Box Score MIAMI (AP) -Rusty Smith threw four touchdown passes and Florida Atlantic beat winless Florida International 55-23 on Saturday night.
DiIvory Edgecomb, Rob Housler and Jeff VanCamp scored rushing touchdowns for the Owls.
Florida Atlantic (6-5, 5-1 Sunbelt Conference) has a chance to win the conference title if it beats Troy on Dec. 1.
FIU (0-11, 0-6) has lost 23 consecutive games, the longest current skid in major college football. A'mod Ned scored two touchdowns and Reggie Thompson also scored a touchdown for the Golden Panthers in the fourth quarter.
Smith finished 20-for-30 for 330 yards with an interception.
Florida International starting quarterback Wayne Younger (5-for-10 for 73 yards) left the game in the second quarter with a collar bone injury and did not return. Paul McCall was 23-for-35 for 181 yards and two touchdowns and one interception.
Florida Atlantic took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on Smith's 16-yard touchdown pass to Conshario Johnson. Johnson bobbled the ball in the end zone but was able to hold on with his fingertips after he hit the ground.
Florida Atlantic scored a touchdown on each of its four possessions in the second quarter.
The Owls stretched their lead to 14-0 on Edgecomb's 9-yard touchdown run.
After the Golden Panthers kicked a 27-yard field goal, the Owls responded with a reverse that Housler ran 68 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-3. It was the longest rush in school history and Housler's first touchdown.
Smith tossed two touchdown passes in the second, a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Bonner and a 69-yard pass to Cortez Gent that made the score 35-3. Gent also caught a 44-yard touchdown pass in the fourth.
FIU Game Notes
FIU vs. FAU
November 24, 2007
Orange Bowl Stadium
RB A'mod Ned's 9-yard run in the first quarter pushed his season total to 455, surpassing his previous season high of 445 yards, set in the 2006 season.
Ned became the sixth Golden Panther to rush for 500 yards in a season with his 32-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 10 carries for 68 yards to push his season totals to 126 carries for 550 yards
Freshman WR James Rucker caught a career-high four passes for 29 yards, surpassing his old marks of three catches for 25 yards against Troy.
Sophomore QB Paul McCall threw for career-highs of 23 completions for 181 yards and two touchdowns. The touchdowns were the first of his career.
FIU's 20 points scored in the fourth quarter is a season-high and tied a school record for most points in a fourth quarter (Sept. 27, 2003).
FAU Notes
Frantz Joseph tied Quentin Swain's single-season total tackles mark of 104 in the first quarter
Rusty Smith tied the single-season TD mark set by Jared Allen in 2003 with his 24th of the season in the second quarter and now owns the record outright.
Rob Housler scored his first collegiate TD and then set a new program record for the longest rush and longest TD rush on his 68-yard run
The 2007 Owl quarterbacks hold the pass attempts mark with 403 going into the game. The completion mark is 249 set in 2003. FAU had 220 entering tonight's game and finished with 22, giving them 242 on the year.
Smith broke the single-season yards mark set by Jared Allen in 2003 at 3003. Smith had 2731 coming into tonight's game.
FAU's consecutive games streak with an interception was extended to 19. The last time FAU failed to grab an interception was versus South Carolina in 2006.
Post-Game Quotes
FIU Head Coach Mario Cristobal
On the failed fake field goal...
“We missed our first extra point last week and we missed a field goal as well. If (the kicking) position isn't solidified and we feel we having something there schematically, we wanted to take a shot so we could create some momentum. The play was rushed. Dustin (Rivest) actually did a hell of a job trying to avoid the pressure and not getting sacked, getting rid of the football. I wish he could have put the ball in a better area to give us a chance to make a play. Good job by them. Not so great by us. But I'd go with that decision again because of some of the kicking woes we've had. We have to guys working their butts off to try and get better. We have to find a way to get points.”
On the importance of keeping pace with a good offensive team like FAU...
“Against a team like that, with as a good an offense as they have you better find a way to keep putting points on the board. Because whenever they go three-and-out you better be ready to respond. That little buffer is going to switch sides if you are in a real good game and you are doing the right things. They created a bigger and bigger buffer in the first half and it got away from us.”
On Wayne Younger's injury...
“His collarbone took a shot. He's gotten some x-rays and it doesn't look very good. It's a shame because he's been playing some good football. He had one bad series when we went three-and-out. But he was doing some good things when he went down, and he went down hard.
On if the collarbone is broken...
“It might be. We don't know yet. It's hard to see.”
On if the offense struggled when Younger went down...
