By Scott Morganroth
The FAU Owls may have a new coach, but, through five games into the 2012 regular season, the results still haven’t changed.
FAU is 1-4 and 0-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. This weekend, the good news is FAU didn’t lose. The bad news is they didn’t win. In other words, they were off and have had time to practice and regroup as they approach the final seven games, realizing that the Owls lone win was against an FCS school in Wagner College on August 31.
The Owls most recent defeat occurred on Sept. 28 against North Texas, dropping a 20-14 decision at FAU Stadium. FAU led in a category that you don’t want to lead in as the Owls had a 3-1 edge in turnovers.
FAU QB Graham Wilbert had two interceptions and the Owls lost a fumble. FAU trailed North Texas 10-0 at halftime. Wilbert was 21-34-142 yards and also had eight carries and scored a rushing touchdown. Running back Damian Fortner had 17 carries for 63 yards and one touchdown.
North Texas gained 307 yards in total offense in 60 plays while FAU utilized 71 plays for 301 yards.
When the game was over, Coach Carl Pelini said he planned to review the film and find out what went wrong and what it will take to fix the Owls’ problems.
“It’s the same thing, we just don’t know how to win,” Pelini said. “We don’t know how to win as a football team or as a football program. When the game is on the line, we couldn’t get over the hump. When the score is 0-0, we make mistakes over and over again. We didn’t convert in the red zone, made mistakes defensively, gave up the wrong big play. When we’re down 17-0, we start to play until it gets close again, then the pressure is on us again and we don’t perform. That’s what we have to learn as a football program and that’s to perform when the pressure is on.”
Next up for FAU is a pair of Sun Belt Conference road games. On Saturday, the Owls face the University of Louisiana Monroe on Oct. 13 followed by an Oct. 20 contest against the University of South Alabama.
FAU returns home to face Troy University on Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. Three important games will dictate where this program goes and the direction of its first year head coach.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.
