FAU hits practice field to prepare for Memphis

First workout since beating Troy to win Sun Belt

Published December 13th, 2007

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

After having four days off to savor their historic win over Troy last week, the FAU football team was back on the field Thursday in preparation for the New Orleans Bowl against Memphis Dec. 21.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Owls coach Howard Schnellenberger said. “This was about the same layoff we had before when we had the off week. We’re treating it like two bye weeks.”

FAU went through its usual practice, though some of the younger players got more repetitions as the older players went through a light workout.

At the end of practice, Schnellenberger had the team do something it hadn’t done since preseason – run gassers.
“It was a test,” Schnellenberger said. “This was a good gut check, and some of them know they need more work. We’ll certainly provide that for them.”

Schnellenberger is 4-0 in bowl games with Louisville and Miami, and he will look to improve upon that mark in two weeks against a Memphis team that finished second in the East Division in Conference USA.

The team hasn’t had much of an opportunity to see Memphis on film yet, but that will change next week.

Quarterback Rusty Smith, recently named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, said the bowl game is a fitting cherry to top off this groundbreaking season.

“Only game on the 21st, it’s going to be on ESPN2, I’m very, very excited,” he said. “I’ve got my New Orleans Bowl beads, I’ve been wearing them everywhere – I’m not wearing them now but around campus, to the store, whatever, it’s on. It has sunk in, and I’m extremely excited, the team’s extremely excited.”

Even if the Owls don’t win, Smith said the school has accomplished many of its objectives this season.

“We won the conference championship, we went to a bowl game and we beat an out-of-conference team – those are the main goals we wanted this year,” Smith said. “Obviously we want to win the bowl game, and it would send us out with a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence. But if we don’t come out with a victory, it will be okay. We’ll still call it a successful season.”