By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

The FIU defense will have its hands full in Don Shula Bowl XVI on Saturday in Boca Raton. Florida Atlantic comes in to its 16^th meeting with FIU as the top scoring and top rushing offense in Conference USA led by the nation's rushing touchdown leader, who also happens to be fifth in the nation in rushing yards.

The Owls average 39.4 points per game and 275 rushing yards per contest. Running back Devin Singletary has scored 22 rushing touchdowns – no other back in the NCAA has scored 20 or more rushing touchdowns. Singletary leads C-USA and is fifth in the country with 1,360 rushing yards.

"FAU's running game is explosive," FIU coach Butch Davis said. "[Singletary] is extremely fast. This may be the fastest running back that we've actually played. The eye discipline aspect of it because they incorporate a lot of the play action, fake the jet sweep, hand the ball off, pull, go the other direction so it takes a lot of discipline with your linebackers and your safeties that they don't bite on the baits. That they are gap sound, fundamentally in the right situation. All of those things have allowed them to have explosive, gigantic big plays in the passing game. They will get you in a hurry trying to defend a lot of the runs, suck you up into the line of scrimmage which is a little bit of what happened to us last week."

The Panthers allowed 199 rushing yards to Old Dominion last week. The Monarchs were in the bottom half of C-USA in rushing before their win against FIU. Part of the issue was missed tackles by the Panthers that let ODU rip off some long gains on the ground. FAU presents various looks with its ground game.

"They will run inside zone plays, inside power run plays," Davis said. "Then they will get on the perimeter with outside stretch plays with the running back and then they will give it to the jet sweep guy. Some of it is a little similar to what our offense does. They mix it up really well."

The Owls rely on their run game to set up the pass. FAU quarterback Jason Driskel does not have the gaudiest of passing numbers but that's because he doesn't have to air out with the type of running game the Owls possess. Still, Driskel can make plays especially when opposing defenses concentrate too much on stopping the run.

"The thing that is most impressive is that you don't ever see [Driskel] throw it into coverage," Davis said. "He really makes the right read and that's one of the reasons he's not throwing a lot of interceptions. He reads his progressions and with a lot of the play fakes they are creating some separation and some opportunities for the receivers. They get the ball into the hands of the tight end and H-back quite a bit. That's probably the first team that we played that really emphasizes as far as trying to get the ball to someone other than the big-play receivers."

FAU's defense can be scored on. The Owls allow 26 points per game and 431 yards per game – 190.5 rushing yards per game. However, FAU leads the country with 18 interceptions. The Owls have a savvy secondary that can perplex a quarterback. FIU quarterback Alex McGough has steadily climbed the C-USA passing stats. McGough is tied with Driskel for second in C-USA with a 64.2 completion percentage and he is fourth in C-USA with a 136.0 passing efficiency rating.

"They are extraordinarily disciplined in the secondary," Davis said. "Very rarely are their guys out of position. Their fundamentals are good. They are getting good pressure on the quarterback which makes the quarterback throw a lot before he's ready so now all of the sudden he's throwing into tight man coverage, zone coverage. They do a lot of trap coverage where they show you one thing and the corner will spin around and he'll try to trap option routes or trap with the safeties. The quarterback really has to be on point. He has to be smart about making sure that he is making the right reads, the right decisions."

FAU kicker Greg Joseph leads the conference by far with 52 touchbacks on kickoffs and he is 11 of 13 on field goals including a C-USA long of a 54-yard field goal. The Owls also have a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kerrith Whyte.

"They have an outstanding kickoff guy," Davis said. "He has like 52 out of 58 kickoffs that are unreturnable. They are eight to 12 yards deep in the end zone and the ones that are returnable have a lot of hang time. Their punter is very good averaging 42 yards a punt. They don't make many mistakes in special teams. They do a good job covering on kickoffs and set up returns. They have good athletes playing on special teams which gives you a chance to be good."

Saturday will obviously be Davis's first Shula Bowl in his first season as FIU's coach. Still, Davis has crossed paths with former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, for whom the FIU/FAU series is named after.

"When [Shula] was the head coach of the Dolphins he was unbelievably gracious to allow us to go out there and watch practice and training camp and OTAs and mini-camps," Davis recalled. "When I became the head coach at the University of Miami he and his wife were in many of the charities that we would go to. He's a remarkable man. His success as a coach is unbelievable and he has the respect of everyone that is ever around him. They absolutely love him and he is a legend."