Clemson Football: Oppo Research – Florida Atlantic Owls

The third opponent for Clemson Football of the 2024 season will be the Florida Atlantic Owls, who will visit Death Valley on September 16th. The game will be a prime-time 8:00 PM start and will be televised on the ACC Network.

The Tigers have only faced FAU once, which was a 54-6 victory in 2006. The Owl program is relatively young, having started in 2001.

Like the Tigers’ Week 2 opponent, Charleston Southern, the Owls will be kicking off 2023 with a new head coach following the dismissal of Willie Taggart after last season. Former Texas Longhorns coach Tom Herman now takes charge trying to return Florida Atlantic to the success they found under former coach Lane Kiffin, who is now the head coach of Ole Miss.

The head coach isn’t the only new thing for FAU. They will also be starting their first full season as a member of the American Athletic Conference. They are joining the AAC after several years as a member of Conference USA, the Sun Belt Conference, and as an independent.

The Owls finished 5-7 overall in 2022, with a 4-4 record in C-USA. They finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference with Middle Tennessee and UAB.

N’Kosi Perry, who transferred to FAU from Miami, has moved on to the Canadian Football League. Incoming transfer Daniel Richardson, who comes from Central Michigan, appeared to lead the pack coming out of spring practices. He will have returning experience in the backfield and at receiver. The offensive line returns three starters, and all five expected starters will be seniors or juniors.

Clemson Football will have a talent advantage over a Florida Atlantic squad that should be competitive in the American Athletic Conference

Defensively, the Owls return seven of their top eight tacklers from 2022, but the bulk of that experience is in a deep defensive backfield. Most of the linemen and linebackers will have to be replaced. Florida Atlantic is expected to run a 3-4 base, but could also convert to a 3-3-5 with a third safety.

When it comes to their new conference, there is optimism that FAU can be competitive with Herman, who’s biggest success came when he was at Houston, and the Cougars played in the AAC. Their chances against Clemson are a different story. The Tigers will have a definite talent advantage on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Florida Atlantic 2022 Statistics

All stats per teamrankings.com against FBS competition only

• Points per game: 28.6 (54th)
• Yards per game: 391.9 (57th)
• Points allowed per game: 28.2 (71st)
• Yards allowed per game: 441.2 (110th)