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BOCA RATON, FL–Powered by a four touchdown effort from quarterback Jason Driskel and a great day on the ground by Devin ‘Motor’ Singletary, the Florida Atlantic Owls blew past Florida International at home to clinch the Conference USA East crown.
The Owls will host North Texas at home on December 2nd in their first ever appearance in the Conference USA Championship Game. They earned the right to host by sporting the best record in the conference.
Driskel threw for 239 yards and rushed for another 43 and Singletary rushed for 164 yards to lead FAU over FIU 52-24.
A Jose Borregales 31 yard field goal with 3:43 left to go in the second quarter pulled the FIU Golden Panthers to within four points in the second quarter. But that was as close as FIU would get as FAU’s blistering offense, coordinated by head coach Lane Kiffin.
“We talk about rings, not rivalries,” Kiffin said after the Shula Bowl victory.
Don’t tell the FAU students that. They all raced onto the field after the clock expired and joined the players who got a head start running to grab the Shula Bowl Trophy located in the East end zone.
“You’ve got to win and win with style or they’re not going to come,” said Kiffin of the spirited crowd who attended the game Saturday night.
They were not disappointed. FAU dominated from start to finish.
Driskel spent much of the night hooking up with wide reciver Kalib Woods who had a season high 172 receiving yards. When Singeltary wasn’t scoring one of his two touchdowns on the day, Woods pitched in, catching two touchdowns of his own and FAU never trailed.
Kiffin’s offense is a fast moving bullet train and nothing FIU did could stop it.
The Golden Panthers were paced offensively by quarterback Alex McGough who threw for 218 yards, going 20 for 32. Running back Alex Gardner appeared to have some juice in the run game early but Chris Kiffin’s Owl defense stiffened and FIU also suffered from self inflicted wounds with penalties and turnovers.
Next up for the Owls, they travel to Charlotte to close out the regular season. The Golden Panthers, who are bowl eligible, close their season by hosting Western Kentucky on the day after Thanksgiving and welcome UMass the following week. Both games are at home.
Singletary finished the night taking possession of the FAU single season rushing record. And as the game concluded, fans were heard screaming loudly “Motor for Heisman.”
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