Ranking the Top 100 College Football Teams for 2018: No. 30 Florida Atlantic

In the 100 days leading up to the kickoff of the college football season on Saturday, Aug. 25, HERO Sports is ranking the top 100 teams in the FBS. Each day, starting May 17 and ending Aug. 24, a new team is revealed in the HERO Sports Top 100. 

No. 30 Florida Atlantic

After last year's 11-win campaign that took college football by storm, anything less than a Conference USA title and contention for a New Year's Six bowl will be a disappointment for FAU.

The Owls underwent major personnel changes — both players and coaches — but return one of the nation's best running backs, two capable quarterbacks, 10 defensive starters and, most importantly, Lane Kiffin. They have the pieces to not only match last year's season but to take the next step.

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2017 Record: 11-3 (8-0, Conference USA)

FAU entered their Week 4 game vs. Middle Tennessee with a 1-3 record, zero FBS wins and two blowout losses to Navy and Wisconsin. They didn't lose another game. In fact, of their 11 consecutive wins, only one came by fewer than 14 points. The Owls were slaughtering opponents, twice beating a good North Texas team by a combined 62 points, and walloping MAC East champion Akron by 47 points in the Boca Raton Bowl.

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Head Coach: Lane Kiffin (2nd Year, 11-3)

Charlie Partridge won nine total games in three seasons as FAU head coach. LOL, says Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin led FAU to the most successful season in program history while trolling opponents, airing grievances from his tenure at USC and recruiting active players like Lamar Jackson to Boca Raton.

As we all await Kiffin's departure and predict his next Power Five stop, we should also enjoy — appreciate, understand or however you want to appropriately describe being in the moment — what the 43-year-old is doing at FAU — and how he's doing it. 

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Player Losses

QB Jason Driskel, RB Gregory Howell Jr., WR Kalib Woods, OL Roman Fernandez, OL Antonyo Woods, DT Jeremiah Taleni

Returning talent at quarterback and running back have overshadowed the losses of Jason Driskel and Greg Howell. Driskel was reliable and efficient, throwing just four interceptions in 278 pass attempt, and, as Devin Singletary's backup last year, Howell averaged 6.6 yards per carry and left FAU with more than 2,500 total yards.

Two of FAU's three All-C-USA First-Team offensive linemen graduated in Roman Fernandez and Antonyo Woods. Both played multiple positions throughout their careers. And receiver Kalib Woods is gone after averaging a staggering 25.8 yards per reception in 2017.

Jeremiah Taleni was the defense's only notable loss. The Pittsburgh transfer provided both run support and pressure on the quarterback, ranking third on the team with five sacks. 

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Returning Offensive Players

QB De'Andre Robinson, RB Devin Singletary, TE Harrison Bryant, WR Willie Wright, OT Brandon Walton

Last year's offensive coordinator, Kendal Briles returned to his alma mater, Houston, after leading an offense to 40.6 points per game in 2017, his lone season in Boca Raton. He was replaced by the youngest coordinator in FBS history, 24-year-old (now 25) Charlie Weis Jr., who worked with Kiffin as an offensive analyst at Alabama and originally joined Kiffin's first FAU staff before leaving for an analyst position with the Atlanta Falcons. 

"When you sit in his meetings, if you closed your eyes and just listened — the way he commands a room, the way he commands the players, the other coaches way older than him — you'd never guess he was 25," Kiffin said of Weis.

Weis and Kiffin won't completely ditch Briles' up-tempo attack that worked so well last year but they will seek more balance for a unit that didn't need to pass much last year. They only averaged 213 passing yards per game (80th nationally) but were very efficient, averaging 13 yards per completion, posting a top-15 sack rate of 3.8 percent and throwing seven total interceptions (on 361 attempts).

Entering fall camp, Kiffin still hadn't decided — or at least isn't telling the media — who will call plays. Briles did last year and Weis did during the offseason.

"We’re figuring that out,” Kiffin said in July. “He calls them now. It’s good practice for him. We’ll just kind of figure that out as we get closer. He’s brought some good ideas.”  

