Three Takeaways from Florida Atlantic's 17-14 victory over Rice

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic snap its three-game losing streak Saturday night, beating Rice 17-14 in a Conference USA game.

The battle of the Owls was a gritty one, the first between the two teams since 2016. FAU upped its record to 3-4 (2-1 C-USA) while Rice fell to 3-3, 1-1.

FAU head coach Willie Taggart said the win wasn’t pretty, but it was much needed after losing four of their last five.

“A great win against a good football team. It felt good,” Taggart said “It was good to see our guys make some improvements in some areas that were needed and we got some of the results that we were looking for. We're gonna celebrate for 24 hours and it’s on to the next one (at Texas-El Paso next Saturday).”

Here are three takeaways from the win:

Defense shines as Dwight Toombs, Armani-Eli Adams get interceptions

It was looking grim for the defense in the first quarter as Rice scored twice on back to back drives. With the visitors leading 14-0, the defense stood tall for the rest of the game, giving up zero points for the last three quarters.

Taggart said he was impressed with how defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and the staff made adjustments.

“They did a great job of stopping the run, standing in the gaps and not giving up too many big run plays,” Taggart said. “When you get three takeaways, that helps as well and that's something we shoot for every game. I'm not surprised because that's how they practice all week.”

With the offense taking the lead in the fourth quarter, the defense had to hold a three-point lead, and interceptions by Dwight Toombs and Armani-Eli Adams sealed the game.

The former made a spectacular play in the end zone where Adams tipped the pass and Toombs flipped and dove to make the interception. Toombs said when he became free on that play, he read the eyes of opposing quarterback TJ McMahon and went for the ball.

FAU used to dealing with adversity

It’s been an unfortunate trend for FAU as the Owls faced adversity every game of the season in terms of beating themselves.

On both sides of the ball against Rice, they finally were able to overcome some hardships.

After FAU’s offense scored a touchdown to take the lead, Rice took advantage of the Owls defense committing back to back holding penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct flag, and an offsides call. However, it didn’t distract them, leading to the Toombs' interception.

For the offense, it was a slow start. Toward the end of the third quarter, receiver LaJohntay Wester fumbled the ball into the end zone resulting in a touchback.

They didn’t hold their head down much at all as in the drive after, quarterback N’Kosi Perry connected with receiver Jahmal Edrine for a 18-yard score.

“It was more just controlling our emotions and then staying calm. Throughout the year, we try so hard to win that sometimes they make some bad mistakes,” Taggart said. “Those penalties are frustrating, but we needed to keep our guys cool and find a way to make a play and they made some.”

Edrine, who had three catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, said the win was a relief.

“I'm so proud of this team. We've been facing games where we’re going back and forth, we've been down, we had to come back and this game we finally pulled it off,” Edrine said. “We finally did and to do it at home on homecoming night with everybody here, it feels great.”

A win is a win, but still aspects to clean up for FAU

Taggart and all the players the media spoke to post-game all mentioned how the win wasn’t pretty, and that would be a more than fair assumption to have for anyone who watched it.

The Owls offense came out sluggish in the first half as Perry only had 14 passing yards. While the defense was great against Rice, it has been inconsistent all season.

Overall, it’s been a disappointing season so far. While the win was extremely necessary, there is still a lot of work to be done with five games left in the season.

Perry, who finished with 126 passing yards and the one TD, said that he acknowledges the sloppy play, but he was still happy about the win.

“Yeah, maybe we didn't play up to the standard, but I'm just proud of the guys for the way we finished,” Perry said. “So we'll figure all that stuff out tomorrow when we come in and watch film to figure out what we have to clean up.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Atlantic Owls defeat Rice Owls in C-USA college football game