Jay Crable sacked JJ Kohl on fourth-and-5 near midfield, the middle of three straight fourth-quarter possessions FAU took away from FIU, Damarius McGhee had already knocked a Kohl throw out of the end zone, and FIU's last drive traveled from its own 1 to the FAU 17 before dying on three straight incompletions with four seconds on the clock. That is how the Owls kept a 16-10 win and brought the Shula Bowl trophy back to Boca Raton. Earlier, Jonathan Bax, Chris Tooley III and Bo Simpson-Nealy intercepted Kohl on each of FIU's first three possessions, and FAU led 10-0 after a quarter on Leonard Farrow's 4-yard run and a Collin Rogers field goal. FAU's front also held FIU to 95 rushing yards on 35 carries, 2.7 a pop.
What the defense did not get was help. Caden Veltkamp went 24 of 36 for 202 yards with no touchdown and no interception, his second straight turnover-free game, while FAU gained 258 total yards, netted 56 rushing yards on 31 carries and finished 1 of 4 in the red zone. FIU actually outgained FAU 357-258. Veltkamp said the offense played poorly, and he was right. For a program whose whole identity is Kittley's Air Raid, 340.2 passing yards and 444.7 total yards per game in 2025, against 104.5 rushing, a 202-yard afternoon with zero touchdowns is not a style choice. It is a miss.
The Monroe game
FAU is at UL Monroe on Saturday, Sept. 26, kicking at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+. The model gives the Owls a 61% chance to win; the market is harsher on ULM, with FAU listed as a 13.5-point favorite. The Warhawks are 0-3 and coming off a 38-35 home loss to FCS Southeastern Louisiana, their first loss to a lower-division team since 2005, in a game they lost on three turnovers including a fourth-quarter pick-six. Homecoming crowd, desperate opponent, quarterback questions. Houston transfer Austin Carlisle has taken the meaningful snaps in the past two games while returning starter Aidan Armenta, dealing with an undisclosed injury, has appeared only in relief.
That is a passing offense with an unsettled trigger man, which is exactly the profile FAU's secondary just feasted on. If Bax and Crable and the rest of the front, the group FAU rebuilt through the portal with Crable and Corey Clark, generate that disruption a second Saturday running, the pattern starts looking like a unit rather than a lucky quarter.
Be honest about what it proves, though. ULM runs spread, not option. Kittley named Navy, Rice and UTSA as the three option teams on this schedule, and Rice and UTSA both come to Boca Raton later. Those are the games that will actually settle whether a defense that gave up 201.3 rushing yards a game last year has fixed the thing that cost it wins. Monroe can add evidence. It cannot close the book.
What to actually watch
The scoreboard number that matters is how FAU's points get made. Against FIU, one touchdown and three Rogers field goals came almost entirely off field position the defense bought. Against a 0-3 team, Veltkamp and Easton Messer should be able to drive the length of the field and finish in the red zone without an interception setting them up first. Twenty-eight points on long drives tells Owls fans more than 40 points off four turnovers would.
Points are the thing still missing, and they will not come easier than at 0-3 ULM. After this week, the schedule gets hard fast, with Army, North Texas, UTSA and South Florida all projecting as substantial underdog spots.
No other game this week moves anything for the Owls. This is the last non-conference Saturday before Army, North Texas and South Florida, and the only thing to watch is whether the offense looks like itself again.
Full week view at /2026/4/florida-atlantic; the forecasting details are at /methodology.