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2008 Florida Atlantic Owls

Written July 20, 2008 by Jason Lowry

We are fast approaching another football season, and Jason Lowry is ready to get you off on the right foot with his 2008 Florida Atlantic Owls football predictions. The Owls are coming off a solid season going 8-5 overall and 6-1 in the the Sun Belt Conference, which was good enough for 1st place. This year head coach Howard Schnellenberger brings back 18 starters to a team that is not only looking for their 2nd straight conference title, but the schools 2nd straight bowl appearance. Last year the Owls went bowling for the first time, and they showed up to play handing Memphis a 44-27 defeat in the New Orleans Bowl game. To get a good idea at what the Owls will look like this season, lets take a closer look at both sides of the ball for the upcoming season.

Florida Atlantic Owl odds to win National Championship
+4000 as (any other team) at Sportsbook.com

Offense:
This side of the ball should have no problem putting up similar numbers to their 31.2 ppg from a year ago. The reason this team puts up so many points is that they have one of the better quarterbacks in the country in junior Rusty Smith who put up very impressive numbers last season, with over 3.600 yards and 32 touchdowns, while only throwing 9 interceptions. Though this team doesn’t run a whole lot, they have a solid running back in senior Charles Pierre who rushed for over 800 yards, but had just 7 touchdowns. The team brings back a great receiving duo in senior tight end Jason Harmon and junior wide receiver Cortez Gent, who combined for nearly 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. The offensive line is the only place with a new face from last year, as junior Kevin Miller is expected to join a strong unit at left guard.

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Defense:
While they don’t have 10 starters coming back on this of the ball, they do bring back a solid 8 players to a unit that needs to improve after allowing over 33 ppg last season. The run defense should get better as the team brings back all 4 starters on the defensive line and only need to replace one starter at the linebacker positions. Senior defensive tackle Jervonte Jackson is one of the best tackles you will find, and senior middle linebacker Frantz Joseph is a tackling machine, as he tallied up 131 to lead the team last year. The Owls look like they will lean towards senior George Allen to add to the mix at the open backer spot. Where this team needs to get better is in the secondary as they allowed teams to complete 64% of their passes last season. Both starters at the corner spot are back in sophomore Tavious Polo and senior Corey Small, who did a pretty good job combing for 12 interceptions last season. It looks like senior Carldayle Brantley will take over at strong safety, while fellow senior Greg Joseph is the man at free safety this season, both seen action last year and should fit in as starters nicely.

Prediction: 1st in the Sun Belt Conference
We would be crazy to think any team in this conference is going to be better than the Owls this season. While Troy has been near the top the last 2 seasons, we got them sliding a little, as they must find a starter to replace Omar Haugabook. We got the Owls running the table in conference play, and should win right around 9 games this season.

If you are looking for a place to get going on the upcoming football betting season, head over to Sportsbook.com and get an account going today. Also be sure to check back for more team and conference preview and predictions, including our take on Sun Belt Conference.

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