What can Army expect from Florida Atlantic when the Black Knights take on the Owls in their first-ever American Athletic Conference game Saturday at noon in Boca Raton, Fla.?
While FAU is a big step up in competition from FCS-level Lehigh last week, the truth be told, it appears that not even the FAU coaches, including head coach Tom Herman, know what they have in this team. FAU forced three turnovers in a close 16-10 lose to host Michigan State of the Big Ten last Friday, but failed to get much of an offense going to clinch the upset.
Herman, who was the head coach at Houston for two years before a four-year stint at Texas, might still need a game program to know his players this early in the season. He has 57 new players, including 30 transfers, from last year’s 4-8 season (3-5 in the AAC).
With only two starters returning on offense, Florida Atlantic is loaded with transfers, including quarterback Cameron Fancher, who transferred in after three solid seasons at Marshall, running back CJ Campbell Jr., who played one year at Florida State and wide receiver Milan Tucker, who played five years at Appalachian State.
New starters include most of the other receivers, who Army coach Jeff Monken said looked like they had tremendous speed across the board and could give Army’s inexperienced secondary fits all day, and a gigantic offensive line that could open big holes into the Army secondary.
It is not much different on the defensive side of the ball. Just three starters return, though two of them, linebackers Jackson Ambush, who had 10 tackles against Michigan State and Desmond Tisdol, are highly touted. Overall, FAU held the Spartans to just 293 total yards and only 114 on the ground last week.
FAU officials expect a crowd of near 25,000 in their 29,495-seat natural grass on-campus stadium for the game, which should be played in warm conditions with a high temperature of near 90 degrees. The Owls average about 20,000 per game in the recent years and school officials expect a relatively large contingent of Army fans.
