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Stick a fork in us! Florida Atlantic talking points

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Stick a fork in us! Florida Atlantic talking points

Florida Atlantic talking points

by Tom D'Angelo

Scary sight for Owls fans

Florida Atlantic’s season is on the brink as it is, but if Rusty Smith’s injury is serious, it’s finished. And that is no knock on Jeff Van Camp, but how much can the Owls expect from an untested quarterback who has spent three seasons as an understudy?

“We probably don’t have as good a chance to win with him then we do with Rusty but I think we still have a very good chance to win,” coach Howard Schnellenberger said.

Smith sat on the table with three trainers probing his left shoulder. The initial diagnosis is a sprained AC joint. The good news is it’s his non-throwing shoulder. Smith will be re-examined Monday and if the results are not good the limited Jeff Van Camp era could be starting earlier than expected.

FAU opponents having a block party

The Owls spent time last week working on field goal protection. Apparently, all that work went to waste as Ross Gornall had field goal blocked, the third this season.

And now, another special teams worry. Mickey Groody, who was named to the Ray Guy Award watch list last week, had two punts blocked, one returned for a touchdown, and he was tackled on one punt attempt after being pressured as soon as he handled the snap.

“That’s a shortcoming of mine, and my assistant coaches that work with those teams and we have to get that straightened out or it can happen again,” Schnellenberger said.

Defense shows improvement

The Owls defense had their best performance, but in the end, it was a major breakdown that cost FAU the game. The defense allowed 20 points with seven came on a punt block, and limited MTSU to 11 first downs (FAU had 28) and about half the time of possession (20:03 to 39:57) as the Owls.

Still, the game was in their hands after Smith’s injuries when Dwight Dasher scored on a 74-yard quarterback draw. Until then, Middle Tennessee had 258 total yards.

“(It’s a) 60 minute game,” safety Marcus Bartels said. “We played great for 50 minutes? I don’t know. I thought we had it.”
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