“Maybe. But guys go down all over the country. There is just no excuse. It happens. There are other guys here who practice. We are young and we do know it takes time. But we can't take that approach ever with our guys. If we go down, this picks it up five percent, this guy 10 percent and this guy seven percent. Let's find a way to make (up for it).
But certainly, he's our guy. He accounts for most of the yards and scores on offense. Unfortunately, things don't look great, but we'll wait and see in the morning and wait to see what the doctors say later tonight.”
On the play of Paul McCall...
“I think he did a nice job when he went in there. He certainly took advantage of some things. He had a couple touchdowns and made some nice plays. He was a little rusty at first but so far it looks like he did a nice job against pretty good defense.”
On FAU's offense...
“They beat us to the punch on a couple things. We saw it coming. You play into it and you try and get off the hash and they make a play right down the seam or right down the sideline and they squeeze it right down in there.
Rusty Smith is a hell of a player. He can needle that ball in there and he did. They found a way to get him out of the pocket as well against some of the pressure we were bringing. We did have a contain player for him. They did a heck of a job getting him down on the ground. It's what they are taught to do and we're teaching them not to get on the ground. We have to find a way to coach them better and have to find a way to play off that better.
They got rolling pretty good in the first half and made it hard for us to get back in it.”
On giving up big plays on defense...
“I think they executed really well and we missed tackles. I think that is a fundamental thing. If you're in the right place on the right call in the right situation, you have to find a way to get the ball carrier on the ground, and you do. If you're in the right coverage and you're expecting a certain route, you have to find a way to disrupt it, break it up or get an interception and go the other way with it.
It's not a lack of trying. There are no excuses. We have to do better. We have to go forward.”
On if FAU showed them anything different...
“No. They played what we thought they were going to play and they did it well. We knew they were a good team. Them and Troy head up the conference statistically and in the win-loss column. They are a mature football team. They have been in that system for five or six years. Talking to their coaches after the game, that's exactly what they were saying.
It's taken us some time to get there. They are there right now and they are doing a nice job.”
On the rivalry...
“I think it's a great deal. I think it's going to be a bigger and bigger game as the years go on. There are so many young men from this area and from Florida. Certainly there are some from outside the state. These were cross-town rivalries in high school and now it's becoming one a couple hours away. You could tell. There were a couple personal fouls, but a lot of them were extra-effort personal fouls where guys were trying to drive a guy past the line of scrimmage after the whistle was blown. It wasn't blatant cheap shots and stuff like that.
The intensity was high and the guys kept it clean for the most part. It got a little bit antsy and sloppy on both sides, jumping offsides and moving a bit too early. Guys wanted to go out and prove something.”
On if he talked with Coach Shula tonight...
“I did not talk with him tonight. I have met him before. I used to come to this stadium as a little lad and watched all those Dolphin games. Obviously, he's one of the best of all-time. We all look up to him.”
FAU Quarterback Rusty Smith
Why were you guys able to do so well tonight?
“We did really well tonight because we came into the game with confidence and we worked together as a team. The offensive line did a real good job tonight, and opened the holes for the running backs, which really opened up the pass. It worked really well tonight.”
How does it feel to play in the Orange Bowl?
“It was great to play here. It was great to be able to be the last quarterback for Howard Schnellenberger to play here. It was just a good feeling tonight.”
FAU Linebacker Cergile Sincere
You think this win will help you for next week?
“It is definitely a stepping stone to get ready for the Troy game next week. We came out and played a great ball game.”
Were you surprised at how out of hand it got in the second quarter?
“It started getting ugly. Yellow flags everywhere. I can't pin point why. FIU was trying to do whatever they can do to get into that end zone. Especially when it's a rivalry game, there is a lot of trash talking and all that stuff.”
FAU Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger
“This is a very exciting day for my coaches, trainers, and the football team. It is wonderful to make a
realistic goal a year in advance and work like crazy to make it happen. This win ensures that we will be playing in that championship game against Troy. These are the things that make coaches, young and old, stay in this game, the ability to set a goal and reach it. If you don't reach it then try again. This is a rewarding time for our football team. You can't believe how happy they are at this moment. Not only because of the way they handled their younger brother by one year, but the way that this fulfills their dreams.”
How did you feel about playing in the Orange Bowl?
“I felt very good. I felt so good seeing Don Shula, once again come out for this game. He has a lot of things that are important for him to do, he has a lot of people pulling on every direction, but he is a football coach first and he knows his name lent to this rivalry will enhance its value very quickly.”
