Florida Atlantic Owls 2016 NCAA Football Preview
FLORIDA ATLANTIC OWLS
Conference USA
2015 Record – 3-9
ATS – 4-7-1
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
East Division #6
Conference #9
2015 Recap
It was another disappointing season for the Owls, as despite being in a number of close games, they still finished up with a 3-9 record. They were 4-TD+ underdogs at Florida in November and took the Gators to OT. A win would have made the season worthwhile. That makes HC Charlie Partridge a less-than-stellar 6-18 in two seasons with the Owls. FAU has not had a winning season since 2008, which not surprisingly, is the last time they went to a bowl game.
2016 Preview
OFFENSE
The Owls were limited by pretty mediocre QB play last season. New OC Travis Trickett hopes to add some spice to the passing attack but needs to settle on a starting QB. It appears to be a neck-and-neck race between Jason Driskel (two starts last season) and redshirt freshman Daniel Parr. Either way, the Owls will be starting the season with an unknown quantity at QB.
FAU was sneaky-good running the football last season as they finished up with 165 yards rushing per contest which placed them 5th in the conference. The top-two rushers from the 2015 squad are back this season and they will be running behind a pretty good offensive line. We see some promise with the running game.
We are not sure what kind of weapons the Owls have when they need to MATRICULATE the ball down the field. In addition to the uncertainty at QB, leading receiver (by a mile) Jenson Stoshak departs and it is anyone’s guess what or who will emerge from this receiving corps.
DEFENSE
The Owls defense ranked 4th overall in total defense in C-USA last season, but realistically, they were pretty average across the board other than in the sacks department where they finished with a conference-best 35 on the year.
This season FAU returns seven starters to the group that features two legitimate stars in last season’s leading tackler LB Azeez Al-Shaair and DE Trey Hendrickson who dominated with 13.5 sacks a year ago. Hendrickson finished SECOND in the FBS in sacks per game behind Penn St star Carl Nassib. The DL might be a bit undersized in the middle but overall this group should do another decent job.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Owls feature 1st Team C-USA selection Dalton Schomp who led the FBS in punting average (48.0) in 2015 and an erratic PK in Greg Joseph (18/27 last season). The return units were not very helpful in providing field position and need to be better this year.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 5.0
MEGALOCKS says:
September non-conference games on the road against Miami Fla and Kansas St look to be automatic losses, but looking at the remainder of their schedule, it is not impossible to see them making a run at bowl eligibility. However, they have very little margin for error.
Overall, we give the OWLS a 5.0 ATS Value Rating (Average) this season. We are tempted to rate them a bit higher, but we have no idea how the QB situation may play out. They are going to be increasing the tempo of the offense but that can backfire if there are a ton of 3-and-outs. HC Partridge is 10-13-1 against the number and we are going to observe for the first couple of games and see what kind of offense they are putting out on the field. Be patient with these guys. They might be a team to jump on later in the season.
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