Matchup : FAU (2-4, 0-2 AAC) vs UTSA (2-4, 0-2 AAC) When : Saturday, October 19th, 3:30 PM Where : FAU Stadium TV : ESPN+ Radio : FoxSports 640 Opening Line : FAU +4 Weather Forecast : Here The Series : The Owls lead 3-1, but lost the last meeting Owl Notes FAU heads to San Antonio in need of a win in week 8 against UTSA following a heartbreaking loss to UNT which dropped the Owls to 2-4. With only 6 opportunities left to get a minimum of 4 wins for a Bowl game appearance, the stakes of each contest have been raised. Now facing off against a UTSA team also trying to turn their season around, this game could have major implications on the rest of the season for either side. The Owls offense looked as good as it ever has during the Herman era against UNT, as Cam Fancher was able to throw for over 300 yards and 3 TDs, while also making an impact with his legs, and the RB room finished with over 100 yards rushing. FAU was able to match UNTs explosive offense and even outscored them for the first 3 ½ quarters before a late collapse and now FAU has to find a way to build on it. Unfortunately for the Owls, Fancher was diagnosed with Turf toe in the days following the game and his status is questionable for this matchup, leaving the Owls in a tough situation following their best performance of the season. Kasen Weisman would start in lieu of Fancher and that was why it was important for FAU to get him extended time vs Wagner to see what he can bring to the table. Weisman was successful vs Wagner, leading 4 scoring drives in the second half, averaging nearly a first down on all of his attempted targets and rushing in for a TD, however that was vs an FCS, not a hungry UTSA team looking to salvage their season. In an ideal world, Fancher is able to go and builds on the success he had against UTSA, however if his mobility is hampered due to the Turf Toe, his play becomes handicapped as his running ability is a huge asset for him personally and the FAU offense as a whole. If Fancher is unable to go, Weisman wont leave the offense lacking, however as we saw against Wagner, there may be some young QB growing pains. Now against an FBS opponent those blunders against Wagner may be amplified in importance, but in his extended action Kasen was able to wipe off his mistakes and if hes the QB against UTSA that mentality will need to remain the same. No matter who takes the snaps at QB, a positive for the Owls is that they got a season best performance out of a lot of their WRs and TEs, including Omari Hayes who continues to assert himself as WR 1, and Wyatt Sullivan who had a breakout game and he could play an important role as well. Alongside them, Jabari Smith Jr., Milan Tucker, and Cj Campbell out of the backfield all saw big games, and the Owls will need all of their pass catchers to continue to step up in this one, especially if Fancher is out. Also of note is the performance of the offensive line, as per PFF, over the past 2 weeks the Owls had their best performances of the season. Against Wagner, FAU recorded their season highs in both of those categories, an 88 in run blocking and 79.6 in pass, while against UNT they reset their best in pass blocking, recording an 80 and in run they scored their second best of the year, a 73.2. In terms of the defense, some of last week’s struggles were a bit inflated considering the type of offense they were facing and ultimately the defense was able to force 5 stops on one of the best passing games in the AAC. But despite the stops, the Owls top DBs still had a rough go of it, particularly facing off against DT Sheffield. Now facing off against a UTSA passing game which has struggled in the first year after the Frank Harris era, this could be an opportunity for the FAU defense to get back on track, but equally UTSA will be looking to hurt the FAU defense while it is down. What helped the Owls force stops against UNT was their pass rush and specifically Chris Jones, who has been a force off the edge all season and has combined with Chisom Ifeanyi to give the Owls a consistent force in the backfield, especially over the past 2 games. Against UTSA, the pressure will need to continue to be there and it will have a chance to get home, as UTSA has struggled this season in pass protection, recording a 32 grade per PFF and 20 pressures in a 49-10 loss to Texas State along with a 60 grade and 10 pressures against ECU. If the pressure is able to get home, FAU will be able to disrupt what has been a discombobulated offense already for UTSA, and if that occurs the next step will be forcing takeaways and capitalizing on them offensively. (Image via Angelina Labelle) Star Watch: The Qb Position The thing to watch for in this one most importantly is who is going to be the guy at Quarterback. If Cam is healthy enough to start that is the ideal scenario, however the Owls