FAU Football: Owls reflect on Charlotte, prepare for UTEP

After their blowout win to the Charlotte 49ers last Thursday, the FAU football program head into a home matchup against the UTEP Miners. 

The Owls conducted practice this week as the media was able to speak with offensive and defensive coordinator Michael Johnson and Mike Stoops, offensive lineman Kamaar Bell and linebacker Caliph Brice.

OFFENSE

Johnson talks about the overall performance against Charlotte and what went right: 

​“Last game, I thought we were really efficient running the ball. Like I said before, when we run the ball well, it opens up everything else. It opens up our play action game. It opens up our quick touch game. It opens up everything in our offense and when we’re able to do that, then we are a pretty good offense, so we had to get that going last week” Even though we fumbled on the first drive, we still moved the ball effectively. That was just one of those games where we were not going to be denied.”

THREAD: Focus was on offense, here’s some sights from practice.

Offensive line at work: #FAU https://t.co/bX42WzAGj2 pic.twitter.com/zfcdxqIOeQ

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 26, 2021

A slow first half turned into an explosive second as FAU scored 31 unanswered points behind quarterback N’Kosi Perry who only threw 11 passes, but completed nine of them for 225 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Johnny Ford had a nice game on the ground, rushing for 92 yards and a score. 

“I thought he played well outside of putting the ball on the ground on a couple of our spread option plays. He [Perry] was real effective,” Johnson said of Perry. “He was 9-for-11 for over 200 yards and three touchdowns which is a very good, efficient football game for a quarterback. I thought he played at a high level and he did and executed what we asked him to.”

The offensive line has had an up and down year, but as a collective unit, played well as they protected Perry and opened up holes for the running backs. Offensive lineman Kamaar Bell, who plays right guard, talks about the performance of the unit and how it was huge for the running game.

“It’s because of the practices we had,” Bell said. “Coaches were just really harping on finishing blocks. We sustained a lot of blocks and we had a lot of open holes for our backs.”

Spoke to OL Kamaar Bell about the offensive line's performance, what needs to be improved, and the communication he has with the line, #FAU QB N'Kosi Perry, and RB Johnny Ford. Good stuff from him. https://t.co/QHf2E2YcjM

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 26, 2021

While there was a lot of positives, Bell still thinks there are improvements to be made:

“As a whole, there’s always room for improvement,” Bell said. “We just need to focus on finishing our blocks, staying on blocks, and communicating.”

The ground game has been an aspect the coaches and players have been emphasizing since the beginning of the season, but facing UTEP, it could prove to be a challenge according to coach Johnson.

“They’re stout against the run. They are a very good defense. I think they’re No. 1 in Conference USA. They have a veteran group. I think all 11 guys are redshirt juniors or higher. They’re a good football team. The goal every week is to run the ball efficiently on first and second down. We have to be able to do that in order for us to be who we want to be. It’s going to be a good challenge for us, but I think we’re going to be up to it.”

Johnson still sees the running backs in a committee and says he wants to make sure that each guy gets the ball where it’s effective.

DEFENSE

The defense enjoyed a spectacular performance last Thursday as they kept the Charlotte 49ers to only nine points. 

Defensive coordinator Mike Stoops talks about the win and talked about what went right:

“Just going back to last week, I thought we played pretty well throughout most of the game. I thought their quarterback made some nice throws early in the game and really kept some drives going. I thought going into halftime, they can’t continue to make all of these plays. We started making them and putting more pressure on the quarterback and controlling first down was important. We kind of dictated the tempo of the game in the second half. We got on a roll, and it was fun to see. I thought our kids executed better as a group.”

THREAD: Defense was the focus today. Here are some sights from practice! #FAU https://t.co/f7pi0bKQVe pic.twitter.com/PRyoadslTz

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 27, 2021

An instrumental unit in the defense’s success was the defensive line, and Stoops went in on how exactly they impacted the game.

“I thought (Decarius) Hawthorne, Evan Anderson, and Jaylen (Joyner) did a good job creating negative yardage plays. A no gain or lost-yardage play on first down really puts your defense in an advantageous position. In the second half in particular, we dialed up some pressures that were effective, not only in the passing game, but in the run game as well. You’re trying to put your players in position to let their athleticism take over and we were able to do that more consistently in the second half.”

Stopping the run has always been a goal for FAU’s defense ever since getting decimated by Florida and Air Force. Against UTEP, they lead with the run as it opens up the pass game for them in their drives. Stoops touches on defending the Miners:

“They have a strong defense as well. They like to run the ball. They like to manage the clock, but they’re very efficient in what they do. They have some big play receivers outside. They can push the ball down the field if they want to. They’ll try to hit some shot plays and we have to make sure we’re in good position when they do vertically throw the ball. They have a variety of different looks they try to give you. You have to play physical when you play a team like this and we’re going to have to be physical on all levels of our defense.”

Stoops harps once again on stopping the run since that's been a main drive for #UTEP's success. Says that the defensive line coming up huge on first down made a huge impact. #FAU https://t.co/DJTcqd9Ejc

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 27, 2021

Linebacker Caliph Brice continues his impressive season, collecting 10 total tackles, 3.5 for a loss, recording half of a sack with two quarterback hits. He also recovered a fumble. 

He talks about his performance against the 49ers:

“Obviously my family played a big part in it,” Brice said. “Just going back to my preparation for the week for Charlotte kind of made it easy. Coach gave us pointers and they did exactly what he said they were going to do.”

Post-game, he said how about 20 family members showed up to the game, giving him that extra motivation to play well. 

Stoops had high praise for Brice saying that the game is coming more naturally to him and he’s becoming a prototypical linebacker.

Stoops talks about the huge performance that #FAU LB Caliph Brice had. Says that the game is coming more naturally to him and he's becoming a prototypical linebacker. https://t.co/aSxJg38DbF

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 27, 2021

When asked if he sees the same, Brice expresses how he’s growing as a player:

“I think I’m getting better each and every week. This is not an easy system to learn. To me, I think it’s an NFL defensive system. It’s a lot from the linebacker position,” Brice said. “You have to know what’s going on in front of you and behind you, make calls, communicate with the D-line, set them here, adjust here. You just have to bring your ‘A’ game and as the season is progressing, I’m building more confidence in myself the more plays I make.”

Brice piggybacked off the idea of stopping the run being the key to a victory against UTEP, saying that aspect has been better than before.

“If you look back to our early games, we didn’t do a great job stopping the run. If we stop the run, everything normally goes much smoother for the defense,” Brice said. “We always say to win games we have to stop the run and run the football. As a defense, we try to do our part in that.”

The FAU Owls will face the UTEP Miners on Saturday, Oct. 30 at Howard Schnellenberger Field. Stay tuned at Lemon City Live for more FAU Football coverage.

Photo courtesy of FAU Athletics.