New members raise bar in Sun Belt race

[MeanGreen61]

New members raise bar in Sun Belt race

FAU, FIU have national goals in mind

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

By Nakia Hogan

Contributing writer

North Texas, a winner of 25 straight Sun Belt Conference games, hasn't faced much resistance on its way to winning the first four conference football titles.

But all that could change soon.

Starting this season, Florida International and Florida Atlantic will compete for the league title, a move many in the conference believe will make the Mean Green's task more daunting.

"They improved the quality of this league the day they got here," North Texas coach Darrell Dickey said. "Basically you have two big-time coaches with big names. They are close to a bunch of good football players so they don't have far to go to recruit.

"Florida Atlantic and Florida International really upgraded this league from Day One. We found it out the second game last season when Florida Atlantic came to town and whipped us like they owned us."

Florida Atlantic's 20-13 victory over North Texas raised the eyebrows of many observers. The Owls weren't eligible for championship honors last season. After finishing the season 11-3, they return eight starters and face a non-conference schedule that includes Kansas, Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Louisville.

The Owls aren't about to back down.

"Our goal is to win the Sun Belt Conference this year and next year and the next year," Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger said. "But we also have bigger goals than that, and that's to beat Kansas, Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Louisville."

Florida International, which was 3-7 a year ago, doesn't have such lofty expectations. With 19 starters returning, the Panthers hope to continue to build their young program, which like Florida Atlantic will be competing as Division I-A members for the first time.

"It takes time for all good things to come together," said Panthers coach Don Strock, a former Miami Dolphins quarterback. "We are looking forward to this year, our first baptism under fire. We're playing everyone in the Sun Belt Conference. We'll have a much better idea of where we stand at the end of the year."

Still, many observers view both programs as ones with plenty of untapped potential. With both schools located in talent-rich south Florida, current Sun Belt members don't expect it to be long before the two programs pull off major upsets.

Florida Atlantic, which played its first game in 2001, certainly appears on the right path. The Owls have already become the fastest start-up program to win a Division I-A game and the fastest to make the Division I-AA playoffs.

Schnellenberger, who coached the Miami Hurricanes to their first national title in 1983, said he is using the same plan with the Owls that helped the Hurricanes become a powerhouse. He's already mapped a recruiting zone that includes every county in Florida below Tampa and Orlando, and sent all nine assistant coaches searching for players.

He's told his players to think big, scheduling formidable foes and telling everyone who'll listen that he can build the Owls into a team that can compete for the BCS championship.

"This is the same blueprint that we used when I coached at Miami," Schnellenberger said. "Miami used to recruit all the way up in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but never recruited in south Florida. And they had 14 losing seasons in a row and were ready to drop football. But we came in there in 1979 and couldn't change it in '79, but changed it in '80 using this blueprint. We recruited the best football players in the United States and they've had the best football teams since 1983."

He's also raised more than $15 million for the program and has started plans for the school to build a 40,000-seat domed stadium, while creating a buzz about the football program.

"He's done so many things that he believes that any goal he sets for us is going to happen," Owls quarterback Danny Embrick said. "He said he wants to win another national championship in his lifetime. Anything is possible.

"When I first came to FAU, people were saying, 'Who is FAU and why do you want to go there? ' Now everyone kind of knows who we are. We still probably don't get the respect that we deserve. Most people don't know that we've won 20 games in two years."

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---His memory is bad: Miami had four winning seasons in those 14 years he mentioned, one was 8-2-1... but he was right in general..... Miami had a bad record but were playing a lot of tough teams.

---The year before he arrived in Miami they were 6-5 with losses to Notre Dame, Florida State, Colorado, Tulane, and Georga Tech. They went 5-6 the first year he was there..... one game worse

[SUMG]

"Our goal is to win the Sun Belt Conference this year and next year and the next year," Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger said. "But we also have bigger goals than that, and that's to beat Kansas, Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Louisville."

Kind of tells me what Howard thinks of the league we're in. Winning those four OOC games, is a "bigger" goal than winning several conference championships, is.

He's probably right though.

[eeally]

Florida sucks, except for their Orange Juice....Yummy!