Football Drops Opener to No. 5 Ohio State

Saturday, August 31

Columbus, Ohio

12 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

0-1

Ohio State

1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

FAU

Ohio State

8/31/2019 3:32:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Gallery: (8/31/2019) Football at Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Florida Atlantic University football fell in the team's season opener to No. 5 Ohio State on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, 45-21.

Quotable

"Two different games," said head coach Lane Kiffin. "Obviously we started off very poor, (to) start 28-0 like that in a half of a quarter, (played) about as bad as you can in all phases of the game. Then, (we) played a lot better after that, 21-17 we outscored them. Obviously that's not a moral victory, but that does show our players. If we do things right, especially defensively … their starters were still in (and) our defense did a really good job after that."

Quick Hits

FAU (0-1) won the toss but deferred. Ohio State (1-0) needed four plays on the opening drive, with a 51-yard run for the score
After the Owls were held to a three-and-out, a long punt return gave OSU a short field
Two plays later, a 25-yard touchdown pass doubled the lead, and the next Buckeye drive ended in 31-yard passing score for to make it 21-0
A fourth 1st quarter score for OSU came on a 29-yard pass
Akileis Leroy smothered the Buckeyes' quarterback to eventually force a punt late in the period
James Charles moved the chains as the Owls took possession into the 2nd quarter
OSU was forced into a second straight punt when a Korel Smith blitz flushed the QB out of the pocket and Leighton McCarthy pushed him out of bounds for a sack
Matt Hayball boomed a 70-yard punt to pin OSU to their own 11
Again, Leroy continued to be a presence in the backfield, picking up the Owls' second sack of the day. On the next play, Damian Horton got pressure to earn a QB hurry
FAU recorded with the first turnover of the game, as a backwards pass was mishandled and Quran Hafiz came up with the fumble recovery midway through the 2nd
Jaylen Joyner was the next defensive lineman with a hurry, leading to another OSU punt
The next Buckeye drive also ended in a turnover, as on a rush, Leroy forced a fumble, recovered by Rashad Smith
That gave FAU good field position, at the OSU 25, and Chris Robison found Harrison Bryant for back-to-back completions, of six yards and seven yards, to move it to the 12
Vladimir Rivas put the Owls on the board, splitting the uprights with a 28-yard field goal with 33 seconds left to go in the half
FAU got the ball to start the 3rd, and picked up back-to-back 1st downs on a screen pass to Larry McCammon III (12 yards) and a catch by John Raine (14 yards)
Robinson found Bryant on a beautiful leaping snag for 26 yards, and coupled with a roughing-the-passer penalty on the same play, the Owls had a 1st down on the OSU 12
Four plays later, Rivas made good again, again from the same 28-yard distance
On the ensuing drive, Da'Von Brown flew to the line of scrimmage for a tackle for no gain, and a one-yard loss, on consecutive plays
Late in the 3rd, OSU scored for the first time in over two quarters, after the Owls had held them out of the end zone for six straight possessions
After the TD, the Owls moved the ball downfield. Robison connected with John Mitchell and Bryant for twin 12-yard receptions, and hit Tavaris Harrison for eight yards and then six more for a 1st down
Robison rushed for seven and James Charles for five, and Raine made a sliding catch for 12 yards and an apparent first down, but it was overturned upon review
Heading into the quarter break, the Owls lined up for a field goal, but coming out, elected to go for it on 4th down. Robison found Charles for eight yards and the 1st
A nine-yard Charles rush brought up 2nd-and-inches
Two plays later, true freshman McCammon punched it from three yards, and Robison hit John Mitchell for a wide-open two-point conversion to make it 35-14
The Owls attempted an onside kick but it went out of bounds. Beginning in FAU territory, OSU scored seven plays later
The longest FAU gain of the afternoon came when Robison floated a pass to "Pico" Tavaris Harrison for 38 yards
After a 9-yard run by Robison, and six yards from McCammon, a play later, Bryant hauled in a 16-yard pass to move within the 10
Three plays after that, Robison got his first TD pass of the day, a three-yard completion to Raine. Rivas' extra point pulled the Owls back to within three scores 42-21
With OSU milking the clock, James Pierre stuffed a QB rush for a loss of five
The Owls' defense held the Buckeyes to a field goal attempt, which was good from 46
Backup quarterback Justin Agner came on for the final Owl drive, making his FAU debut. He completed his first two passes, and three of his first four, before a diving interception gave the ball back to the Buckeyes

Stats and Records

The attendance of 103,228 is the largest FAU has ever played in front of (eclipsing 101,821 at Alabama on Sept. 22, 2012)
Bryant and Raine led all receivers on the day in catches with six, and Bryant paced all players in receiving yards with 79
Harrison added four receptions for 57
Robison made good on 65 percent of his past attempts (22-for-34) for 178 yards
McCammon's score was the first of his career
Defensively, Smith was in double digits with a game-high tally of tackles on either side, with 11, seven of which were solo
Brown was next with eight, while Hafiz added seven
Leroy had six stops, a sack and tackle for loss, plus the forced fumble
Hayball averaged 47.2 yards per punt, including the long of 70
The Owls fell behind early with the early OSU flurry, but outscored the No. 5 Buckeyes the rest of the way, 21-17

What's Next

The Owls kick off the 2019 home slate in a week's time, hosting UCF (currently ranked No. 17) at 7 p.m. next Saturday at FAU Stadium.