FAU Football Downed by UNT, 31-10

Saturday, November 8

Denton, TX

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

3-7 , 2-4

North Texas

3-6 , 1-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

FAU

North Texas

11/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Nov. 9, 2014

Final Stats

DENTON, Texas - The Florida Atlantic University football team fell to the University of North Texas 31-10 in Conference USA play Saturday. The loss moved the Owls' record to 3-7 overall and 2-4 in C-USA games and ended FAU's hope for a possible bowl opportunity.

"Gotta give credit to Dan McCarney and his staff," said Charlie Partridge, FAU's head coach. "It was hard for us to get anything going in the first half offensively, to get to any momentum going that way. They won a couple of big plays to get up to a 21-3 advantage there at halftime. [But] our kids came back, I though our defense did some nice things, got some stops. The 10 points that North Texas was able to get in the second half was off of an interception that got down in the red zone and then a muffed punt, and one of those we held them to a field goal."

The two teams traded punts before North Texas (3-6, 1-4) used a 41-yard scamper by Antoinne Jemmerson to put the Mean Green on the board 7-0 to cap off a seven-play, 80-yard drive. The Owls received the kick and were forced to punt just three plays later. The punt was touched by UNT and recovered on the UNT 24 by FAU's D'Joun Smith. Three plays later, FAU sent Greg Joseph, who connected on a 41-yard field goal to pull within four at 7-3 with 2:42 remaining in the first.

North Texas opened the second quarter with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Smith to take a 14-3 lead with 13:27 remaining in the half. North Texas the forced the Owls to punt and took over at its own 47. Eleven plays, later the Owls were down 21-3 following a four-yard scoring run by NT's quarterback Andrew McNulty.

The two teams returned from the intermission with the Owls down by 18. FAU struck first, marching 64 yards and capitalized with Jaquez Johnson connecting with senior tight end Alex Deleon on a 34-yard strike. Following Greg Joseph's extra point, the Owls were down 21-10 with just over four minutes to play in the third.

The Mean Green threatened on the next drive, only to be denied the end zone by FAU junior corner Cre'von LeBlanc's interception. The next scoring drive was set up when NT punted to FAU's Lucky Whitehead. Whitehead corralled the punt and scampered across the field, shedding tackles before fumbling on the last hit. NT took over on the FAU 29 and kicked a field goal six plays later to go up by 14.

Johnson's third interception of the season was ran back 51 yards to the FAU 14-yard line, setting up NT's Jarrod Lynn for a three-yard touchdown rush just 1:22 after the field goal to cap the scoring at 31-10.

FAU's offense was led by Johnson who was 14-25-1 on the day for 99 yards and one touchdown. Jeremy Gaskins led the ground attack with 38 yards. Defensively, freshman Jerrad Ward drew his first start and recorded 11 tackles. Cre'von LeBlanc added the defensive highlight with an end zone interception.

The Owls will work through a bye week and will then travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. where they will play C-USA rival Middle Tennessee at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22. For single-game home tickets call 1-866-FAU-Owls. All FAU games will be carried on ESPN West Palm 106.3, which has an APP for the Smart Phone platform, and on www.fausports.com. American Sports Network will carry the game live.