Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 114. Florida Atlantic
Hoot Hoot
In 1998, Florida Atlantic University announced it was pursuing the creation of a football program, and the legendary Howard Schnellenberger would lead the charge. Schnellenberger would start as director of football operations and transition to head coach once the team was in place. In 2001, FAU would play their first season as an FCS Independent, going 4-6. Three years later, they were in the FBS, and it wouldn’t be long before Schnellenberger had them competing for titles.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 19 | Florida Atlantic | 2017 | 21.942 | 11-3 |
| 23 | Florida Atlantic | 2019 | 20.751 | 11-3 |
| 61 | Florida Atlantic | 2007 | -6.581 | 8-5 |
| 75 | Florida Atlantic | 2020 | -11.67 | 5-4 |
| 69 | Florida Atlantic | 2008 | -12.923 | 7-6 |
| 77 | Florida Atlantic | 2013 | -13.201 | 6-6 |
| 91 | Florida Atlantic | 2018 | -19.277 | 5-7 |
| 96 | Florida Atlantic | 2022 | -24.966 | 5-7 |
| 92 | Florida Atlantic | 2009 | -27.406 | 5-7 |
| 99 | Florida Atlantic | 2021 | -29.282 | 5-7 |
| 94 | Florida Atlantic | 2006 | -31.557 | 5-7 |
| 105 | Florida Atlantic | 2015 | -36.617 | 3-9 |
| 102 | Florida Atlantic | 2010 | -39.46 | 4-8 |
| 105 | Florida Atlantic | 2012 | -39.474 | 3-9 |
| 108 | Florida Atlantic | 2014 | -40.072 | 3-9 |
| 120 | Florida Atlantic | 2016 | -45.13 | 3-9 |
| 112 | Florida Atlantic | 2005 | -52.691 | 2-9 |
| 118 | Florida Atlantic | 2011 | -65.928 | 1-11 |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -976.54364 (114th)92-126 record
3 conference titles
4-1 bowl record
1 consensus All-American
10 NFL players drafted
Just 5 of their 19 seasons have had winning records—but they’ve made the most of those 5 years, winning conference titles in 3 of them and going 4-1 in bowl games. TE Harrison Bryant was the school’s first ever consensus All-American in 2019, winning the John Mackey Award for best TE. 2 top 25 finishes is the most we’ve seen by any team so far.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2011 (1-11 overall, 0-8 Sun Belt)
On August 11, 2011, head coach Howard Schnellenberger announced he planned to retire after the 2011 season. Maybe he should’ve waited to announce it until after the season. They had a disastrous start, losing by a combined score of 3-85 to Florida and Michigan State. Aside from a 34-37 loss in week 4 to UL Lafayette, every loss came by 14+ points. UAB provided FAU with the gentlemen’s sweep in week 11, letting FAU win 38-35 thanks to a heroic performance by RB Alfred Morris, who ran for 198 yards and 4 TD. The win helped FAU avoid an 0-12 year. Morris was one of the few bright spots on the team, and would be drafted in 2012, going on to make 2 Pro Bowls and 1 All-Pro team. DB Keith Reaser and LB Randell Johnson ranked 6th and 2nd on the team in tackles, respectively, and would both be drafted in the 2014 NFL Draft. QB Graham Wilbert had legitimately one of the worst statlines I’ve ever seen by a QB. Completing 52.4% of passes for 1459 yards 7 TD 15 INT is bad enough, but to average only 5.0 YPA and 3.1(!) adjusted YPA is wild. For reference, that’s the 2nd lowest AY/A by any QB who threw 200+ passes since 2011.
5. 2008 (7-6 overall, 4-3 Sun Belt)
Going into the season, FAU were the clear favorites to repeat as Sun Belt champions. After starting 1-3 against mostly Power 6 teams, FAU would drop close games to Middle Tennessee and Troy to effectively be eliminated from the title race just halfway into the season. Still, behind the arm of QB Rusty Smith, they regrouped. At just 2-5, they completed a 0-21 comeback against ULM to win 29-28 with 20 seconds left. After winning a few more, they were 5-6, needing 1 more win against rival FIU to become bowl eligible. This is probably the best game you’ve never heard of. Tied 22-22 heading into the 4th quarter, both teams would score 28(!) points in the 4th to send it to OT at 50-50. FIU opened with 2 TD to go up 36-22 with 9:16 left. Smith threw a TD to Cortez Gent and FAU immediately got a pick six to make it 36-36 with 5:53 to play. It seemed like FIU finally put the game out of reach as they went up 50-36, but FAU would score twice again with TDs with 2:08 and 0:18 to go! Gent would catch his 3rd TD of the game in OT to win it. 4 offensive players finished the season 2nd Team All-Sun Belt and 3 defensive players were 1st team.
