Just a few moments after Florida Atlantic's 42-6 loss to Oklahoma State last week, Owls senior safety Taheem Acevedo wasn't happy about the Owls' latest defeat to a team with more tradition and history than FAU.
Owls coach Howard Schnellenberger calls games against teams from BCS conferences "advanced training" but Acevedo was tired of hearing about how much good the team gets out of blowout losses to established programs."I don't like that word at all - advanced training," Acevedo said. "That's my head coach and I love him, but that's bull. I wanted to beat OSU, and I want to beat Kentucky and I want to beat UF."
And Acevedo also wants to beat Minnesota, today's opponent and the latest game against a team from an elite conference.
And FAU may have a chance when it plays Minnesota at 1 p.m. at Dolphin Stadium.
While the Gophers are from a major conference, the Big Ten, they are struggling this season and the Owls may have a chance at a victory in an "advanced training" game.
After Minnesota, which is still adjusting to new coach Tim Brewster, lost to Bowling Green in the season-opener and had to go over three overtimes to defeat Miami (Ohio), the Owls believe a win against the Gophers appears to be within reach.
"That's definitely a goal and a goal that we can achieve," said FAU senior linebacker Cergile Sincere. "Like coach Schnellenberger said, it's one of the advance training games, and if we can come out with a victory in one of those games the confidence of the team on each side of the ball will definitely be raised, and we'll be playing on a whole different level."
FAU has never beaten a team from a BCS conference and beating a team from the Big Ten would have to rank as the biggest win in school history.
"If we win this game, the confidence will be huge for this team," said junior center Nick Paris. "We'll feel unstoppable, it would be the kind of confidence that can take us the rest of the season and give us that spark we need to just go out there and play aggressive and good solid football on both sides of the ball."
But the Owls had a similar feeling last week before their game against Oklahoma State. FAU was coming off a 27-14 season-opening win against Middle Tennessee and its confidence was high. That bravado came crashing down after the Cowboys returned an interception for a touchdown 13 seconds into the game.
The Owls were dismantled by the Cowboys, but as soon as the game was over, turned their attention to Minnesota.
Some Owls remember a 46-7 loss to Minnesota in 2005.
"I was actually kind of happy to see that we have them on the schedule again for the simple fact that when we played them in 2005 we played them when they were at their strongest point," Sincere said.
Owls coach Howard Schnellenberger calls games against teams from BCS conferences "advanced training" but Acevedo was tired of hearing about how much good the team gets out of blowout losses to established programs."I don't like that word at all - advanced training," Acevedo said. "That's my head coach and I love him, but that's bull. I wanted to beat OSU, and I want to beat Kentucky and I want to beat UF."
And Acevedo also wants to beat Minnesota, today's opponent and the latest game against a team from an elite conference.
And FAU may have a chance when it plays Minnesota at 1 p.m. at Dolphin Stadium.
While the Gophers are from a major conference, the Big Ten, they are struggling this season and the Owls may have a chance at a victory in an "advanced training" game.
After Minnesota, which is still adjusting to new coach Tim Brewster, lost to Bowling Green in the season-opener and had to go over three overtimes to defeat Miami (Ohio), the Owls believe a win against the Gophers appears to be within reach.
"That's definitely a goal and a goal that we can achieve," said FAU senior linebacker Cergile Sincere. "Like coach Schnellenberger said, it's one of the advance training games, and if we can come out with a victory in one of those games the confidence of the team on each side of the ball will definitely be raised, and we'll be playing on a whole different level."
FAU has never beaten a team from a BCS conference and beating a team from the Big Ten would have to rank as the biggest win in school history.
"If we win this game, the confidence will be huge for this team," said junior center Nick Paris. "We'll feel unstoppable, it would be the kind of confidence that can take us the rest of the season and give us that spark we need to just go out there and play aggressive and good solid football on both sides of the ball."
But the Owls had a similar feeling last week before their game against Oklahoma State. FAU was coming off a 27-14 season-opening win against Middle Tennessee and its confidence was high. That bravado came crashing down after the Cowboys returned an interception for a touchdown 13 seconds into the game.
The Owls were dismantled by the Cowboys, but as soon as the game was over, turned their attention to Minnesota.
Some Owls remember a 46-7 loss to Minnesota in 2005.
"I was actually kind of happy to see that we have them on the schedule again for the simple fact that when we played them in 2005 we played them when they were at their strongest point," Sincere said.
