2017 Florida Atlantic Owls football team

The 2017 Florida Atlantic Owls football team represented Florida Atlantic University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls played their home games at the FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, and competed in the East Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They were led by first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. They finished the season 11–3, 8–0 in C-USA play to win the East Division title and represented the East Division in the Conference USA Championship Game where they defeated North Texas to be crowned C-USA champions. They were invited to the Boca Raton Bowl, where they defeated Akron.

2017 Florida Atlantic Owls football
C-USA champion C-USA East Division champion Boca Raton Bowl champion
C-USA Championship, W 41–17 vs. North Texas
Boca Raton Bowl, W 50–3 vs. Akron
Conference	Conference USA
	East Division
2017 record	11–3 (8–0 C-USA)
Head coach	Lane Kiffin (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Kendal Briles (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Chris Kiffin (1st season)
Home stadium	FAU Stadium (Capacity: 29,419)

2017 Conference USA football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Florida Atlantic x$		8	–	0					11	–	3
FIU		5	–	3					8	–	5
Marshall		4	–	4					8	–	5
Western Kentucky		4	–	4					6	–	7
Middle Tennessee		4	–	4					7	–	6
Old Dominion		3	–	5					5	–	7
Charlotte		1	–	7					1	–	11
West Division
North Texas x		7	–	1					9	–	5
UAB		6	–	2					8	–	5
Southern Miss		6	–	2					8	–	5
Louisiana Tech		4	–	4					7	–	6
UTSA		3	–	5					6	–	5
Rice		1	–	7					1	–	11
UTEP		0	–	8					0	–	12
Championship: Florida Atlantic 41, North Texas 17
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Owls finished the 2016 season 3–9, 2–6 in C-USA play to finish in a tie for last place in the East Division.

On November 27, head coach Charlie Partridge was fired.[1] He finished at FAU with a three-year record of 9–27. On December 13, the school hired Lane Kiffin as head coach.[2][3]

Schedule and results

Florida Atlantic announced its 2017 football schedule on January 26, 2017. The 2017 schedule consisted of six home and away games in the regular season.[4] The Owls hosted two of the four non-conference opponents, Bethune–Cookman from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Navy from the American Athletic Conference and traveled to Buffalo of the Mid-American Conference and Wisconsin of the Big Ten Conference.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	8:00 p.m.	Navy*	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL	ESPNU	L 19–42	28,481
September 9	12:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Wisconsin*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	BTN	L 14–31	77,542
September 16	8:00 p.m.	Bethune–Cookman*	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL	beIN	W 45–0	16,743
September 23	7:00 p.m.	at Buffalo*	UB Stadium Amherst, NY	ESPN3	L 31–34	14,246
September 30	7:00 p.m.	Middle Tennessee	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL	Stadium	W 38–20	12,913
October 7	6:00 p.m.	at Old Dominion	Foreman Field Norfolk, VA	Stadium	W 58–28	20,118
October 21	5:00 p.m.	North Texas	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL	ESPN3	W 69–31	13,277
October 28	4:30 p.m.	at Western Kentucky	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY	Stadium	W 42–28	12,441
November 3	6:00 p.m.	Marshall	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL	CBSSN	W 30–25	15,880
November 11	3:30 p.m.	at Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	Stadium	W 48–23	16,511
November 18	7:00 p.m.	FIU	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL (Shula Bowl)	Stadium	W 52–24	24,116
November 25	2:00 p.m.	at Charlotte	Jerry Richardson Stadium Charlotte, NC	Stadium	W 31–12	8,330
December 2	12:00 p.m.	North Texas	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL (Conference USA Football Championship)	ESPN2	W 41–17	14,258
December 19	7:00 p.m.	vs. Akron*	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL (Boca Raton Bowl)	ESPN	W 50–3	25,912
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:[5]

Game summaries

Navy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Midshipmen	7	14	14	7	42
Owls	3	7	3	6	19

at Wisconsin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	7	7	0	0	14
No. 9 Badgers	14	10	7	0	31

Bethune–Cookman

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0
Owls	14	7	17	7	45

at Buffalo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	7	10	0	14	31
Bulls	14	3	7	10	34

Middle Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Raiders	6	0	7	7	20
Owls	14	10	0	14	38

at Old Dominion

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	17	14	14	13	58
Monarchs	7	7	7	7	28

North Texas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mean Green	0	7	10	14	31
Owls	24	17	21	7	69

at WKU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	10	10	0	22	42
Hilltoppers	7	14	7	0	28

Marshall

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thundering Herd	0	3	13	9	25
Owls	13	3	7	7	30

at Louisiana Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	6	14	22	6	48
Bulldogs	3	6	7	7	23

FIU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	10	7	7	24
Owls	14	7	16	15	52

at Charlotte

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	10	14	7	0	31
49ers	0	6	6	0	12

North Texas–C-USA Championship Game

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mean Green	0	0	9	8	17
Owls	10	17	7	7	41

Akron–Boca Raton Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	0	3	0	0	3
Owls	7	14	15	14	50

Roster

References

1. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/college-football/charlie-partridge-out-fau-football-coach/nIr7avF2aeGnzv2GZArzuN/
2. DeFranks, Matthew. "FAU hires Lane Kiffin as coach". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
3. "From Bama to Boca: Lane Kiffin is FAU's new coach". miamiherald. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
4. "2017 Football Schedule Announced" (Press release). Florida Atlantic University Department of Athletics. January 26, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
5. "2017 Florida Atlantic Owls Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 27, 2017.