NCAA Football FanHouse

Big Red N Marks Spot for Bonfire-Happy FAU Fans

Brian Grummell — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:15:00 EST

Florida Atlantic football fans took to burning a giant red letter N this week at a bonfire rally ahead of their matchup with powerful Nebraska. Its notable both for the audacity and the surprising sanction granted the exercise. In a politically correct society like ours this is a downright hostile act, made more provocative by the ceremonial lighting by both the school's president and Captain Kangaroo stand-in, coach Howard Schnellenberger.

I'll step aside and channel my inner Beavis for a moment. Fire! Heh ... heh ... Fire! Fire! Video after the jump.

Big Red N Marks Spot for Bonfire-Happy FAU Fans originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bowl Season '08: Central Michigan Drops Virtual Home Game

Brian Grummell — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:00:00 EST

Filed under: Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Sun Belt, MAC, Bowl Games

You have to hand it to Howard Schnellenberger -- he may be really, really old but he also is really, really good at winning bowl games. We're talking historic good. In defeating Central Michigan to capture the bailout-free Motor City Bowl, the wannabe Captain Kangaroo pushed his bowl record to 6-0.

No, it didn't come with a national championship as happened with Miami in the 1983 Orange Bowl, a 31-30 classic over Nebraska. However, it did come with the sweet feeling of restoration as this moustachioed legend guided awkward sounding football novice Florida Atlantic to its second bowl victory in four years of D-I play. For reference, Notre Dame's second most recent bowl victory prior to this week's triumph over Hawaii was in January 1993.

Last night's victory came about with a little good luck and some questionable decisions by CMU.

An evenly played game turned FAU's way early in the third quarter. After taking the ball at their two yard line, FAU worked its way towards midfield. After a personal foul penalty negated what would have been a stalled third down play and likely punt, FAU quarterback Rusty Smith scrambled and found a streaking Chris Bonner deep downfield. Bonner was not the intended target, rather a sliding teammate but he was in the right place and the right time and the teammate helped create traffic that helped free Bonner for the final few yards of the score.

Central Michigan never really recovered after the shocking 98-yard drive. They did inch back at 17-13, but FAU then put together a coldly efficient drive early in the fourth quarter capped by an 18-yard pass to receiver Cortez Gent to go ahead 24-13.

From there they let CMU create their own undoing. On a too-long five-minute drive, CMU found itself inside the red zone and facing fourth down and about seven minutes to go. Ditching a gimme field goal that would have made it a one-score game at 24-16, the Chippewas failed to make a first down and wasted a great deal of time. Their defense managed to make a stop and a bad FAU punt gave them the ball inside midfield. This time they found the end zone and converted the two point try to get to within three at 24-21 with 3:09 left.

FAU woke up after that, recovering the onside kick and converting several first downs with their run game to kill the clock and game deep in CMU territory, never requiring a field goal attempt or punt. It was an impressive showing of late-game confidence and dominance against a desperate foe.

For his success, Schnellenberger was doused with a water bath and was briefly carried by his players.

Bowl Season '08: Central Michigan Drops Virtual Home Game originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turkey Legs to Go: Motor City Bowl Travel Guide, Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan

Will Brinson — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:30:00 EST

Filed under: Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Coaching, Fans, Bowl Games

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Motor City Bowl (Detroit, Michigan), which pits Florida Atlantic against Central Michigan.

Overview / Matchup: The idea of "Florida Atlantic versus Central Michigan" isn't sexy. It's just not. But you should be more enthralled for this tilt than you actually think. Dan LeFevour (who I feel like has been a Chippewa for nine years now) averaged over 300 passing yards per game and Rusty Smith is no slouch either. In other words, if you like an obscene amount of points being scored by two teams that you've never really heard of, Detroit is a pretty good place to be on the day after Christmas.

Oh yeah, there's an additional bonus too: it'll be the best football you'll see in Detroit all year! Zing!

Hotels: For luxury accommodation and top-notch service, the MGM Grand Detroit is the best hotel in town. The Omni Detroit River Place is in a historic landmark building and offers river views. The Leland is your bargain bet and one of the only city center hotels with rooms under 100 a night. All of our suggested hotels are within one or two miles of the stadium.

Restaurants: Rattlesnake Club is the best restaurant in Detroit and single-handedly put the motor-city on the culinary map... try the pan-roasted sterling salmon. Open for more than 60 years, Carl's Chop House is the king of Detroit steakhouses. Jacoby's since 1904 offers quality German food at reasonable prices... they also have 12 beers on tap and more than 70 bottled beers from around the world.

Nightlife: If Jacoby's doesn't cut it for you as bar, try Town Pump Tavern. The Tavern has a library-like 1920s with gleaming wood and leather chairs. It probably draws the most eclectic crowd of any downtown bar and features live music (usually jazz or blues) on the weekends. Hockeytown Cafe is a favorite for Red Wings fanatics but sports fans of all kinds will feel at home here. The bar has a lively atmosphere, rooftop seating and occasional dance parties.

All travel related information provided courtesy of Professional Travel Guide.

Turkey Legs to Go: Motor City Bowl Travel Guide, Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Expect Even More 1-AA Teams to Be Scheduled in the Future

Chas Rich — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:42:00 EST

Filed under: Florida Atlantic, Sun Belt, General CFB Insanity

The price will keep going up for guarantee games as the Sun Belt Conference starts pulling teams off the market.

Florida Atlantic received $900,000 to open the season at Texas, its biggest payday ever.

Florida International turned down an offer of $1.2 million to play at an SEC team next year.

And Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters told the conference's athletic directors not to even consider an offer to play a road game against a BCS conference team for less than $1 million.

"A million is cheap to those guys," Waters said. "They ought to be paying us $2 million."

Increasingly, the only way to get a couple home games with a 1-A patsy at an affordable price is to either cut a full conference deal like the Big Ten did with the MAC or teams are going to have to swallow hard and accept a 2-for-1 deal.

In an ideal world, this would encourage more teams to actually schedule more games against better teams and do home-and-homes. Sadly, the reality will be even more 1-AA opponents put on the schedule since they are cheaper.

Well at least UNC-Charlotte will join the patsy ranks. Perhaps sometime in 2013.

Expect Even More 1-AA Teams to Be Scheduled in the Future originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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