With the expectation of a high scoring affair, the matchup that played out on Saturday night followed that prediction, but was dominated by the Owls.
On the night of a 25th Anniversary Celebration, FAU made sure everyone went home joyous as they dominated all phases of the game taking a 53-33 win over the UAB Blazers (2-4, 0-3)
Coach Kittley’s Comments
Thoughts on the FAU win over UAB
“I do want to just shout out [the] unbelievable environment. Family Weekend here. Love the crowd. Love the energy everybody brought. So that was really great. Hall of Fame weekend here too, for FAU athletics. And, we had three ex-football players go into the Hall of Fame. So always fun to have those. We had a couple of those guys back home who couldn’t make it, but always, just good to have everybody back in town, and just an unbelievable weekend here for FAU athletics in general. And great to be able to put the cherry on top here with the win tonight.”
“But yeah, some guys come in, step up and do a really good job. You know, Okino King came in and had to play guard for us; kind of a last second deal. And so really proud of him. He stepped up. Rotated a ton of guys defensively that really stepped up. And we had some guys probably playing a couple areas where, just because we got banged up, they wouldn’t normally play. Had to play some big personnel nickel package there, some 12 looks. But overall, just proud of the effort. We got a lot of areas that I want to get better at, for sure, but excited to get a big win in American play.”
Game Recap
First Quarter
UAB won the toss and immediately had a three-and-out as FAU’s first drive of the evening found them in the endzone thanks to Kaden Shields-Dutton.
The following two drives were nearly the same. UAB had a three-and-out while Florida Atlantic drove down the field and Shields-Dutton scored another rushing touchdown.
A first-quarter masterclass by the Owls was topped off with Easton Messer’s first career passing touchdown with WR Jayshon Platt on the receiving end of the 48 yard pass.
THIS IS HOW WE DO IT ‼️
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) October 11, 2025
1. @crveltkamp to @therealasaad 🫳
2. @Eastonmesser to @jayplatt5 🎯
3. TOUCHDOWN #FAU
4. Owls UP 21-0 over #UAB pic.twitter.com/QBJQAX7wss
Second Quarter
After the trickeration, Florida Atlantic’s defense was looking great. The Owls stopped the Blazers once more and got back to work on offense. There it was a quick two play drive that ended with Jabari Smith Jr being wide open for a 37-yard reception.
UAB then cut into the deficit after two touchdowns making it a 28-14 game. With momentum starting to swing, on a fourth and six, Caden Veltkamp’s (Main image, Angelina LaBelle) pass landed in the hands of Dom Henry as the Owls pulled ahead by three-scores once more heading into the half.
HALFTIME: #FAU 35 #UAB 14@FAUFootball delivers thier best half of the season to take a commanding lead into the break. They notch 310 TY 5.5 YPC on the ground. The four sacks of the half sets the season mark at 12 and just 5 away from 2024's TOTAL with six games to play. pic.twitter.com/vXWGGZGgaG
— FAU Owls Nest (@FAU_Owls_Nest) October 11, 2025
Third Quarter
Coming out of the half leading 35-14, the Owls’ Shields-Dutton scored his third rushing touchdown of the night. The remainder of the quarter saw the two sides share touchdowns as FAU scored two and UAB scored two making it a 50-30 ballgame.
Fourth Quarter
The remainder of the contest moved quickly with both sides running a lot of clock. This included a Blazers drive that lasted nearly seven minutes just for a field goal, and a short Owls drive that pulled their lead back to 20. Florida Atlantic ended up taking the win 53-33.
Standouts & Stats
The Owls out rushed UAB 147 to 68 and had an overall offensive discrepancy of 492 yards to the Blazers 329. The passing yardage was still favored to Florida Atlantic as they earned 345 yards to UAB’s 261.
Caden Veltkamp finished the night with 297 yards passing, three touchdown passes, and a completion percentage of 67%. UAB’s Jalen Kitna went 29 of 41, threw for 261 yards and had a passing touchdown.
