It is mid-October and FAU has just one game under their belt. A crazy thought any other year, but 2020 has not been just any other year. In fact, the Owls are one of four programs that have played just one game so far, and that does not include teams from the Big Ten, PAC-12, and Mountain West conferences that have yet to play a single down.

Still, the Owls were antsy to get back on the field. "They were really excited to be back out here, (on the practice field)," said FAU Head Coach Willie Taggart. "Just hearing our guys talking about how boring it's been without practice, and watching others play, they were ready to get back at it."

FAU had their fifth game called-off last weekend. FAU administrators asked their counterparts at Southern Mississippi to postpone the game after a spike in positive COVID-19 cases inside the FAU program.

The Owls will have another weekend off, albeit a planned bye week, before facing a strong Marshall squad.


Bye Week Mash Up

• FAU COVID-19 Update To start his midweek presser, Taggart gave media updated COVID-19 numbers within the program: 18 players and nine staff members tested positive last week. Good news: as of Wednesday, there have been no new positive tests from other student-athletes and staff. Bad news: contact tracing has identified 20 to 25 players as possible exposures, forcing them all to quarantine for two weeks. Only a small number of players will have their quarantine period expire in time to travel to Huntington to face Marshall.

• Transfer Changes Coming Down the Pipeline With the pandemic continuing to ravage through college football, the NCAA's Division I Council has proposed a one-time transfer waiver, with immediate eligibility, across all sports for student athletes wishing to change schools. Currently, players must receive a hardship waiver in order to be declared immediately eligible when transfer to a different school within the same classification as their previous, with the only exception being if the athletes is a graduate transfer. The council will convene in January to discuss, and most likely vote, on the new rule. If approved, players will be free to transfer one time in their athletic career without being forced to sit-out starting on the first of August, 2021.

• Everybody's Bowling While the D-I Council continues to mull over a change in transfer rules, they have already approved a one-time rule change allowing teams with records below .500 an opportunity to go bowling. In normal seasons, teams are required to at least split their season record if they are to receive an invitation to a bowl game, with the rare exception being if there are not enough .500 teams to fill all the bowl slots. The chairman of the D-I Council says the decision "is to provide as much opportunity and flexibility to athletes as possible amid the uncertainty hanging over this year of college sports." This rule change will only be in effect during the 2020-21 college football season.

• C-USA Championship Pushed Back Conference-USA announced the league's championship game will be pushed back two weeks from December 5, to December 18. The decision comes as more conference members continue to see scheduled contests disappear due to the coronavirus. The move away from the first weekend in December allows the Owls to play Georgia Southern after FAU's mid-September's trip to Statesboro was postponed. Moreover, the move opens up another weekend to make up the lost game at Southern Miss. Expect news on that game within the week.

• Eyes on Marshall Despite being off this weekend, the Owls are licking their chops at the chance to play Marshall. Senior running back James Charles (photo above) pointed out that even while winning the conference championship twice, he has only beaten the Herd once. "It's always a tough, competitive game against them. It's an awesome challenge for us coming off the bye week." Although he respects Marshall's talent, Charles is hungry for a victory in FAU's growing rivalry with the Herd. "I want it (to beat them) bad to be honest. They've beat me three times… We want this game bad." The Owls are hopeful they will take on #26 Marshall on the road on October 24.