BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

If the FAU Owls were looking to gain national respect the past two weeks facing the Michigan State Spartans (MSU) and Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten, they failed to accomplish that objective.

MSU (2-1) blanked FAU 17-0 on Sept 13, as 70,321 fans at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing,  watched Owls QB Rusty Smith struggle as he went 8-34 for 143 yards. One of his passes went for 71 yards to Rob Housler. MSU outgained FAU in total yards 347-225 and first downs 18-9.

MSU running back Javon Ringer plowed through the FAU defense as he had 43 carries for 291 yards and two touchdowns.

Prior to the season, Coach Howard Schnellenberger anticipated that Minnesota would be fired up for Saturday’s game and he was correct. Minnesota entered the game as 6 ½ point favorites and they definitely covered the spread as the Gophers (4-0) blasted FAU 37-3. The Gophers victory avenged last season’s 42-39 loss to FAU at Dolphin Stadium.

Going into the FAU game, Minnesota defeated Northern Illinois, Bowling Green and the Montana State Bobcats. These teams are not college football powerhouses so if anybody thought Minnesota’s light non-conference schedule gave FAU a false sense of security to thinking they’d be expected to win in Minneapolis, the Owls high powered offense had to eat humble pie.

This time weather wouldn’t be a factor as Smith struggled again. He was 17-34 for 153 yards and four interceptions. Minnesota outgained FAU in total yards 441-276 in the climate controlled Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

FAU is now 1-15 against teams from Bowl Championship Series teams with the only win coming against Minnesota.

The past two weeks against the Big Ten can be described as the “Midwest Massacre.” FAU loses by 17 to MSU and seven days later the margin doubles to 34 as the Owls were outscored 54-3. That is certainly not what anybody expected from a team which had 18 starters returning including highly touted QB Smith.

But that’s where the Owls (1-3) are at as they prepare to open the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) portion of their schedule. They travel to Middle Tennessee (1-3) Tuesday Sept 30^th to face the Blue Raiders on ESPN 2 at 8 PM.

In last season’s SBC opener at Lockhart Stadium, FAU pinned a 27-14 loss on the Blue Raiders to propel the Owls to the conference championship that led to the New Orleans Bowl win over Memphis. Like Minnesota, the Blue Raiders are looking for revenge and they’ll have a chance to get it on national television.

The Owls faithful were hoping to go at least 2-2 in non-conference play but that didn’t materialize. During their three road games, including the 52-10 opening loss at Texas, FAU was outscored 106-13.

On Sept 13, the Blue Raiders lost a heartbreaker to the University of Kentucky in Lexington 20-14. Last year, FAU was hammered by the Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium 45-17.

The Blue Raiders lone win this season came against Maryland 24-14 at home. They are 0-2 in the SBC with losses coming to Troy on Aug 28 (31-17) and on the road at Arkansas State on Saturday 31-14.

The best thing that can happen for FAU is the Owls will have 10 days to prepare for the Blue Raiders. With their sluggish non-conference performance, the margin of error for FAU is small. They’ll need at least eight wins to have a shot at any other at an at large bowl if they fail to return to New Orleans Dec 21.

The SBC signed agreements with the St. Petersburg, Papa Johns and PetroSun Independence Bowl if the other conferences cannot fulfill their requirements.

Including Middle Tennessee, the next two FAU games will be on Tuesday nights. Troy travels to Ft. Lauderdale on Oct 7^th and plays in primetime at Lockhart Stadium on ESPN.

Speaking of Troy, they were beaten 28-10 by Ohio State Saturday in Columbus in another Big Ten versus SBC match-up. For Ohio State, they are now 1-1 the past two weeks against teams named the Trojans as they were routed by USC 35-3 in Los Angeles on Sept 13^th

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