A rebuilding year is set to take place in Boca Raton as the FAU Owls brought in Tom Herman in hopes of returning to a place among the top Group of Five teams that was once held when Lane Kiffin was around. With a new quarterback and new staff, what do the FAU season predictions actually look like at this stage?
FAU Season Predictions: Predicting the Game-By-Game Results
Using groupthink, College Football Network analysts have painstakingly gone through every game for every team in the American Athletic Conference and across the country.
Find Every AAC Season Prediction per team: Charlotte | ECU | FAU | Memphis | Navy | North Texas | Rice | SMU | Temple | Tulane | Tulsa | UAB | USF | UTSA
Picking these games straight up with a projected score using the rosters as up-to-date as the last spring practice, how do the FAU predictions look for 2023?
Week 1 – FAU vs. Monmouth: Win, 30-14
The Herman era should kick off in a winning fashion for the Owls. With Monmouth coming to town, FAU has the chance to get everyone up to speed and learn as they go. How this team responds in the second, third, and fourth quarters will be telling as to how much success we can see from them in 2023.
Get past the scripted offense and see what FAU can bring to the table in this one if you take anything from this game.
Week 2 – FAU vs. Ohio: Loss, 28-35
The MAC’s finest program comes to town to open their FBS play in 2023, and it’s a tall ask to try and contain this high-flying attack. Kurtis Rourke can outduel any quarterback and Casey Thompson and Co. will have a hard time keeping up against the Bobcats.
Week 3 – FAU @ Clemson: Loss, 10-40
Speaking of keeping up, even though the Clemson roster lacks some luster from years past, there is no denying that this is a team loaded with talent at every position. FAU cashes the check and just hopes to get out of there with no injuries at this rate.
Week 4 – FAU @ Illinois: Loss, 10-33
What a rough stretch it is for FAU regarding their non-conference schedule. The Owls head to Illinois after the upstart Fighting Illini put together one of the finest defensive performances in recent history last year.
The Illinois team will be finding answers ahead of their Big Ten schedule but this is a talent-laden team with a bevy of stars on both sides of the ball for FAU to contend with.
Week 6 – FAU vs. Tulsa: Loss, 21-23
Entering AAC play after a bye week that will surely be needed, Tulsa comes to town with Braylon Braxton likely at the helm. The talented dual-threat quarterback adds a new wrinkle to the Tulsa offense that Davis Brin previously did not.
What Braxton does well is force defenses to play on their heels. This FAU defense will have to bring their A-game if they want to keep it within a single possession.
MORE: FCS Transfer Portal Rankings
Week 7 – FAU @ USF: Win, 29-24
Traveling northwest to Raymond James, FAU should be able to get back on the winning side of things against USF here. The Bulls are a roster in need of a ton of answers and even by Week 7, it’s unclear if they have the players on their roster to do so.
Thompson should have a field day against a Bulls’ secondary that lacks star power.
Week 8 – FAU vs. UTSA: Loss, 17-39
The UTSA Roadrunners trek to South Florida as the likely favorites to win the AAC in just their first season in the conference. FAU will have a rough time, like most teams will in 2023, stopping Frank Harris and the plethora of weapons at his disposal.
Combine that with the fact that UTSA’s defense has been an improving unit since Jeff Traylor took over and you’ve got a tough one for the Owls.
Week 9 – FAU @ Charlotte: Loss, 22-26
This is where the schedule for FAU gets interesting and we were torn as analysts. FAU may have the better quarterback but is their roster set to be in better shape than Charlotte’s at this point?
In a battle of two first-year head coaches, Biff Poggi gets the edge against Herman based on the influx of total talent added through the transfer portal, not just the quarterback.
Week 10 – FAU @ UAB: Loss, 19-23
Trent Dilfer takes over at UAB and the approach to the game of football for the Blazers should be an interesting aspect to watch all season long. What do they do with a whole new staff and a revamped offense will be just as interesting.
Similar to their game against Charlotte, this one seems winnable and our analysts were on the fence. Give UAB the home-field advantage and wait this one out to see where your betting angles will be come November.
Week 11 – FAU vs. ECU: Win, 26-23
The ECU Pirates will look very different in 2023. Without their star quarterback and one of the nation’s best running backs from a year ago, ECU will have a lot to figure out this fall.
We’re sure they’ll have it figured out by this point but Thompson is talented enough to find success against the multiple defensive scheme that the Pirates bring to the table.
Week 12 – FAU vs. Tulane: Loss, 13-28
The favorites to defend their title in the AAC come to town in another difficult matchup for FAU. Tulane is loaded with talent across the field and Michael Pratt is a top-10 quarterback in the country.
MORE: AAC QB Rankings, 2023
Week 13 – FAU @ Rice: Loss, 15-19
The season finale is winnable for FAU as they travel to Rice. Will they be healthy enough and can Thompson field a full four quarters against a sticky Owls coverage unit?
Don’t discredit JT Daniels and Bradley Rozner as an underrated top QB-WR duo in the American this season. It’s Rozner’s height that is the difference in this one.
