Going Deep: Florida Atlantic

14 comments so far September 2, 2009 by Darren K. Carlson

Have you heard the news? Nebraska plays a football game this Saturday. It's amazing, I know. They are playing Florida Atlantic. No, not Florida. Not Florida State. Nope, it is not South Florida or Central Florida. Say it with me - Florida Atlantic. I gather you might not all be terribly familiar with this opponent. At BRN, we want you to be the best fan you can be. So, how about I drop a few dozen facts (and a few opinions) on you concerning the Owls. There is fact #1 - their mascot is the Owls. For the rest, we're ... going deep.

The Fact File
Okay, what do you absolutely need to know about Florida Atlantic to not embarrass yourself at the game or bar or game watching party on Saturday?

They are called the Owls (but not just any owls) and they are located in Boca Raton, Florida. Who knew that area wasn't just for retirees anymore? Are their any condos left in Del Boca Vista!?

The Owls play in the Sun Belt Conference. They are one of three Husker opponents from the Sun Belt this year. Is that some sort of thank you gift from NU to Sun Belt officials for the, uh, interesting officiating they provided in the 2006 Alamo Bowl? Doubtful. But hey, it's something.

FAU is just getting started with football. They created the program in 1998, and first dressed a team in 2000 They started out in I-AA and moved to 1-A in 2006. They have only had one coach, Howard Schnellenberger (more on him in a bit) . And, as of Saturday, the program has a straight up .500 record all time at 48 wins and 48 losses under his leadership.

Names to Know
Any discussion of important people surrounding the FAU program must start with Schnellenberger. The guy is quite a character. He's been coaching for a long, long time. The guy was an assistant under Bear Bryant, for goodness sake. Come on, he's from the class of 1956. He's no spring chicken. He's more like Colonel Sanders, with that white hair, great mustache and sport coat on the sideline.

Whether you can call Schnellenberger a big success could be debated a bit. His career winning percentage is .541. He won a national title at Miami. He's undefeated in bowl games. Of course, he's only been to 6 of them since 1979. He has proven to be a program builder at FAU. He was the Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2007. And he helped give Louisville's program legs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Though, remember that he lost more games than he won for the Cardinals. Oh, and most discussion of his career tend to leave out the one-year disaster that was his time as Oklahoma's Head Coach. I'm just saying, you can debate the guy's accomplishments.

Now, I have to come clean. Schnellenberger is one of the people I like least in college football. When I see him, I can only think of that 1984 Orange Bowl. It eats me up. I actively cheer against him. When he loses, I rejoice. I'm sorry, I can't help it. Some people say he's colorful. I say he's arrogant. I don't think I'm the only person who feels this way, and not just in Nebraska. So, I'm a bit perplexed by the relative media love fest that has proceeded his arrival. Oh well.

After coach Sanders, er, uh, I mean Schnellenberger, the most compelling person on the FAU roster is clearly the quarterback - Rusty Smith. Smith was the Sun Belt's co-Offensive Player of the Year last year, and filled up the stat sheet. The dude measures 6'5'' tall, 230 pounds with 8000+ yards and 62 touchdowns to his name. The pros covet him and he's the real deal.

He might be the most noteworthy guy named Rusty since the "Vacation" movies. That, and I think his name sounds like it could be a fun drink. In Boca, can you go in to a bar and order a "Rusty Smith"? You should be able to and it should involve whiskey. Right? Make up a recipe and submit it to BRN. Please.

A Few Obscurities
Not to go all Cliff Claven on you, but there are a few other little known items that I would like to share with you about Saturday's matchup with FAU. Maybe you can put this knowledge to good use.

Florida Atlantic is the first team from Florida to visit NU since Dante Culpepper led the Central Florida Golden Knights in to Lincoln more than a decade ago. Memo to the state of Florida: Please send some more teams this way. Yeah, that means you, Gators, 'Noles and Canes. Drop by any time.

FAU started the year 1-5 last year, only to rally (against a crap conference...) to qualify for and win the Motor City Bowl. It was their second straight bowl victory.

All but four of the players on the FAU roster are from the state of Florida. Shocking.

Schnellenberger tweets (jeez, who doesn't?) -- http://twitter.com/Schnellenberger

From YouTube, here some feisty practice footage. And, I suspect you have already seen this video.

The Owls are staying at the Cornhusker Hotel, by the way.

Now, About Football...
All kidding aside, there is a football game coming up this Saturday. And, the Owls present an interesting match up for Nebraska. Smith is legit at quarterback. That alone should give rabid fans some pause. He triggers a pro style offense (meaning a mix of run and pass out of pro sets) and has a real playmaker returning on the outside with Cortez Gent (60 grabs, 935 yards 9 TDs) and a solid tight end in Jamari Grant. They are going to make plays.

Defensively, the Owls are a base 4-3 and will play a lot of nickle (5 defensive back) coverage. Frankly, they could be a mess on defense. They have to replace 8 starters from last year, including their top 5 tacklers. Though, last year's unit wasn't any great shakes (ranked 5th in the Sun Belt) so maybe that is a blessing in disguise.

Here's where I think Nebraska has the advantage. First, Smith isn't a runner. As my colleague pointed out so well, if the Owls don't generate a run game, the Husker defense knows where they can find Smith on known passing downs. Look out. He might go all Tim Rattay on NU an put up big numbers in the air, but they might be hollow.

Most importantly, Nebraska likely has a significant advantage along the line of scrimmage. The FAU offensive line has to break in several new starters (including their center) against Suh and company. And, the Owls defensive line must deal with recent injuries to their likely starters at defensive tackle and end.

There is a very good chance the Huskers could maul FAU up front on both sides of the ball. That's reason enough for NU fans to be confident, even with Schnellenberger's Husker killing reputation and Rusty Smith's NFL potential.

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