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Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Football To Face South Alabama For the First Time
10/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 17, 2012
The Florida Atlantic football team faces a new foe on Saturday, when they travel to Mobile, Alabama, to take on first-year Sun Belt Conference member South Alabama.
The Owls are coming off a 35-14 loss to ULM on Saturday, a game marred by 11 penalties and a Warhawk touchdown off of a punt snap dropped in the end zone that put FAU behind 21-0.
"Where I thought we took a step backwards Saturday, the disappointing thing for me, was not the effort and was not the preparation, it's just the mental focus … the concentration of that game, I thought was lacking," said head coach Carl Pelini. "And because of it, I really believed, and I still believe, that if we play like we have been, we could've been in that game. It could've been a much more competitive game than it was. I told the guys, until you play that type of game, eliminate the turnovers and penalties on the same night, you don't know how good you can be."
Quarterback Graham Wilbert did throw for a career-high 261 yards in the game. His No. 1 receiver, William Dukes, continued to cement that role by catching six passes for 96 yards.
This week's practice schedule leading up to the first-ever game against the Jaguars is a bit different than normal.
"I shook it up a little bit," said Pelini. "We've been getting back from these road trips late, I got in bed Sunday morning at 7 a.m. I've been pushing Sunday practices on them, so this Sunday I let them have the whole day to sleep and brought them back at 6 for meeting, conditioning and lifting. I think probably they had their energy back instead of having to try to force them into a (Sunday) evening practice. The body can only take so much."
Both teams come into the game at 1-5 overall, with the Owls 0-3 in the Sun Belt, and the fledgling Jaguars 0-2. Coach Pelini spoke about long-term goals still being into effect for his squad.
"I was very honest from the beginning, my goals for this season were to lay a foundation," he said. "From the very beginning, I said to the seniors, you have to take your feeling of achievement four years from now when you look back and say, 'I'm coming back to watch this team play in a bowl game or a conference championship game, and I was responsible for laying that foundation.' For the underclassmen, we'll define the season as success or failure by where we are at the end of the season, and where we're beginning as a jumping-off point in the spring. We need to be much, much better as we leave the field the last game of the season, if we're going to say that we truly laid a foundation."
Kickoff on Saturday is 3:30 p.m. Eastern, and live audio and stats can be found on FAUSports.com.
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