 18 in a row now!).

They started real hot but since beating a BAD Arkansas they have NOT impressed!
Posted On: Oct 9th 2018, 6:00 PM #381895

Think they had a ton of injuries for that game though, and it is a rivalry game. I'm still very concerned about that game in Denton.

Not going to lie, I'm a bit disappointed with the season thus far. I didn't expect them to beat OU obviously, but I didn't expect to look that bad either – and frankly, we shouldn't have looked that bad. That was a telltale sign to me that things weren't necessarily going to be smooth sailing like last year, and they haven't been.

I can easily see two more conference losses as things stand unless they can keep momentum from the end of the ODU game and iron out some of the wrinkles in the bye. I think the (none) kicking game can absolutely come back to haunt us in a game we should win. I know Marshall is down, but it's still Huntington and a team with a chip on their shoulder. Denton will not be easy imo, and the game down south I think will be a fight as most of the rivalry games are. I say we come out of those games 2 - 1 (hopefully), but some of the things I see make me think one of the home games that should be gimmes could turn out to be very frustrating (LA Tech or WKU). Should win them, but I don''t see any gimmes necessarily right now other than perhaps Charlotte.

As has already been said, the MTSU loss – which absolutely should have been a win – will likely keep us out of the C USA championship. Hope I am wrong about that. Have to root for FIU this weekend (I know, I know) and handle business when we get down there for the Shula Bowl, hoping MTSU falters in some other game along the way.

My two cents.
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I had posted before that NT has lost their No.1 back for the season already.
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I can revise my predictions if we whip Marshall in Huntington!!!

 :Big-Grin:
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I believe we are exactly where we should be right now. This year's Buffalo was MTSU. It was a wake up call that we needed as a team to understand that we can't just keep going through the motions and expect to win a conference game.

Our players have had to learn how to handle winning and to maintain success, especially after tough shows at OU and UCF. I am looking forward to the rest of this season.




Quick side note: The last two games of UCF's season are against USF and Cincinnati who are currently both ranked and undefeated. I am looking forward to a UCF loss in either of those games or they will be "repeat national champs" according to their fans at the game  :Laughing:

Go Owls!
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I think high expectations, coordinator changes, and a freshman QB knocked us back.

 I believe we bought into the hype some. I think the MTSU los woke us up a bit.

changing coordinators is a big deal. Our O isn't as devastating as last year, but still pretty potent.

and last, we can't forget that have a very green, but talented QB running the show. We're going to have to live with the growing pains if we want to reap the benefits for the next 3 years. If Lane were to leave, it would be one of his nice parting gifts…..

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Mid season thought - The mediocre showing this year almost guarantees that Kiffin will not be going anywhere next year. :Big-Grin:

There was a lot of hype in the pre-season, but I never quite understand how with the loss of our entire coaching staff.  Yes, our team remained mostly intact, but new coaches = new schemes and new schemes = growing pains.

I think we will have to fight our way through the conference this year and it will be tough.  If we can all temper our expectations a little the good news is there should be some exciting football to watch as every game now really counts.  The bad news is that the losses also count.  Blowouts are embarrassing, but the close losses really hurt.  I'm still confident that we can pull it together and finish out 7-5.  Play has to improve though.  We have the talent, just gotta figure out how to utilize it.

FAU - We got Bowls!
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I think that the second half of the season will be good. Maybe not perfect but we have a lot of upperclassmen that I think the team can rally around to send them out on a high note. 
Hopefully we have more coaching continuitiy the next few seasons and maybe we will start to hear about some recruiting since it’s the bye week. 

We aren’t as great as we thought but no one else in the conference is that great either. I expect competitive games, but none of those teams are scary. I think we win out. 
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