Things obviously did not go the way anyone in the FAU Football community wanted for when the Owls took the drive to the west coast for Saturday night’s showdown against USF.
A disappointing 48-13 outcome was fueled by the return of miscues, self-inflicted wounds, poor pass protection, and some questionable calls.
And once again Coach Zach Kittley maintained his composure after an emotionally challenging outcome, accepting the growth opportunities that his team is looking to put underfoot – particularly in producing a meaningful ground attack.
As fate would have it, that topic will be front and center on both sides of the ball for the Owls in Week 9 as Florida Atlantic will face their second triple option attack against a Navy squad who checks in with the number one ground attack in the country at the FBS level while producing a stout 305 yards per contest.
They will look not only to pound the rock, but also stop the opposition from doing the same thing – something they do best, and better than any other current team.
But before we get to that, here is a Message for The Fans
#FAU Coach @ZKittley taking a play out of Coach Howard Schnellenberger's book today during his #Navy Week Presser. "I want people who want to be here." His extended message to Owl Nation 🔽🔽🔽 pic.twitter.com/R90f7vsSYZ
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) October 21, 2025
Now, without further ado, here are our select excerpts from today’s time with Coach Kittley.
On Navy’s Success and Continuity
“First and foremost the continuity piece in today’s world of college football is so rare that I think that’s just a massive advantage. They’ve got a ton of starters back off of the 10-3 team last year. They are 16-3 in their last 19 games overall, and [this season] they’re undefeated. They’re getting votes to be in the top 25 and a lot of that has to do with that continuity. Again, I think it’s really, really tough in the college football world right now to have that much continuity like they have.”
On Navy Head Coach Brian Newberry
“Coach Newberry, give him a ton of credit, because he’s done a great job winning year three here and being able to go 10-3. Last year beat Oklahoma in a big bowl game for them, and then to start off the season 6-0 that is so hard to replicate it for sure.”
Combatting the Midshipmen Style of Play
“It’s going to be a back and forth kind of game they’re going to try to bleed the clock because they run the triple [option] offense. We’ve got to step up our game. We’ve got to make sure we’re putting points on the board and get the ball. Because you never know how many opportunities you’re going to have to have the ball. You may get the ball eight times. It may be more than that, but it could be as low as eight times or so. And so you’ve got to make sure that we take advantage of that.”
“I’m excited to go watch the tape from today’s practice. And, you know, especially on that defense side the ball, see how they did. Because I know after today’s practice, a lot of areas still improve on offense, and I’m looking forward to watching and seeing how we can get better going into tomorrow’s day.”
Veltkamp’s Pass Attempt Numbers and His Arm
“The pass attempt thing is kind of unfortunate we’ve been down so much in some games where we’ve had in the fourth quarter throw it a lot, and so that’s where that number is a little bit skewed. But he’s good. We take measures to make sure – like Sunday’s a non-throwing day. Monday is a non-throwing day. Tuesday and Wednesdays are practice day, so it’s a little bit heavier. Thursday is no throw and Friday very minimal throwing. And again, he’s a pro. He lives in the training room. He makes sure he’s icing and doing all the things right throughout the week to make sure that he’s ready to go.”
Tight End Mike Kirch Making Strides
“We knew what we were getting when we took Mike (photo below Rick Henderson) out of the portal – clearly. It’s kind of funny. We’re in the middle of our pot matrix that as we call it now and put my arm around Mike and just ask him how he’s doing today. And we had a little talk. And then I walked off, and I was sitting there my mind, you know, really wishing I had another year with Mike.”
“You’re seeing him every week get better. There’s a transition for him coming from the two-ball to division one football. And he’s really starting to come along now with the speed of the game and some of that stuff, but he’s super sharp and he was able to pick up our offense really quickly. I think you will continue to see Mike do good things as the year goes on.”
Keys to Competing for an Upset Against Navy
“We’ve got to put the ball in the end zone. We have got to take some pressure off the defense. These are these games where you can say what you want to say but it’s tougher for the defense in these games, just because of all the all the stuff they do. And they’re a lot different than those [other] triple teams, because they’re not just running like the natural triple they’re adding quarterback power in with it, quarterback power read stuff with it, and then what they’ve really done is they’ve evolved all that into play action, pass over the top stuff, too. So again, I’m going to start with us. We got to put the ball in the end zone.”
The Navy Attack
“They are going to hit you inside, and they’re going to circle the defense, and they’re going to come back, they’re going to play action, pass those same three runs they just hit you with bang, bang, bang. Then they’re going to play action. And they are going to try to chuck it over the top of you. You have got to set edges and you have got to have great gap integrity.”
Benefit of Playing Rice
“I think it definitely is going to help our defensive the staff, but also the players in that we have played a similar scheme because usually you play one of these teams, maybe once a year, maybe once every two to three years. It’s a benefit for us if we have seen a similar scheme. You look back at that game, and I revert back to really three big plays, four big plays in that game. We played outstanding defense against those guys. So there’s a lot of positivity coming out of that game that we can bring back to the table and show our defense that we’ve had success against these guys.”
The Owls will have a chance to do just that before their third consecutive national audience on Saturday at 3:30 PM. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network and we will have coverage throughout, so be sure to follow us on all the major social media platforms.