We are now a fine tuned machine of such destructive power (75 yards on 3 plays in twenty seconds for touchdown), we continue to march to the sea leaving a path of waste, burning stadiums and squalor behind us, we have salted the earth of our enemies nothing shall grow in their fields they will bow down before the might of the Owls and know that the road through the Sunbelt comes through Boca Raton. Yes we did struggle early in the year, hoping to come through the gambit of at Texas (QB separates shoulder) loss, UAB (a taste of what was to come) win, at Michigan State in the rain where we had it but slipped through our fingers, obviously loss, and then the we had to deal with a renewed and vengeful Minnesota Golden Gopher team in Minneapolis, loss. So instead of entering our conference slate at 2-2 or better we walked in with a 1-3 record, the sun did not shine for a few bleak weeks, however we have once again found flight.
It began on that fateful Tuesday night at Middle Tennessee State, a game where we let them inside our 40 yard line eight times before giving up any points, however they did score and they trailed 13-7 going into the final minute. We had ample opportunities to show our might and vigor on offense, we dropped passes, we committed penalties, and we did everything a team can do to ensure the opponent stays within a fluke play of tying or winning. We gave up the unholy unallowable Hail Mary pass and reception in the end zone with 0:00 remaining on the clock and with the PAT we left heads down 0-1 within the conference already behind the eight ball before our showdown the following week at home against Troy.
Troy came stampeding into Lockheart Stadium in front of the nation live on ESPN2 and showed that we are a young program perhaps that had gotten a little too big too quick, whereas we felt it was our Stadium and our Sunbelt they showed that they still ruled the roost of the Sunbelt. We took our lashing and left disappointed, asking what had happened to the finely tuned killing machine we had seen just nine months earlier in New Orleans.
We went to Western Kentucky and squeezed by the big red blob 24-20; WKU still is transitioning to the Sunbelt so they cannot win it nor does it affect our conference record. We then went out to UL-Monroe, in another must win game being 0-2 in the 'Belt. Nothing clicked for the first 3 quarters then as if somehow a light went on, Rusty threw, receivers caught, running backs ran and with a comeback with 20 seconds left, Rusty launched a rocket into the end zone for the score! We had pulled out a victory from the jaws of defeat keeping our record in the 'Belt to 1-2.
Then there was Homecoming 2008, where we welcomed the Mean Green of North Texas, shots rang out, we scored a lot and often, final like a homecoming game should be, Owls 46-13; 2-2 in the 'Belt! That made it three in a row, and if the movies have taught us anything, it's that 2 in a row is back to back, but 3 is a winning streak; somewhere in this 3 game winning streak someone stood up in a team meeting and proclaimed, "Well there's only one thing left to do and that's to win the whole FUCKING thing".
And that brings us to Saturday, November 15, the day it CLICKED.
We became that unstoppable machine again; our only weakness is our kicker who cannot make PAT's or FGs in the west end zone (we left 5 points on the field) we were up 40-7 with eight minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Howard sent in our back-ups. It ended much to close for us in the stands. Howard said he takes responsibility for the close game, he says it will not happen again and I believe him. He told us we would get to a bowl game and win, we are the fastest school to ever make and win a bowl game, and we are on a collision course with the MNC as he says the only variable is time. He has not been wrong yet. He has built program after program, they will write books about this, it will be remembered in song and parents will tell their little children bedtime stories about it.
We are marching towards the sea leaving a path of destruction behind us, all that remains is to defeat the fading Arkansas State Redwolves, then it will all come down to our whipping boys to the south, FIU. You cannot call them rival as it has been said a rivalry implies that both teams win within the series, FIU has one win against us and that was after 26 seniors graduated and this group of men were freshman or not attending FAU.