4. 2020 (5-4 overall, 4-2 Conference USA)
Weird covid year. Willie Taggart was in his 1st season as head coach, and the offensive coordinator was Clint Trickett, who was the starting QB for West Virginia as recent as 2014. Unfortunately for Trickett, the offense was putrid, while the defense, coached by Jim Leavitt, were top 10 in the nation. The Owls started 5-1, giving up just 11 PPG, while scoring 21 PPG. DE Leighton McCarthy earned 2nd team all-CUSA with 8 sacks in just 8 games. FAU had a shot at making the C-USA title game, but an early season loss to Marshall and 2 losses to end the season did them in. They played 7-3 Memphis in the bowl in a mismatch, and lost 10-25.
3. 2007 (8-5 overall, 6-1 Sun Belt)
From 2004-06, the Owls’ first 3 seasons in the FBS, they went a respectable 16-19 and 9-11 in the Sun Belt. Heading into 2007 they returned 18 starters from a team that placed 3rd in the Sun Belt a year prior. Still, despite the wealth of experience returning, they were picked to finish just 6th in the Sun Belt by the media. It didn’t take long for them to prove everyone wrong. After opening with a conference win over Middle Tennessee and a loss to Oklahoma State, they got their biggest win in school history at the time with a 42-39 upset over Minnesota. FAU had a really weird schedule with non-conference bouts mixed in between conference games, so they lost to #14 Kentucky and went toe-to-toe in a loss to #6 South Florida, down just 23-28 with 1 minute to go. This was a wild season, it seemed like every game was memorable. In back-to-back-to-back weeks they beat UL Lafayette 39-32 in OT, lost 30-33 to UL Monroe in 3OT, and beat Arkansas State 34-31. The Sun Belt title was on the line in the final week, 6-5 FAU playing 8-3 Troy, who were the defending champions. The Owls played a masterful game, going up 35-12 and hanging on for the 38-32 victory to win their first ever conference title. They blew out Memphis in the bowl, 44-27, and finished #61 in my rankings. QB Rusty Smith was the Sun Belt POTY and Schnellenberger was the COTY.
2. 2019 (11-3 overall, 7-1 Conference USA)
And now we get to the truly great FAU teams. 2019 started 0-2, but those losses came to #5 Ohio State and #18 UCF. FAU went 9-1 in their remaining regular season games, with a 45-27 win over 7-6 Charlotte, 35-24 win over 9-4 Western Kentucky, 37-7 win over 6-7 FIU, and 34-17 win over Southern Miss. They matched up well with UAB in the conference title game, going into the game as 8.5 point favorites. UAB had one of the top defenses in the Group of 5, but FAU shredded them, getting 585 yards of offense in a 49-6 win to claim their 2nd conference title in 3 years. They faced a really good #21 SMU team in the bowl, but made easy work of them as well in a 52-28 win. QB Chris Robinson was 1st Team All-CUSA, throwing for 3701 yards 28 TD with just 6 INT. TE Harrison Bryant had maybe the best season by any player in FAU history, catching 65 passes for 1004 yards and 7 TD, becoming FAU’s only consensus All-American and winning the John Mackey Award. He was drafted after the season in the 4th round by the Cleveland Browns, and made the PFWA All-Rookie team in 2020.
1. 2017 (11-3 overall, 8-0 Conference USA)
The first Lane Kiffin conference champion team had a slightly better resume. They averaged 4 more PPG on offense while giving up the same amount on defense compared to the 2019 edition. After a 1-3 start, FAU was flawless, capping off the season with a 50-3 destruction of Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl. 9 wins were by 18 or more points, as they averaged 40.6 while giving up 22.7 PPG. The C-USA championship was only marginally closer than 2019, beating North Texas 41-17. Keep your pants on, because the season Devin Singletary had was staggering. He carried the ball 301 times for 1918 yards and 32 TD!!! Easily winning C-USA MVP. Him and 3 offensive linemen made 1st Team All-CUSA, and 3 defenders made the 1st team as well, including current NFL stud Azeez Al-Shair. Singletary’s been a good NFL RB thus far, averaging 1000+ yards of total offense a season over his first 4 years.
5th Quarter
Rest in peace to the legendary Howard Schnellenberger, who passed away in 2021 at age 87. Your legacy lives on at FAU.
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