Owls Defeat the Ragin' Cajuns, 40-29

Saturday, November 15

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

4:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

5-5 , 3-2

Louisiana-Lafayette

5-5 , 4-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

ULL

FAU

11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Nov. 15, 2008

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -Rusty Smith threw four touchdown passes as Florida Atlantic beat Louisiana-Lafayette 40-29 on Saturday.

Florida Atlantic (5-5,3-2 Sun Belt Conference) won its fourth straight game while handing the Ragin' Cajuns (5-5, 4-1) its first conference loss.

Smith was 17-for-26 for 290 yards, and Rob Housler caught two of Smith's touchdown passes and had 65 receiving yards.

Michael Desormeaux was 11-for-18 for 84 yards and two interceptions for Louisiana-Lafayette before being replaced by McGuire, who was 7-for-8-for 48 yards. Masson, the third quarterback used by the Ragin' Cajuns, was 6-for-7-for 72 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

The Owls took a 6-0 lead on Charles Pierre's 6-yard touchdown run in the first, and stretched the lead to 12-0 on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Bonner from Smith.

Florida Atlantic made it 19-0 on Smith's second touchdown pass, a 14-yard strike to Rob Housler in the second quarter.

Louisiana-Lafayette pulled to 19-7 on a 14-yard touchdown run by Tyrell Fenroy, but a 10-yard touchdown run by Willie Rose gave Florida Atlantic a 26-7 lead at halftime.

Housler and Smith would hook up again on a 23-yard score in the third.

Trailing 40-7 in the fourth, Louisiana-Lafayette scored 22 points in the final quarter to shrink the final margin.

FAU Quotes
Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger
"It is wonderful to be the coach of a team that prepared well, executed better than we though we could and that won a monumental game. It gives us courage that we can keep the upward spiral. I was proud of all of them."

Runningback Charles Pierre
"They (ULL) played us tough. We had great momentum from last week. We just tried to keep it 50/50 run/pass. We were really excited. I think everyone in the Sun Belt forgot us."

Linebacker Andre Clark
"Basically, we knew we had a tremendous running back and quarterback duo. We knew we had to play sound football. We never gave up and just kept the faith. ULL is a physical, smash-mouth team that is the type of team that we do the best against."

Defensive Back Corey Small
"We are not finished. We have a lot of work to do."

On the interception:
"It was a big play. I tried to bait him. It was just a gamble that worked."

Tight End Rob Housler
"We knew we had to put up points and keep their offense off the field. Our offense needed to keep their offense off the field."

University of Louisiana-Lafayette Quotes:

Head Coach Rickey Bustle
"I was embarrassed the way we played. We let people go, running around the field and [FAU quarterback] Rusty [Smith] throws the ball and we weren't within 10 feet of it. Offense, we didn't move the ball. There was no consistency."

ULL Saftey Derik Keyes
"We didn't come out with any emotion. We were relaxed at the beginning of the game all around defensively, offensively and special teams. We came out too relaxed throughout the whole game just thinking we were going to win. We were just thinking they were going to lay down and it didn't happen."

Running back Tyrell Fenroy
"As an offense we didn't come out in the first half. We didn't play hard coming out. We just laid down and it's really embarrassing."

Quarterback Michael Desormeaux
"I don't know what the problem is, but we have to grow up as a team. We got to start playing these big games, because that's what this was, a big game and we just laid down in the first half."