Florida Atlantic entered conference play on Saturday night with the sour taste of a 1-2 start to open the season. Now, with an opportunity to upset a CFP contender, the Owls hosted Memphis (5-0, 1-0 American).
Trailing by one possession with less than 10:30 to go in the game, it was an all-time collapse for Florida Atlantic as the Owls lost 55-26 in the largest margin of defeat at home since 2019.
Coach Kittley's Comments
Thoughts on Game Overall
“We came into this game dead last in the country in turnover margins. So we’ve got to fix that. You’re never gonna win when you’re last in that statistic. And so, proud of the defense for getting us a big one there late. And then offensively, we did a good job protecting the football. We had the kick return late there, we fumbled. But that’s gonna be a massive point in this, moving forward. And clearly we were better today at that, forcing one. And we had a late one, unfortunately, there on special teams. But we got better in that area, so that’s a positive. And then we wanted to come out better in the second half.”
“And I will say that we did come out better in the second half, compared to what we have been, but it’s still not where I want it to be. Again, when you peel it all back and you look at it, it’s all self-inflicted wounds, miscommunication by the quarterback and receiver, false start penalty, stuff like that that really sets you back.”
Late Game Penalties
“Maturity, that’s what it comes down to. We talk all the time, I got a saying that I tell my guys, it’s called the uncommon man. And it just talks about doing all the little things right and being somebody that most people aren’t anymore.”
“And those couple of penalties there late, that’s not who we are. I just told the team in the locker room, that’s one of the things I’m more frustrated with than anything. Just that lack of composure late, we put ourselves in that situation. And so we can’t get frustrated when they’re doing all that. So again, some of it is what it is, hands to the face, those kind of happen. But the other penalties, it’s unacceptable. And we’ll get that cleaned up this week.
Game Recap
Memphis started the game with the ball and on a 42-yard pass play was inside the FAU 33-yard-line. It looked easy for the Tigers the rest of the drive as QB Brendon Lewis’ 18-yard-rush ended in the endzone putting Memphis up early, 7-0.
Florida Atlantic responded nicely on their opening drive. After a 35-yard completion to Easton Messer put the Owls inside the Memphis 40. The Owls marched down the field as on fourth and goal from the one, Caden Veltkamp (main image, Angelina LaBelle) ran the bootleg into the endzone tying the contest at seven.
On the ensuing Memphis drive, the Tigers had relied on the run game as they rushed on seven of their nine plays on the drive. The FAU defense held the Tigers to a 52-yard field goal as Memphis took a 10-7 lead.
Both sides traded three & outs before FAU marched down the field into the Memphis red zone.
Second Quarter
From there the Owls converted on a fourth and short thanks to a Michael Kirch catch. Later in the drive, FAU found the endzone thanks to a jet-sweep to WR Jay Platt, 13-10 Florida Atlantic.
Following, Memphis’s drive ended with them turning the ball over on downs. FAU responded getting into the Tiger’s red zone before settling for a Garrison Smith field goal.
Memphis had another opportunity to score before the half and took advantage of it going 75 yards in 10 plays and finding the endzone after a Greg Desrosiers Jr. two-yard rush, 17-16 Tigers.
Halftime Notes
HALFTIME STATS
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) September 28, 2025
Offensive Yards: #Memphis 212 - #FAU 211
Tigers are averaging 5.3 YPC.
Owls have 4 TFLS 💪 pic.twitter.com/O8xl0PKb2c
Third Quarter
FAU had two first downs before their drive stalled out. Owls’ P Logan Lupo downed the Tigers at the one, but on a 3rd and one from their own 10, Memphis’ Greg Desrosiers Jr. broke one for 90-yards. Memphis 24-16.
On the following two drives, FAU and Memphis traded punts as the Owls started their next drive at their own 22.
The Florida Atlantic offense moved the ball efficiently with Veltkamp finding Messer over the middle for a 50-yard gain to the Tigers 16. Sadly for FAU, the Owls only mustered six yards and settled for a field goal, 24-19 Memphis.
The Tigers next drive ran out the remainder of the third with Memphis finding the end zone as Cortez Braham leaped over Terez Reid for the score, 31-19 Tigers.
Fourth Quarter
Looking to get back in the game, Florida Atlantic was unable to respond. Memphis, with the lead, started moving the ball down the field before a strip sack by Leon Hart led to Khmari Johnson finding the football on the ground. That’s when Johnson ran the ball into the Owls red zone.
There, the offense put together a touchdown drive with Xavier Terrell scoring on a one yard rush, Memphis 31-26.