De'Andre Johnson — formerly of Florida State and East Mississippi Community College — and redshirt freshman Chris Robinson (discussed in Player Additions below) are competing for the starting quarterback job. Johnson has more experience but Robison outplayed him during much of spring practice.

The winner gets one of the nation's best running backs in Devin Singletary (1,918 yards, 32 touchdowns) and, despite losing two all-conference players, a strong offensive line led by tackles Reggie Bain and Brandon Walton. The Owls' 5.9 yards-per-attempt ranked seventh nationally and helped them be nearly unstoppable in the red zone (92.3 percent).

Willie Wright was their leading receiver as a freshman, and Harrison Bryant is a stud at tight end. Wright averaged just 11.7 yards per reception but is capable of stretching the field and was used as a ball-carrier last year, too.

"He’s one of those players who has quickness and he’s fast,” safety Jalen Young said of Wright last year. “He has speed and that ability to be a little saucy. He’s one of the best slots I have faced and he’s just a freshman. From Day One, you could tell that he was all about his business. I love that about him. He’s focused. He just wants to get better.”

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Returning Defensive Players

DE Hunter Snyder, DE Leighton McCarthy, DT Steven Leggett, LB Rashad Smith, LB Azeez Al-Shaair,  NB Herb Miller, CB Shelton Lewis, S Jalen Young, S Zyon Gilbert

After defensive coordinator Chris Kiffin left for the "pass rush specialist" job with the San Francisco 49ers, Kiffin hired Tony Pecoraro away from Southern Miss. That move, however, didn't happen until March, so the Owls were scrambling to install a new system that uses more complex schemes and more blitzes.

Former Marshall offensive coordinator Bill Legg said it best in 2016:

“They give you a lot of looks, a lot of different alignments. On one hand, they blitz a lot, on the other hand they don’t blitz as much as it seems like they’re blitzing — it’s usually just one guy adding on. But where the one guy adding on is coming from is what creates the issue.

FAU held five opponents to 20 or fewer points, gave up just 32 total points over their final three games, forced 1.8 turnovers per game and dramatically improved in nearly every area. They did not, however, have a reliable pass rush, posting a sack rate of 5.8 percent (71st nationally) and averaged 6.1 tackles for loss per game (61st)

Three guys had at least five sacks last year but none had more than six. Linebackers Rashad Smith (12 tackles for loss, six sacks) and Azeez Al-Shaair (10 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks) will see their pressure numbers increase. Leighton McCarthy — who had nine tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks as a freshman in 2017 — and Hunter Snyder anchor the end spots.

Oh boy, does the secondary return some advantageous playmakers. Chris Tooley, Jalen Young and Shelton Lewis combined for 15 interceptions, and senior Herb Miller could be a lot more active in Pecoraro's system.

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Player Additions

QB Chris Robison, WR Jovan Durante, C Junior Diaz, DT Charles Cameron

Chris Robison is a former four-star quarterback (seventh-ranked pro-style quarterback in the 2017 class, though he's more of a dual-threat quarterback) who enrolled early at Oklahoma but was dismissed before his freshman season. Not physically imposing at 6-foot-1, 177 pounds, Robison was compared to Johnny Manziel by Kiffin.

“I just thought he had a knack for making a lot of plays,” Kiffin said. “He’s smooth, not the biggest guy, not the strongest guy but there’s guys like this that win a lot of college football games out there.”

It wouldn't be surprising to see both Robison and Johnson play big snaps this season.

Elsewhere, Jovan Durante arrived from West Virginia, and center Junior Diaz came from Tulane. Both should start in Week 1. And Charles Cameron is a JUCO transfer who's big (6-foot-2, 305 pounds) but, in addition to stopping the run, can pressure the quarterback.

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Schedule

To state the obvious, a win over Oklahoma in Week 1 would be the biggest win FAU history. A win would launch the Owls into the playoff conversation, although — even with some good teams in UCF, Marshall, Louisiana Tech and North Texas — on the schedule, it's doubtful they'd have a realistic chance.