For Coach Zach Kittley taking the field against Maryland was a lifelong dream and one that – as he puts it – began very early on.
But dreams can sometimes be shattered. And while the scenario did initially play out as desired with a touchdown pass early on, the final outcome turned into what must have seemed like a nightmare.
It was one equipped with a record six (6) turnovers through the air for an offense that is designed to do just the opposite – score six touchdowns.
Some head coaches will dabble in “speak” and make round edged excuses for shortcomings and some will take the responsibility head on.
Kittley opted for the latter in his second weekly press conference to put a wrap on what was truly a debacle in College Park, while asking students staff, and fans alike to give his Owls the support the need as Florida Atlantic prepares to take on Florida A&M.
HC @ZKittley doesn't mince words when calling last Saturday what it was. "Everybody thinks here comes this highflying deal, and we go score 7 points." That, and his message for the Owl Nation as #FAU looks to deliver expectations against the Rattlers. #FAU 🌴🦉 pic.twitter.com/1k490aODTq
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) September 2, 2025
Below is a summary of some of the key questions and answers provided as he alluded to promising and better results against the Rattlers.
Some Final Thoughts on Maryland
“I thought they (the defense) did a phenomenal job of just always battling. No matter what the circumstance was, we put offensively, we put them in some bad situations, but they never blinked. I thought they did a really good job of playing a really sound defense for… 80% of the game, something like that.”
“Kickoff return was a positive. Jayshon Platt was super close to busting two of them. You know, I think if you ask him, he’d probably say he wants those two back because he thought he could make those go.”
“But to me the biggest positive we have, we’ve got great leadership on this team and you know Sunday we came in here for meetings and our walk through, you know our guys didn’t blame. And so I think that’s probably the biggest pause that we have is our guys understand that one game’s not going to ruin the season and we’ve got to rebound. We got to bounce back and we’re ready to go.”
On the Team’s Confidence in Caden Veltkamp and the System
“I think you ask anybody on our offense about Caden Veltkamp and said they got 1000% full confidence in him…I saw it after the game by what the players were coming and talking to me after the game. Sunday morning I had multiple text messages from some leaders on our team. I didn’t reach out they reached out to me, just the positive thoughts and how much they believe in our coaching staff and in our process and what we’re doing and that that was a bump in the road.”
On Building off of the Mistakes from the Opener
“When you go back and you watch a lot of our mistakes that we made, it all reverts back to just details and what we say, doing your job. And so the word detail is all week, just because we were just such an undetailed football team on Saturday and the details killed us. I could pinpoint play after play after play that everyone’s probably in the stands like that was a terrible play. And it’s like, really, we’re so close.”
Getting Ready for the Rattlers
“All day yesterday guys were hungry, they wanted to be in the office to watch what we had going on (for FAMU), what was going in the game plan. I think you can definitely see that and also to at least being able to see personnel wise you know what FAMU does…what are they gonna hang their hat on going into this year.”
“They got a new quarterback that’s that hasn’t played. That was his first start ever. And so it’s a guy that, you know, they’re probably trying to get him in some rhythm early. And Howard did a good job defensively, really shutting him out for the most part. And conversely, it was kind of the same way on their side of the ball. FAMU’s defense did a phenomenal job and held Howard to 201 yards of total offense…but again we’re playing an in-state team division one team with really good football players. So we’re going to be ready to go this game.”
Injury Updates and Overall Team Health
“Stolsky, he’s got the club on. He’ll be probably in that club for a little while. But I mean, the dude flew around, man. He was all over the place. I talk about leadership. He was, he’s one of our main guys, you know, and he was awesome. Clearly he’s got to wear the club, but still he flew around and made a lot of plays for us. So he’ll be good to go. He’ll be in the club for a while.”
“Quincy just had like a real quick tweak because at the end. Last week he he got to go today. So I’m expecting right now that he’ll be playing on Saturday, which would be great to have him out there for his first game with us.”
“But other than that, I mean that’s another positive you look back and you can take from that first game was you know we came out relatively clean and you know it’s always one of the one of the concerns when you go play the big school, you know they’re big and physical and they can maybe beat you up a little bit and for the most part we stay healthy.”
The Owls will take on Florida A&M Saturday night at 6:00 PM at Flagler Credit Union Stadium in what will be their first home game of the Zach Kittley era. The contest will be televised on ESPN+.