After that, it went downhill for the Owls. Memphis scored 24-unanswered points over the last 10:20 of the game earning a 55-26 victory.
Standouts & Stats
Obviously the game went away from Florida Atlantic after they made it a one-score game at 31-26.
On the day, Memphis had 487 total yards of offense while FAU had 397. A major standout in those numbers was the rushing yardage discrepancy. The Tigers had 291 rushing yards compared to FAU’s 75.
Caden Veltkamp went 31/50 and passed for 318 yards. Memphis QB Brendon Lewis went 13/19 for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
Leon Hart was the leading tackler with 11 while he and Stolsky each tallied a sack as well.
Offense
Two 100-Yard Receivers
The Owls had two receivers that gained over 100 yards on the day. Messer with nine receptions and 131 yards, and Platt with 101 yards and nine receptions. The duo have stood out all season as top targets, but Platt has made his mark in the Kittley offense after being in Boca for a couple of seasons.
Two two receivers will continue their leadership on the offensive side of the ball, and the two playmakers will definitely be standouts in multiple games this season.
A Clean Passing Attack
In the passing game, although Veltkamp did not throw a touchdown, the redshirt-junior also did not throw an interception. Something the Owls struggled with a lot this season was the turnover deficit and many of those turnovers came from an errant throw, or miscommunication.
Expect the numbers to continue to look better for the passing game as Saturday night looked good, just no running game really put a strain on the Owls passing attack.
Finally on offense, where is the running game? Gemari Sands went down with what looked to be a lower leg injury. While Coach Kittley was asked, he said they will have a better idea on how FAU’s leading rusher is doing on Sunday.
Where’s the running game?
The Owls rushing leader was Caden Veltkamp. The QB had 28 yards rushing on eight attempts and a touchdown. Veltkamp was asked how running the ball can help Florida Atlantic find their run game, “It’s hard to defend a quarterback that can do both, so I need to use my legs. And we had a few quarterback design runs today. You know, ran for a couple first downs, had a couple explosive plays and a touchdown. Those are great. Those are the types of plays I’m gonna have to continue to make if we want to start winning games.
Overall, the running game had only 75 yards on 29 attempts. An average of 2.6 YPC, but all three FAU touchdowns came on the ground.
GIVE HIM THE SCORE! VELTKAMP FINDS THE END ZONE!!#FAU 7 - #Memphis 7 | 1st Quarter 9:10 https://t.co/pRmuti2Hl6 pic.twitter.com/ml6K35qI8t
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) September 27, 2025
Defense
Defensive Blunders
The Florida Atlantic secondary was beaten multiple times on Saturday, with the Owls giving up a 73-yard touchdown pass and Terez Reid being called for a costly pass interference that led to another Tigers touchdown.
The PI call was a part of ten penalties on the night for Florida Atlantic. One of those was a flagrant foul against Leon Hart as he threw a Tigers’ shoe. That led to the ejection of the former Marshall Thundering Herd team member as he will miss out the first half of next week’s game against Rice as well.
Rushing Defense?
The expectation was Memphis’ Sutton Smith would be an impact player in a Tigers win, but instead it was redshirt senior Desrosiers Jr. The RB had three touchdowns and rushed for over 200 yards.
So where was the Owls rushing defense? Well at times it seemed the calls were too aggressive. For example, on the 90-yard run, the Owls sent seven defenders into the box as Memphis’ front four made an open hole for Desrosier to scamper for the house call.
At other times it seemed FAU’s defense was too focused on the hard hit and not simply wrapping the ball carrier up. Regardless, allowing 6.3 YPC will typically always result in a final like the one we saw on Saturday.
Pass Rush
A bright spot for Florida Atlantic was the pass rush. The Owls had two quarterback hurries and three sacks on the evening. While the numbers did not amount to much after the disastrous fourth, it still shows Florida Atlantic’s defense can find the QB when called on.
Special Teams
P Logan Lupo had three punts on the night averaging 53 yards a boot. He also had two points downed inside the 20. Smith went 2/2 on field goals as well.
Closing Statement
While the loss is not what anyone wanted, FAU was in the game well into the fourth quarter. Remember, a win was not expected, but Florida Atlantic played a solid 50 minutes against one of the conference’s best. It seems every week this team is bettering themselves, but only time will tell if that is true as the Owls need to start winning quickly.
Up Next
Florida Atlantic (1-3, 0-1 American) will load up and head West as it will be a battle of the Owls in Houston, TX as FAU will face Rice (3-2, 1-1). FAU will look to bounce back into the win column on the road with kickoff scheduled for 7 pm ET on Saturday, October, 4th.