It’s Homecoming Week for the Owls who have had some time to mend up pesky nicks and bruises as much as they can at this point in the season, as well as put in some extra prep for the incoming Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
Athletic action kicked off last weekend with the volleyball team picking up a home court win then shifted into men’s soccer bringing home their first American Conference Regular Season Co-Championship.
Last night the Elly was near capacity as John Jakus and his nearly completely re-tooled line-up took down ACC opponent Boston College.
Now it will be Coach Zach Kittley and company’s turn to get back into the win column this Saturday on Schnellenberger Field at Flagler Credit Union Stadium.
And they will be sporting some fresh new throwbacks in their quest.
The Owls will be donning the Original #FAU Helmet circa 2001 this weekend against #Tulsa 🔥 Where did the idea originate and what do you think about them Coach @ZKittley? pic.twitter.com/41YMorZ8kU
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) November 4, 2025
As have most of the recent American Conference opponents, Tulsa brings a change of pace back into play which is something that Kittley are looking forward to given the recent string of run centered attacks.
Having come together for what is now Week 11 in the presser schedule, below is a select summary of the topics he spoke on today.
Benefits of the Bye Week
“It was good for everybody, like me, the staff too. It’s good for us to take a little mental break from it as well. Do some self-evaluation and some self-scouts, to see where we need to improve. And we also sent some coaches out on the road to recruit as well. So dabbling a little bit everything this last week, but it was a good week for us overall for development…and scouting the last four games.”
New Faces May See More Time
“We call it our developmental group, so it’s not necessarily just freshmen or just young guys. You know, we had some, some, even some older guys in there that maybe just aren’t quite playing enough snaps for us right now on Saturdays that we have get out there and play a little football against each other this last meeting.”
“We feel like that’s a great nucleus of guys that will help build this program into where we’re taking it. And so it was really good for those guys to get out there and really, more than anything just get just get back to our stuff. They’re playing scout team a lot of the time. Now we’ve got four games left with that [redshirt] threshold…we had a lot of open competition last week as far as offense, defense and special teams to see if some of these young guys that were maybe playing on red shirt, if we can play them in these last four now.”
Thoughts on Early Tulsa Prep
“We got the game plans done early, which I’m always a believer in. Especially for me, offensively, you get the script to the quarterback early and the quarterback can start studying the game plan and seeing how we’re going to attack and why are we attacking this way. And this gives you a jump on it.”
“My biggest focus was getting these guys as healthy as we can get them for these last four and that was our main focus. And I feel we had a lot of pep in our step today. I thought guys flew around really well. I do think part of that comes with some rest and those guys deserve it. It’s part of the game right now.”
On Tulsa as a Team
“Tulsa is a really good football team, their record, to me, doesn’t show who they really are. I think Coach Lamb has done a fantastic job in a similar situation as me coming in new…new coach trying to flip the culture. They play extremely hard. They have got arguably the most dynamic tight end in our league. We have not seen anything like that since South Florida. They have got a young quarterback that’s really starting to hit his groove.”
“He’s very creative. So he’ll mix it up. He’ll give us a bunch of different looks. The quarterback can create, and he can extend plays. And that’s been something that’s been an Achilles heel for us on defense at times. And so we’ve got to be ready for that.”
On the Tulsa Schemes
“You’re going to see some power read and you’re going to see some GT read stuff. You’re going to see some midline maybe. He mixes it up pretty well, so he’s very creative, and does a great job. And then defensively, I think they’ve got some of the better edge rushers in our league as well. They have really gotten after the quarterback. They’ve got three guys that have really done a fantastic job of sacking the quarterback. And so we are going to have to have those tackles out there on islands like we do.”
Rating the Team’s Health at This Point in the Season
“I would probably not say 10, just because as far as far as the health goes, you’re never going to be at 100%. So, I would say so anywhere between that eight to nine. I mean the mentality is there for sure, and I felt like our guys came out today and we flew around. We were ready to go. We had some really good stuff on both sides of the ball.”
“The energy was there, and that’s what we’re really looking for these last four weeks, is to make sure that, hey, we get these guys as healthy as we can, which we feel like we did, and then come back just with the right mindset to go try to win these last four.”
The Owls will be looking to get back to fours wins for the first time in two years, last hitting that mark against Charlotte in October of 2023.
Kick-off against Tulsa is set for 3:00 PM in the first afternoon home game of the season. Be sure to follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook for complete game coverage.