dont want to push him back too quickly and risk a re-injury, or a lite version of Fancher where he is unable to impact the game with his legs. If FAU is going to make a push for a bowl game, the health of Fancher is important, so with that in mind and the success Weisman was able to have in his previous action, the Owls have a solid backup plan in place. Should Weisman start, its extremely fortunate the Owls pass-catching corps are coming off their best game of the season and should be ready to make plays for their young QB. Weisman also has a close connection with Jabari Smith JR and Wyatt Sullivan, both of whom had big games against UNT and would be valuable options in the pass game for Weisman to find his groove. Ultimately the rushing ability of Fancher wont be able to be matched by Weisman, which will handicap the offense slightly, however he is able to make enough of the offense work, that barring any major mistakes, FAU should be able to find success somewhere against UTSA. Final Word FAU has been dealt a tough set of cards with the injury news of Fancher right after their best offensive performance of the season, but they will have to overcome it if he is indeed out and find a way to pull out a win against UTSA team which has had major struggles this season. The run game with CJ Campbell and Zuberi Mobley will be extremely important no matter who is the QB, and especially if Weisman is taking the reigns it will be important for him to have his dynamic duo to grind out yards in the backfield. UTSA has struggled in pass coverage this season, recording PFF team coverage grades of 33 and 47 in weeks 2 & 3, and 65.8 and 55.4 over the past 2 weeks in AAC play. There will be opportunities for the FAU playmakers to have explosive plays, but the offense will need to be in rhythm like it was against UNT for either Weisman or Fancher to find them. Defensively, the Owls have had solid displays from their edge rushers over the past 2 weeks, recording their highest pass rushing grade of the season against Wagner and 3rd highest against UNT, and with the offense struggling at times for UTSA, pressure could only make things worse for the Road Runners and better for the FAU defense. If the Owls are able to get home, there may be opportunities for the defense to force takeaways, which could help get confidence back following the late collapse to UNT. Whether it is takeaways, or just shutting the UTSA offense down, this is a major bounceback opportunity for FAU, and specifically the defense, one they have to capitalize on. If the defense is able to hamper UTSA, following back to back solid offensive performances, this is a game where the Owls have a real opportunity to win on the road, they just have to limit offensive mistakes and capitalize on what their defense gives them. However, if the Owls offense is mistake prone, and the defense cant wipe the slate clean of last week, this is a game where UTSA will be looking to turn their season around with, and it will be up to FAU to prevent that from happening. Key Stats Comparison UTSA Notes UTSA finds themselves off to a slow start in year 1 following the departure of long time QB Frank Harris, sitting at 2-4 and in desperate need of a win. The offense has had their struggles this season, as despite rushing for over 100 yards in every game after week 2, the unit has failed to score more than 3 TDs against an FBS opponent since week 1 against Kennesaw State. Owen McCowns stats look good, as hes thrown for 1,310 yards, 10 TDs to only 2 INTs, however 9 of those TDs came against Kennesaw State, Houston Christian, and last week against Rice, a game which he played well in, but ultimately it wasnt enough to push UTSA to victory. That was one of McCowns better performances of the season as he was able to complete 28 of 43 passes for 256 yards and 3 TDs with no turnovers and despite averaging only 6.0 YPC, he completed 4 balls of 20+ on the day. That was a return to form following a week 5 performance against ECU, where McCown threw 2 interceptions, averaged less than 6 YPC and finished with a QBR of 27.7 in a 30-20 loss to the struggling Pirates. McCown has been able to form solid connections with his WRs as Devin McCuin has been the most consistent, hauling in 37 balls for 279 yards and 4 TDs, but the big play threat has been Willie McCoy as on only 15 catches hes recorded 306 yards and 2 TDs. The Owls struggled to contain some of UNTs playmakers at times last week and there may be chances for McCoy to make an impact in this one if hes able to break free. The strength of this offense however, is ultimately the run game as even against Texas, UTSA was able to rush for over 100 yards and Robert Henry and Brandon High Jr have combined to be a solid 1-2 punch out of the backfield. High has 14 less Carries than Henry, 50-36 and it has resulted in