 "Photo: Chris Matula (The Palm Beach Post)")
When decorated coach Howard Schnellenberger took the reins of the Florida Atlantic football program in 1998, the world didn’t know a thing about Owl football.
That is, of course, because Florida Atlantic didn’t have a football program until Schnellenberger announced he would take on the task of, literally, building a team from scratch.
All of which made his bold claim that his team was “on a collision course with a national
championship” seem absolutely crazy. To note, he made a similar claim as head coach of Louisville in the 1980s but left before seeing his claim to fruition.
But that’s not to say the Owls aren’t a legitimate team, as they were Sun Belt and New Orleans Bowl champs in 2007.
“They didn’t just show up last year,” Texas head coach Mack Brown said. “They’ve done a
good job in their eight years with the program, and [Schnellenberger] has done an amazing job.”
Their seemingly exponential growth as a program attests to Schnellenberger’s success at fieldin a contender.
And he’s not giving up his national title hopes.
“We can play with the best,” Schnellenberger told TCPalm.com. “Our destiny is to be in the BCS and eventually play for the national title.”
Humble beginnings
The Owls held its first official practice inside a gym of the Boca Raton campus on Aug. 28, 2000, with a rag-tag group of 164 players showing up to tryout for Schnellenberger’s inaugural squad.
The team ended their first “season” with an intra-squad scrimmage at Pro Player Stadium that November.
By 2001, Florida Atlantic had secured the right to join Division I-AA as an independent and
played its first game, a 40-7 loss to Slippery Rock University on Sept. 1.
The Owls only won six games in their first two seasons but broke out in 2003 with an 11-3 record that included their first win over a Division I-A opponent, a 20-19 upset of Middle Tennessee State.
In 2004, the team upset three I-A squads with wins over Hawaii, North Texas and Middle Tennessee State.
Their efforts impressed the Sun Belt Conference, which extended an invitation to the Owls to join for the 2006 season.
Shaky start
Florida Atlantic began its transition into the big leagues by playing a Sun Belt schedule in 2005 without officially being in the conference.
Unlike their rapid ascension though the I-AA ranks, the Owls’ maiden voyage against the bigger programs was anything but smooth. They managed to score more than 20 points only three times en route to a disappointing 2-9 record.
The icing on the cake was a 52-6 rout at the hands of rival Florida International, which was also making the jump to I-A.
The 2006 season didn’t start any better as the Owls were outscored 193-20 in their first four games. To be fair, all came on the road against big time programs.
But they managed to turn it around in conference play, posting a 4-3 record against Sun Belt opponents, including an avenging 31-0 trouncing of Florida International.
Back on course
Entering the 2007 season, the Owls were confident, and it showed. They conquered their biggest opponent yet (a 42-39 win over Minnesota) and went 6-1 in conference play to secure a share of the Sun Belt title and a trip to the New Orleans Bowl in just their second official season.
The Owls didn’t disappoint in the Superdome, where they crushed Memphis 44-27 and gave the country a good impression on national television.
Taken at face value, a seven- year turnaround from not having a football team to hoisting a bowl trophy is unheard of in today’s game where huge programs make it difficult for smaller programs to recruit.
But Schnellenberger has put together a team of believers on the field and off. Just last year, FAU’s board of trustees approved the construction of a new on-campus, 30,000-seat stadium for the school — just another giant step forward for the fastmoving Owls.
And heck, give Schnellenberger another 10 years at the rate he’s going, and he just might have the Owls playing for the national championship.
“It may be a far-fetched goal,” FAU quarterback Rusty Smith told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “But why set a goal if it is not going to be a high goal?”
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