FAU talking smack again...this time to the MSU Spartans...

[Sunil]

They're becoming a bunch of cocky SOB"s. Hope they can back it up for their sake... 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/sfl-flspmikec07sbsep07,0,3717636.story

Now's the time for Owls to back big talk with big play from defense

by MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

September 7, 2008

Fort Lauderdale - There's a disparity between what the Florida Atlantic Owls are saying and what they are doing this football season.

They talked about making a Bowl Championship Series game before Texas drilled them last week. They said it would be no sweat to bounce back against Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday — and then had to sweat out a victory.

The Owls want to believe they are too good for the New Orleans Bowl, the prize for the Sun Belt champion. But they didn't look much better than their unimpressive Conference USA opponent at Lockhart Stadium.

Never mind the 49-34 final score. The Owls survived when UAB missed an open touchdown pass in the final minute and then FAU's Charles Pierre inexplicably broke free for a 72-yard touchdown run.

The Owls escaped as two-touchdown favorites, yet they were still talking big afterward.

Coach Howard Schnellenberger said he saw defensive "improvement," though a weaker opponent rolled up 482 yards. And after Schnellenberger angered Texas by questioning its toughness, Owls kick returner Jeff Blanchard promised FAU would light up Michigan State on Saturday.

"We will score a lot against them, trust me," he said.

That's not as brash as it sounds, considering the Owls remain a legitimate force on offense. But they will get more resistance from Michigan State, Minnesota and the conference foes looking to prevent them from repeating as champs.

Eventually the Owls are going to have to stop a good team to win, and so far there's been little evidence they can do it.

"When you score a lot of points, it's exciting for the fans," quarterback Rusty Smith said. "But to be honest, I don't enjoy those kinds of games at all."

This was one of those games. The Owls raced out to leads of 14-0 and 21-3, only to watch UAB get back within 21-17. FAU was up 42-26 when UAB scored on a 13-play drive prolonged by a hit out of bounds following a fourth-down stop.

The offense wasn't perfect but nearly had to be.

"We are not going to depend on the offense," said Owls linebacker Frantz Joseph, a Fort Lauderdale High product. "We are going to get the job done."

Otherwise, the Owls can forget about finally playing a BCS school tough on the road. Keep this up and eventually a return trip to the New Orleans Bowl will start looking pretty good and not something for which they'll have to settle.

There's nothing wrong with the Owls dreaming big, and no one in college football has done it better than Schnellenberger. But talk about big victories and a super season needs to be tempered by the reality that FAU needs to get a lot better just to be a good team.

It's one thing to get crushed at Texas. It's something different to struggle at home against an opponent with a pretty good running quarterback and not much else.

"All in all, it was a great day of redemption," Schnellenberger said.

No, it was just a day FAU survived. Redemption won't come unless the defense can help the Owls finally do as much as they say.

[BrahmanBulliever]

Truly the world has never been graced before with such arrogance.  :

[crambone]

Schelly loves to set his boys up for a shellackin', huh?

[cygnus34]

Schnell. is just trying to get them to step up.  They are NOT the CANES but Schnell. is trying to get them there.

If he can make them believers, who knows how far they can go.

[CoolBull1]

Schnelly knows what it takes to motivate his guys....but in general pompousness is abundant in football circles everywhere from Orlando south to Miami.  Even when it's not supported...

[CoolBull1]

Schnelly knows what it takes to motivate his guys....but in general pompousness is abundant in football circles everywhere from Orlando south to Miami.  Even when it's not supported...

Oops...I thought Schelly was saying those things.

[DawgPound]

Tampa is south of Orlando  .

FAU is going to have to fight it out for a bowl game.  Troy and Arkansas State figure to give them a run for the SBC title.  After the beatdown from Texas and the crappy win against one of the weakest teams in CUSA, they should eat some humble pie and just go out and win convincingly first.

To be honest, it reminds me a little of UCF/USF in 2007.  The only difference was the big talking came from the media prior to that game.  The FAU coach was the one to rile Texas up.

I guess the other difference was that UCF took the beating(yes beating) and after some humble pie, beat down a quality opponent(Tulsa).  FAU kept talking and turned up an unimpressive win.  I'm guessing a loss for them this week.

[SANJAY]

Dawg you better hope FAU loses, otherwise they'll match UCF for # of BCS wins.

HA!.

I jest.  MSU will win.

[Jamie]

This worked so well last time they start talking smack. Texas beat them 52-13 and should have beaten them by even more. Of course, Michigan State is well known as serial chokers so they may be barking up the right tree here.

[fauowls44]

They're becoming a bunch of cocky SOB"s. Hope they can back it up for their sake... 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/sfl-flspmikec07sbsep07,0,3717636.story

Coach Howard Schnellenberger said he saw defensive "improvement," though a weaker opponent rolled up 482 yards. And after Schnellenberger angered Texas by questioning its toughness, Owls kick returner Jeff Blanchard promised FAU would light up Michigan State on Saturday.

"We will score a lot against them, trust me," he said.

This whole FAU trash-talking thing has been blown out of proportion.  If you actually listen to the Schnellenberger quote in context, he wasn't bashing Texas in any way.  As for this quote, it is hardly trash talking.  This is one player...a backup kick returner at that.  What it sounds like to me is that this columnist asked a bunch of players the same question until he found a guy to give him a response that fit his story.  If you are going to ask for a quote about if FAU would put up points on MSU, don't you think he probably asked every player that actually plays on offense first before getting to the kick returner?  Besides, what do you expect a 19 year old kid is going to say when asked that question minutes after his team just scored 49 points?  It's not fair to say this kid is arrogant or a trash talker.  I'm sure you can get at least one kid on every team in the country to give the exact same quote every week of the year.

Anyway, that's my rant.  Good luck against Kansas tonight.