College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Auburn 30, Florida Atlantic 14
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 24, 2011
Where: Jordan Hare Stadium, Auburn, Alabama
Temperature: 81°
Head Official: David Smith
Attendance: 82249

One week after its 17-game winning streak ended, Auburn struggled in the first half before pulling away to beat Florida Atlantic, 30-14, Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Tigers (3-1, 1-0 SEC) only led 10-6 at halftime against the Owls, who came in scoring 1.5 points per game and giving up 42.5 points.

But the Tigers started taking control with 13:34 left in the third quarter. Jermaine Whitehead returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown, pushing Auburn’s advantage to 17-6. Five minutes later, Onterio McCalebb caught a screen pass from Barrett Trotter and raced 51 yards for a touchdown, making it 24-6.

Defensively, the Tigers gave up yardage to the Owls (0-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) but kept Florida Atlantic out of the end zone in the first three quarters. The Owls settled for field goals of 39 and 43 yards from Vinny Zaccario.

The Owls scored their first touchdown of the season on Graham Wilbert’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Alfred Morris with 9:26 left.

Cody Parkey kicked field goals of 41, 31 and 37 yards for Auburn, the defending national champion whose winning streak was snapped last week at Clemson.

The Tigers face a tough stretch of four SEC games against ranked teams, starting next Saturday at No. 10 South Carolina. Auburn then will play at No. 12 Arkansas, followed by home games against No. 15 Florida and No. 3 LSU.

Florida Atlantic travels to Louisiana-Lafayette for its Sun Belt Conference opener next Saturday. After playing at North Texas on Oct. 8, the Owls return home to open their new stadium Oct. 15 against Western Kentucky.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Florida Atlantic   Auburn
Alfred Morris Player Michael Dyer
15 Attempts 14
85 Yards 68
5.7 Avg Yards 4.9
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Florida Atlantic   Auburn
Alfred Morris Player Emory Blake
4 Receptions 5
43 Yards 78
10.8 Avg Yards 15.6
1 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Florida Atlantic 307 108 199 1 2 1 3.0 0
Auburn 315 137 178 2 3 3 1.0 3