Football Clinches East Division Title and Will Host C-USA Championship Next Saturday

Saturday, November 30

Boca Raton, Fla.

3:30 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

9-3 , 7-1

Southern Miss

7-5 , 5-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

USM

FAU

Football Clinches East Division Title and Will Host C-USA Championship Next Saturday

11/30/2019 7:11:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Gallery: (11/30/2019) FAU vs. USM

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Chris Robison threw three touchdown passes, all to All-American candidate Harrison Bryant, and Florida Atlantic University football forced five Southern Miss turnovers to sew up the Conference USA East Division title for the second time in three years, 34-17. The Owls will face the West Division champions, UAB, next week in the 2019 Ryan Conference USA Football Championship, at FAU Stadium at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7. The matchup will pit the last two C-USA champions against one another.

- Click HERE to purchase C-USA Championship Game tickets -

Quotable

"When you get five turnovers on defense, two more fourth-down stops, you're going to win a lot of games," said head coach Lane Kiffin. "We're number one in the country in turnovers and number one in the country in turnover margin. I'm proud of these players, two of three years to win the division, now to have the conference championship at home, it's a good spot to be in."

Postgame Comments

Lane Kiffin

Chris Robison

Harrison Bryant

Akileis Leroy

Meiko Dotson

Quick Hits

FAU (9-3, 7-1 C-USA) won the toss for the 11th time this year out of 12 games. They chose to defer to USM (7-5, 5-3 C-USA) to the second half
The team traded three-and-outs to start. Two drives later, a seven-yard USM punt set up very good field position for the Owls, on the visitor 33
The Owls picked up 11 yards on five plays, and Vladimir Rivas split the uprights from 40 yards out for the game's opening score
On their next possession, FAU would need just two plays and 47 seconds to notch the first touchdown of the day. Robison's jet sweep to Deangelo Antoine went for 39 yards; Robison then found a wide-open Bryant for a 38-yard score
USM drove to have 1st and goal to start the second quarter, but back-to-back tackles for loss by Leighton McCarthy and Tim Bonner pushed it back out to the 12. A pass to the goal line was intercepted by Meiko Dotson, his seventh of the year, and he returned it to midfield (with a penalty on the Golden Eagles moving it to the USM 34)
Again, it took just two plays – and this time, 29 seconds – for an Owl touchdown. A screen pass to James Charles netted 19 yards, and Robison found Bryant for their second TD connection of the day, for 15 yards, and a 17-0 lead
USM got on the board midway through the second quarter on a 23-yard field goal. The very next play, an interception with a return took it to the FAU eight, and a rushing touchdown consequently made it 17-10
Dotson picked off his second pass of the day late in the second, setting a new program single-season mark with eight
Owls were forced to punt on their first series after the break, but the defense's third interception of the day came on USM's first play from scrimmage. This one was by Akileis Leroy, and he returned it to the Golden Eagle three-yard line
BJ Emmons took it in on the very next play to take the lead back out to two scores at 24-10
Leroy would then force a fumble while sacking the USM quarterback, with William Davis recovering it
Noah Jefferson came up with the team's second sack for back-to-back QB stops by the Owl defense
USM put together a 14-play scoring drive, covering 8:10, for a late third quarter score to cut it to seven
The fourth quarter began with a 40-yard rush by Emmons, the Owls' longest play of the day, and two snaps later, Robison found Bryant in the end zone for the third time
McCarthy's 3rd down sack forced another USM punt that would go for just 23 yards
The Owls extended the lead on a 31-yard field goal from Aaron Shahriari, the first of his FAU career
Leroy put the icing on the cake with his second interception, with 2:12 left. His line of the day was 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and the two picks

Stats and Records

Bryant's three receptions on the day totaled 75 yards and all went for scores. In 2019, he is now at 965 yards receiving, on 61 receptions, and doubled his TD output to six on the season
Dotson's eighth pick set the single-season record; his seventh had tied the mark previously set by Jalen Young (2017), D'Joun Smith (2013) and Tavious Polo (2007)
The team now has 19 interceptions on the year, tied for second all-time with the 2007 squad, behind only the 2017 team's 20. Add in Leroy's forced fumble/Davis' recovery, and the team's turnover margin through 12 games is now +19. That is now the top mark in the nation (Alabama came into Saturday at +17 and had committed two turnovers to forcing just one at Auburn, dropping them to +16)
Robison started the game 0-for-4, but each of the next two drives were both made up only of passes, in which he went 4-for-4 for 111 yards and two touchdowns
Emmons led the running backs corps with 71 yards on 11 carries and added his third rushing touchdown of the year
Leroy hit double digits in tackles for the fifth time this year with his team-high 11. Fellow linebackers Smith and Hosea Barnwell V were next, with nine and eight tackles, respectively

What's Next
The Owls will host the 2019 C-USA Championship next Saturday at FAU Stadium, against UAB (9-3, 6-2 C-USA). Kickoff will be at 1:30 p.m., and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or click HERE.