TAKEAWAYS: Florida Atlantic Wins Seventh Straight Shula Bowl
BOCA RATON, FL - After a rough 0-2 start to the season, the Florida Atlantic Owls came out and scored 24 points in the first half, with 17 of them coming off four turnovers. The Owls would never look back as they defeated the FIU Panthers by a final score of 38-20.
Owls' run game with top performance
After struggling to run the ball in their first two games of the season, Florida Atlantic combined for 188 rushing yards, with Zuberi Mobley leading the way. Just off the run, the Owls scored three touchdowns.
For Mobley, a redshirt junior ran for a combined 44 yards between his first two games. On Saturday, he ran for 134 yards and three touchdowns. Saturday's performance marked the second-most rushing yards in a single game for his career.
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Fancher causes trouble for FIU
FAU quarterback Cam Fancher, who had gotten off to a rough start this season finally broke out, throwing for 161 yards and ran for 64 yards and a touchdown.
"He's really fast and athletic," said FIU head coach Mike MacIntyre. "He's done that against everybody's he's played this year. He made some plays with his legs and different things like that. He's an athletic quarterback. We tried to keep him in the pocket. Didn't do a good enough job. We got to coach it better. We had some schemes and we didn't do that exactly the way we'd like to do. We'll get that fixed on film and go from there."
Early offensive mistakes cost game
After the FIU offense got off to a scorching start, with their first drive of the game resulting in a 36-yard pass to Eric Rivers, quarterback Keyone Jenkins thew two interceptions and fumbled the ball. The two interceptions came in the second quarter while the fumble came in the first.
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Panther Positives?
For the first time in his career, FIU redshirt junior wide receiver Eric Rivers broke 100 yards receiving in a game. After spending his days in Memphis as a cornerback, Rivers made the switch to receiver and it has panned out well for him.
Georgia Tech transfer Juju Lewis caught his first collegiate touchdown with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter. Lewis didn't see any playing with the Yellow Jackets and ended up transferring to FIU where he has seen plenty of playing time.
Despite the second quarter interceptions, Keyone Jenkins ended the night completing 21 of 35 passes for 281 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. That marked the most interceptions Jenkins has thrown in his career and tied a career high in passing touchdowns.
What's Next?
With the loss, FIU will fall to 1-2 on the season and will begin a two-game homestand which will begin with their homecoming game against the Monmouth Hawks of the FCS level. That game will be on September 21st at 6:00 pm on ESPN+.