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Florida Atlantic makes first bowl appearance

Dec 21, 2007 - 12:31 PM Memphis (7-5) vs. Fla Atlantic (7-5) 8:00 pm EST New Orleans Bowl December 21

NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Howard Schnellenberger has Florida Atlantic somewhere it likely thought it never would be.

Continuing to enhance his resume as someone who can rebuild a program, Schnellenberger guides Florida Atlantic in the New Orleans Bowl against Memphis on Friday.

After previous successful stints at Miami and Louisville, Schnellenberger undertook the job at Florida Atlantic, which began play in 2000.

The Owls started out as a Division I-AA independent team in 2001 before joining the Sun Belt Conference four years later.

Now in just their third year in the Sun Belt, the Owls will make a bowl for the first time after winning the conference.

Florida Atlantic won the conference with a 38-32 victory at Troy on December 1. The Owls scored 28 points in a 12-minute span of the fourth quarter to dethrone Troy, which entered the game as a heavy favorite.

The Owls are led by sophomore quarterback Rusty Smith, who threw for 3,352 yards and 27 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

The season was a struggle defensively for the Owls, who allowed 33.8 points per game.

Memphis, which finished tied for third in the East Division of Conference USA, is in a bowl for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

The Tigers played in the New Orleans Bowl in 2003, posting a 27-17 victory over North Texas.

Prior to 2003, Memphis had been to only one bowl game in its history, the 1971 Pasadena Bowl against San Jose State.

The Tigers closed the regular season with three straight wins. In the finale, Martin Hankins threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns in a wild 55-52 triumph over SMU.