FAU Football: Owls Showing Progress With High-Level Passing Game

Florida Atlantic is not going to win a conference title, and even becoming bowl eligible will be difficult. But the Owls, while running first-year coach Zach Kittley’s Air Raid offense, are among the most enjoyable teams to watch.

Couple that with the fact that FAU (3-3, 2-1 American Conference) has already matched its win total from last year when the Owls went 3-9, and there is genuine improvement.

If fans enjoy offense, and especially the passing game, then this is certainly a team to watch.

Defense? Not so much.

Still, this is a program that hasn’t enjoyed much success since Lane Kiffin guided the Owls to a 27-13 record in three seasons from 2017-2019, which included two 11-3 campaigns as a member of Conference USA.

FAU totaled just a 4-12 conference record in its first two seasons in the American.

Now the Owls are riding a two-game winning streak after conference wins at Rice (27-21) and this past week at home against UAB (53-33). A day later, UAB fired coach Trent Dilfer.

Winning two in a row may not sound like much, but FAU never won two games in a row a year ago when Tom Herman failed to survive his second season as head coach.

Led by Western Kentucky transfer Caden Veltkamp, the Owls lead the American in passing yards per game (322.2) and are tied for the most touchdown passes (15) with Temple and South Florida.

The 6-foot-6, 236-pound Veltkamp doesn’t play it safe. This season, he has thrown for 1,785 yards and 14 touchdowns but also has nine interceptions.

The game against UAB was the second time FAU has put up at least half a hundred points with the other being a 56-13 win over Florida A&M.

The problem is that the Owls also allowed at least 50 points in one game during a 55-26 home loss to Memphis.

Focusing on the offense, the leading receiver has been Easton Messer, who was a top target last year at Western Kentucky for Veltkamp. Messer has 52 receptions for 501 yards but has only found the end zone once.

Asaad Waseem, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Colorado, has been a big-play receiver. He has 25 receptions for 378 yards and five touchdowns.

Against UAB, he had his first 100-yard receiving day with seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Redshirt junior Jayshon Platt, a top return man, has 23 receptions for 323 yards and two scores. He is also second in the American in kick return average with 24.5 yards on 15 kick returns.

There is no shortage of offensive weapons for FAU. A more proficient running game would aid the Owls even more. They are 12th in the American in both rushing yards per game (121.1) and yards per carry (3.8).

The Owls are 13th in the American in scoring defense (33.3), but they provide plenty of highlights on the other side of the ball.

FAU’s Schedule

The reason that it will be difficult to become bowl eligible is because of FAU’s difficult second-half schedule. It all begins on Saturday at South Florida. As of this writing, South Florida is a 21.5-point college football betting odds favorite, according to BetMGM.

Here are the remaining games and their opponents’ records. Five of the six teams are ranked in this week’s HERO Sports Group of Five Top 25 Media Poll, all among the top 14 teams.

• Oct. 18 at No. 1 South Florida (5-1, 2-0)
• Oct. 25 at No. 4 Navy (6-0, 4-0)
• Nov. 8 vs. Tulsa (2-4, 0-3)
• Nov. 15 at No. 3 Tulane (5-1, 2-0)
• Nov. 22 vs. No. 13 UConn (4-2)
• Nov. 29 vs. No. 14 East Carolina (3-3, 1-1)

If anybody’s counting, the combined record of the six teams is 25-11 overall and 9-4 in the American.

Still, regardless of the final win total, Kittley, who was the Texas Tech offensive coordinator the previous three years, has brought enthusiasm to the program along with a creative offense.

For a team that has been stuck in neutral for quite some time, the Owls have an identity. They will be attacking teams from the opening kickoff.

The next step is improving the defense, which will take some work, but the Owls seem to be on the right track during Year 1 of the Kittley era.