BOCA RATON – If one thing carried over from FAU’s Week 1 loss to Ohio State, it was its slow start on offense.
Despite scoring 21 points in the final three quarters against Ohio State, FAU scored just six points in the first half against No. 18 UCF (2-0) and had just 212 yards of total offense, including just 100 yards passing.
In a largely underwhelming performance, quarterback Chris Robison struggled to get much going. The sophomore quarterback completed 18 of his 40 passes for 177 yards.
Robison was also sacked four times and was hurried another four times. Following the game, Robison called the offensive performance disappointing.
“[UCF] had a good plan coming in. They were blitzing us a lot, and we didn’t really have a lot of time to throw or establish a run game, so it was hard to get started,” Robinson said. “They got really good players in the back end, being able to cover our guys. Just overall, I feel bad performance by the offensive side of the ball.”
Running the ball did not prove to be much better for FAU. As a unit, the Owls averaged just 2.9 yards per attempt.
The offensive woes, combined with critical mistakes on defense, put the Knights up early.
FAU could never recover, losing 48-14, and dropping to 0-2 to begin the season.
Led by a strong rushing attack featuring three running backs in Adrian Killins, Otis Anderson, and Greg McRae, the Knights went up 21-0 early in the first half.
McRae, who was responsible for the Knights’ first touchdown on the opening drive, would finish the game as the Knight’s leading rusher with 94 yards. Anderson and Killins finished with 75 and 34 rushing yards respectively.
Making his first career start at quarterback for UCF, true freshman Dillon Gabriel showed signs of flashes but ultimately was not asked to do much. Gabriel, who played only three quarters, completed 7 of his 19 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns, including a 74-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Killins Jr. in the third quarter.
FAU’s first points came in the second quarter when Vladimir Rivas connected on a 48 and 32-yard field goal. They both represented the longest of the season for Rivas, after Rivas hit two field goals from 28-yards against Ohio State.
Late in the fourth quarter, a rushing touchdown from true freshman running back Larry McCammon would give the Owls their only touchdown of the game.
Following the game, head coach Lane Kiffin did not have an answer to the Owls’ slow start to begin in back-to-back games.
“Normally, like last year besides the opener, we were ahead of every game. We’re usually a really good first quarter team, so I don’t have that answer,” Kiffin said. “When you play two ranked teams, if you don’t start really fast, that’s what it can look like because they’re really good teams for a reason.”
Next week, FAU will travel to Ball State, looking to get their its win of the season. The Owls will return home to play Wagner the following week.