Henry leading the yards department 230-225, however he is averaging nearly 2 more yards per carry 6.3 to 4.6 in favor of High, while High has scored twice and Henry only once. There hasnt been a ton of room for the UTSA backs to break into the second level, however both High and Henry have broken off big runs of their Own and they will be looking to make an impact against an FAU defense which at times has struggled against the run. Defensively, UTSAs biggest strength has been against the run, as per PFF the Road Runners havent recorded a run defense grade lower than 65 all season, including a 90 graded performance against ECU and Rahaji Harris. Only twice this season have teams rushed for more than 100 yards against UTSA, and that last occurred week 3 against Texas. Their weak spot has been against the pass however, and part of that has been due to lack of pass rush. Although UTSA has 12 sacks on the year, more than half of them came against Kennesaw State and Houston Christian and it has left their DBs in trouble in coverage, like last week when Rice was able to march down the field 65 yards in 8 plays, using all passes and ultimately scoring on an 18 yard TD to Matt Sykes with 4 seconds remaining. Top CB Zah Frazier has been solid in coverage, allowing only 11 catches on 23 targets, however outside of him the DB unit has left some to be desired for UTSA, as he is the only DB who has played in every game to allow a catch on less than 50% of possessions. Frazier is also the only Road Runner with multiple takeaways, also with 3 PBUs on the year. He will be matched up most likely with Omari Hayes, making it even more important the Owls find success with some of their other playmakers. Star Watch: QB Owen McCown The son of NFL Journeyman Josh McCown hasnt had a fast start to his time as the starting QB of UTSA, as despite success in some games, his inconsistent performances have also cost the Road Runners some games. He had his best performance of the season against an FBS opponent not in their first year in league play (sorry Kennesaw) last week against Rice, and now having seen what AAC success looks like, McCown has to find a way to bottle that up and build on it. It will start with trusting his run game to set up manageable passing situations, as despite only averaging 6 yards per completion against Rice, he was able to convert multiple big passing plays. After that, it will continue with him finding a way to stretch the field against an FAU defense which has allowed some big plays through the air this season and may be reeling following a passing barrage faced against UNT. Ultimately, McCown just needs to trust the UTSA offense, which prior to this season was a well oiled machine, and execute the plays that are called. He is well capable of doing that as we saw last week vs Rice, so it will be equally important for the FAU defense to find ways to slow him down. Final Word UTSA has struggled this season, but so has FAU, and this game will be a battle of willpower and who wants to turn their season around more. The Road Runners have experienced bumps in the road that havent been common during the Jeff Traylor era and with limited time to turn the season around, this UTSA team will be looking to make the most out of all their remaining opportunities the same way FAU will be looking to. The defense for UTSA has been up and down as despite the strong performances in run defense, the coverage and pass rush struggles has left the unit in a lot of unfortunate scenarios and even lost them games like we saw last week against Rice. Some around UTSA may be viewing this game as a potential bounce back game defensively, as they may be facing off against a backup QB, or if it is Fancher, they have a lot of film from early on in the season of teams giving the offense troubles and with a veteran Coach in Traylor they will be looking to find ways to capitalize. To win this ball game, the Road Runners will need to play a clean game offensively, rushing for over 100 yards and getting another efficient performance from McCown, not overdoing it, but enough to keep them in it to win it. Defensively, they will have to find a way to generate pass rush against an FAU team which has seen improved offensive line play recently, but if theyre able to get home on the Owls QB, that could lead to big problems for the offense. If UTSA is able to generate pass rush which in turn helps their DBs, there is a solid chance for them to compete and potentially win at home as they look to turn their season around. However, if the struggles theyve displayed on both sides of the ball at various points this season come about, that could lead to problems, as they will be facing off against a hungry FAU team which will be looking to capitalize on those mistakes as they try to right their own ship before it gets too late.
