Author: Robbie Lastella
After a long offseason of anticipation, Florida Atlantic Football kicked off their 2025 season in Maryland, however game one of the Zach Kittley era did not go as planned, falling to the Terrapins 39-7.
The Kittley offense is known for an exciting brand of offense, but after a 27 yard Touchdown from Caden Veltkamp to Asaad Waseem evened the game at 7 with 4:59 to play in the first quarter, the excitement slowly faded away.
The Owls next 4 drives ended in a turnover on downs, an interception, a safety and another turnover on downs, while the Terrapins used the Owls inconsistency to take control of the game, outscoring FAU 26-0 to close out the half with a 33-7 lead.
Offensively, the second half didn’t go much better, with the Owls being shutout and although FAU’s defense held Maryland to just 6 points in the second half, the offensive struggles put them in a deficit that was too large to overcome.
In his first start with the Owls, Caden Veltkamp did complete 30 of 49 pass attempts for 228 yards and a score, however he also threw 4 interceptions and 2 more from backup QB Zach Gibson gave the Owls a program record 6 interceptions that handicapped the offense immensely.
6 interceptions in one game is something that FAU Head Coach Zach Kittley has never seen before during his career, noting that the mistakes were on them and that his squad will have to be more detailed going forward.
“It was all on us. Six interceptions has never happened in my career. A couple of freak things are the sack and the ball flies right to the defensive end, I pick six, or kind of those ones that just unfortunately happened, the last one down there in the red zone, Dom Henry falls on his route, a little bit, stumbles, and so the ball goes straight to the defense. Unfortunate. You know, one off the top of my head, Caden did overthrow a ball.I thought he made the right read. Guys there, he just overthrew it a little bit. We just got to detail it up and just get more accurate with the football, Kittley said.
With the Owls facing a multiple score deficit midway into the second quarter, FAU had to put the run game on the back burner, rushing it only 32 times for 77 yards, compared to 62 pass attempts and having only one dimension did the offense no favors. Gemari Sands finished as the Owls leading rusher, carrying it 9 times for 44 yards with a long of 23, as well as adding 3 catches for 19 yards in the pass game.
Although the offense left a lot to be desired, there were some bright spots, especially in the receiving corps, as the uptick in passing created big games for Easton Messer and Asaad Waseem, with Messer recording 15 receptions for 87 yards and Waseem having 4 catches for 70 yards and a score.
The bright spots in the pass game are things to build on, however the way the Owls got pushed around at the line of scrimmage and their inability to consistently run the football like we saw today “ain’t gonna cut it,” according to FAU head coach Zach Kittley.
“Their defensive front was big, long, and aggressive. You know, we tried to chip them a couple times. We actually missed the chip, and then the tackle overplayed it and we got a safety. So it’s kind of just sloppy football by us, not detailed football. But again, first and foremost, we got to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage a little bit better. I was trying to slow the game down a little bit for Caden and run the ball. We weren’t getting much of a rush there, you know. The numbers to me, don’t probably tell it, right? We popped a few late, but 32 carries for 77 yards, that ain’t going to cut it. So we have to get better at running the football. I like our running backs. I just think maybe their point of attack, their physicality, shocked us a little bit,” Kittley said.
The score got out of hand during the second quarter, as the Owls offense gifted Maryland 4 drives in the first half that started within 10 yards of the 50, and despite the Owls holding them to a field goal and punt on two out of the four, Maryland was able to tire out the FAU defense and take control.
Ultimately, the defense did provide some bright spots, as early on in the game the Owls forced Maryland into 3 straight punts, and following the second quarter of doom, they held Maryland to just 6 points during the second half. Leon Hart Jr led the Owls in tackles with 11, while on the day FAU had 7.5 tackles for loss, with Tycoolhill Luman and Hart Jr each having 1.5 to lead the team and in the secondary Dillion Williams had 2 PBUs and Terez Reid had 1 PBU and a TFL.
FAU’s defense underwent a massive overhaul this past offseason, so Coach Kittley and company were proud with the effort that the unit provided today, although there were a few areas which he believes needs work.
“I thought our defense really played well today. Extremely proud of coach Dewhurst and his guys and what they were able to put together. I mean, they gave us a million opportunities to get right back in the game on offense, and we couldn’t move the needle offensively. So proud of them. I thought the kickoff return looked really, really good. Jayshon Platt, was a couple of shoestring tackles away from hitting a couple bigger kick returns. So really proud of the defense. In general, we have to be able to develop a little bit more of a pass rush. It’s one area I thought we did not do a great job getting after the quarterback enough, and we had a couple busted coverages there that led to a couple of big plays. But for the most part, I thought those guys flew around and did a really good job,” Kittley said.
Things did not go as planned for FAU today, as the Kittley offense that everyone spent all offseason anticipating sputtered in a big way, but Kittley isn’t ready to give up yet, noting that the locker room responded to his post game message in a good way and that his team remains a family.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys, extremely proud to be the head football coach here. There’s clearly a lot of disappointment, but I heard a lot of the word love in there. ‘I love you guys. Let’s go next week’, all that kind of deal. You know, we talked about being a family here, and we’re a big family, you know, and our guys love each other. And the whole game, it was fun for me to see. I thought the defense had a lot of juice, like Tyler Stolsky, I can’t tell you how many times, came over and was telling us, and Veltkamp, ‘Hey, you got this one’. And so just to have that camaraderie and that love for each other, I think we’re going to bounce back in a big way next week,” Kittley said.
The Owls will look to bounce back next Saturday, as Florida A&M University heads to Boca for the home opener, and with many teams able to make progress and fix mistakes in between weeks 1 and 2, Zach Kittley will look for a statement win in Paradise at 6 PM EST.
