For the first time this season, Florida Atlantic Football walked away victorious against an FBS team.
Zach Kittley knew his squad was going to have to make adjustments heading into this week after giving up 291 yards rushing to Memphis a week ago. Although Rice found some success on the ground, the Owls defense was resilient. The resiliency of the unit was key, as it wasn’t a perfect effort, but they did what they needed to do en route to a 27-21 victory.
FAU was able to hold Rice to an average possession time of 3:27, also limiting them to just one drive five minutes or longer. With Rice’s limited possession of the ball, despite rushing for 213 yards on the ground, they were unable to dominate the trenches and time of possession how they truly wanted to.
Rice punched first, with Quinton Jackson gashing the FAU defense for a 68 yard touchdown on the first drive of the game, however the Owls offense was quick to respond and set the tone.
On the Owls ensuing drive, Caden Veltkamp and the offense worked quickly, marching 75 yards into the end-zone in 6 plays and just over 2 minutes. Veltkamp found Michael Kirch wide open over the middle for a 30 yard score, which evened the game at 7 with 11:23 to play in the first quarter.
FAU’s defense would force a turnover on downs on the next series which gave FAU the ball back 1st and 10 at their own 46 yard line. The offense was ready to go, getting a first down on back to back completions, however the drive looked to stall as the Owls faced a 4th and 4 at the Rice 38.
Kittley gave the offense a green light and it paid off. Veltkamp found Asaad Waseem streaking down the sideline, and gave him a moonball, which he was able to haul in, giving FAU a 14-7 lead with 6:57 to play in the first quarter.
The Owls would score just 3 more points in the first half following that touchdown; however, following Rice’s touchdown on the opening possession the Owls defense stepped up. Rice would punt 3 times, turn it over on downs once, and miss a field goal prior to halftime, which led to a 17-7 FAU lead at the half.
This was the first game, outside of FAMU, where FAU had momentum going into the locker room. According to FAU Head Coach Zach Kittley, that momentum was huge; however they are still not where they want to be in the third quarter.
“Huge. For us to be able to get them back and for us to force them to have to kick a field goal, a deep field goal, and for them to miss it. I mean, man, just massive momentum going into half,” Kittley said
“We’re still not perfect in that third quarter where we’re trying to get to, but definitely better. And again, just proud of our guys. Anytime we can carry a little bit of momentum going into halftime, it’s good.”
FAU’s offense came out slow to start the second half, punting back to Rice after a 10 play drive stalled out. Rice made them pay for that, marching 90 yards into the end zone on 11 plays. Jenkins found Drayden Dickmann on a 46 yard touchdown to bring the game within a field goa, 17-14 with 2:54 to play in the third quarter.
Momentum was turning Rice’s way, but the offense was quick to respond. Veltkamp found Waseem for a 44 yard completion to jumpstart the drive, and after a Rice personal foul penalty, the offense had it inside the red-zone. Kaden Shields-Dutton was able to bring the Owls to the 2 yard line with a 12-yard carry, and two plays later, Veltkamp found Kirch for a two-yard TD.
Kirch’s second TD of the game gave the Owls a 24-14 lead with 1:50 to play in the third quarter. That touchdown gave the offense the jolt it needed and Kirch’s efforts overall were a massive reason as to why FAU came out on top.
Kirch finished with 4 receptions for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns, the most receiving yards in a game since 2019, when Harrision Bryant recorded 182 yards against UTSA. With Kirch creating space, the middle of the field opened up for the FAU offense, as Veltkamp finished 10 of 14 for 152 yards.
It was a breakout performance for Kirch, as the D2 transfer showed what he was truly capable as a pass catcher for the first time. According to Kittley, it was a mix of the game plan and overall flow of the game; however, it’s also a culmination of Kirch doing his job.
“We had a couple plays drawn up that we felt like the tight end would be really open, and the few that we called to him were,” Kittley said.
“That’s what you want, you know, whenever you’re game planning all day, you know, on a Monday, and you see stuff that you want to attack, you attack it. And that’s, that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
“So to me, those are what I kind of call gimme plays, you know, whenever you draw it up the right way, your guys execute the right way, they should be where they are. So we saw some stuff. And again, he did a really good job of just doing his job too, you know, very simple football, being where he’s supposed to be on that first touchdown and being in the flat on the next touchdown where he’s supposed to be, and then the pop pass late was a huge one for us.”
“Just something we saw schematically, we thought we could take advantage of.”
After forcing a punt on the ensuing Rice possession, FAU would go on to have their most important drive of the game. The Owls would give Rice a taste of their own medicine, marching 13 plays, 76 yards, in 6:33, capped off by a 26-yard field goal from Garrison Smith, his second conversion of the game.
Although Rice would score a touchdown on their next drive to bring it within a touchdown, 27-21, FAU’s lengthy drive left them with little time to comeback. In fact, they would never see the ball again following their last touchdown, as Caden Veltkamp was able to convert a third and one play and seal the deal on a 27-21 FAU victory.
According to Kirch, the locker room never got down on themselves during the two game losing streak. Nevertheless, this win is an important one that proved why the group remained confident during their struggles.
“Definitely, this was a big win. It wasn’t necessarily like we were down on ourselves. We were still confident in ourselves. We knew we’re a good football team, and now we just went out and proved it, proved to everyone tonight that we’re not just going to lay down after a couple bad weeks. We’re still out there competing every game, trying to make a push for the American Conference,” Kirch said.
FAU will look to get to .500 with a win over UAB next week at home. It will be homecoming, with an expected kickoff time of 6:00 PM EST.