LB Tyler Stolsky was the leading tackler as he earned 13.
Offense
Even Attack
On the night, FAU had 33 passing plays and 31 rushing plays. An expectation for Saturday’s contest was the offenses would sling the ball around the field all night. That was not exactly the case.
Florida Atlantic seemed to have found something in the running game; A struggle all season. But, do keep in mind: UAB had the worst run defense in the American up to this point. So while it should be unsurprising the Owls moved the ball well on the ground, FAU must find that extra boost of confidence wherever they can get it.
Kaden Shields-Dutton
In his biggest role in his young career, the sophomore tallied three rushing touchdowns with 77 yards on the ground. Shields-Dutton averaged over five yards a carry as well.
The Orlando native spoke with the media after the Owls win and had this to say about his starting role in the game, “I think there’s no necessary [time to get ready for the role]. All the running backs stay ready. We always say the expectation is the expectation. And no matter who’s in there…the standard is the standard. I had my opportunity tonight, and I knew I had to make the most of it. But it could be someone else next week. You know, it was my night tonight. And I’m grateful. I’m thankful. Just got to keep working.”
Offensive Connection
For the majority of the season, Easton Messer has been the number one target for Caden Veltkamp. Saturday night, the leading receiver was Asaad Waseem. The redshirt sophomore earned 7 of the 21 receptions and had over 30% of all receiving yards at 105.
The importance of this? It shows Waseem was a major part of the gameplan tonight. A former Colorado Buffalo, the Florida native shared he has built a trust with Veltkamp gradually every week. With Waseem being a target every weekend, he now looks to be a part of a threatening trio in Messer, Platt, and himself.
Defense
QB Pressure
Last season, Florida Atlantic had 17 sacks with the lead sack getter earning only 3.5. After six games this season, the Owls have earned 13 sacks with CJ Doggette leading the squad with three. Keep in mind, these numbers are coming out of a schedule that has multiple run heavy teams. If the defensive front looks like they did on Saturday, this front seven will definitely be a problem.
Overall, FAU had five sacks and eight TFLs.
UAB’s Run Game?
The Owls run defense has had their sour moments this year. One can simply look back at the Memphis game and say that things got out of hand. But since then, this defense has been great. Against UAB, FAU allowed just 68 yards on the ground. The Blazers averaged only 2.4 yards per carry.
Now, UAB has been similar to Florida Atlantic in the sense that the Blazers have not had a run game. But with a rushing defense that swarmed to the ball nearly every time it was handed off, it is clear that the Owls have taken strides into the right direction.
Closing Thoughts
While allowing 33 points is not the greatest thing in the world, Florida Atlantic earned the win. The offense was clicking despite key injuries, and the FAU D-line showed out. The Owls are now in a great spot looking ahead with FAU sitting at .500 and 2-1 in conference play.
QB Caden Veltkamp shared his opinion on being in that situation especially with a hard two weeks ahead, “We’re going into a gauntlet now. No games left on the schedule [make me feel,] ‘like hey, we know we’re gonna go win this easily.’ Everything’s going to be a war. Obviously, you go to South Florida next week, then go to Navy, so two of the best teams in the conference, if not the best two teams in the conference. As a player, it’s super exciting. You don’t want to play bad teams all the time. I’ve been there where you play four bad teams in a row, and it’s great to win. It’s hard to win college football. Not that anybody on our schedule we played is bad, but you know now you’re going to play some of the top teams in the country two weeks in a row. You know, that’s something as a player that you get up for.”
For now, those opportunities will come soon enough, but the Owls control their destiny from here.
Look Ahead
Florida Atlantic (3-3, 2-1 American) will head to the West Coast of Florida as they will square off against USF (5-1, 2-0). The Bulls are coming off a 63-36 rout of North Texas in what many considered a conference title game preview in the early portion of the season. With momentum on their side, South Florida will be a challenge. Alex Golesh has always had a spot for Florida Atlantic as well and we do not have to look any further than what we saw last year. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium and can be seen on ESPNU.