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Winless Florida Atlantic seemed poised to challenge the defending national champions on their home turf, coming out of halftime trailing by four.
By the end of the third quarter, the Owls (0-3) were down by 24 en route to a 30-14 loss to Auburn (3-1).
''We thought we had something going in the first half, in particular the defense, which had an outstanding game as it was,'' Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger said. ''The offense at least moved the ball and kept it away from them for quite a while. . We were poised . to see if we could hang in there a little bit longer. Obviously, the first two possessions after that with the interceptions, the hypothesis was dead for now.''
Quarterback Graham Wilbert was intercepted by Auburn's Jermaine Whitehead on the third play of the second half, and Whitehead returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to give Auburn a 17-6 lead. The Owls' next drive stalled at the Auburn 34, and five plays later Tigers quarterback Barrett Trotter found Onterio McCalebb for a 51-yard touchdown on a screen pass. Neiko Thorpe then picked off a Wilbert pass and returned it 46 yards to the Owls' 19, setting up a field goal by Cody Parkey, who added another two seconds before the quarter ended.
Just like that, upset bid over.
Still, the Owls showed vast improvement after an ugly start to the season, which included losses of 41-3 to Florida and 44-0 to Michigan State. Florida Atlantic managed only 48 yards and one first down against the Spartans.
Against the Tigers' much-maligned defense, which surrendered 624 yards to Clemson last week in a loss that broke Auburn's 17-game winning streak, Florida Atlantic managed 307 yards of offense and found the end zone for the first time all year on a 12-yard screen pass from Wilbert to running back Alfred Morris.
''We don't count field goals as scoring, so for us to get into the end zone was very, very important,'' Morris said. ''Now we have some confidence behind us heading into conference play.''
The Owls' defense also performed better, holding Auburn to 315 yards after giving up an average of 451 in their season-opening losses.
''I just don't think all the way around, when you are talking about the running game, whether you are talking about protecting the quarterback, I thought it was a very below-average football game all the way around from the beginning to the end (offensively), and it never got better,'' Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. ''So we have to go back and really look at some things. . It just wasn't a very good performance all the way around .''
The Owls moved the ball at will at times in the first half, managing 153 yards and six first downs, both significantly more than they managed all game in the loss at Michigan State two weeks ago. However, the Owls had several drives stall out in Auburn territory and settled for two Vinny Zaccario field goals.
''This was an exercise for a developing team to rise up on several occasions and look very good,'' Schnellenberger said. ''So, there is hope and more belief, and we can build on that.''
''We put some drives together and got some points on the board,'' Morris said. ''We did a lot of things we can build on but also saw things we need to correct. This was the first game this year we actually did what we wanted to offensively.''
It was a subdued atmosphere at Jordan-Hare Stadium, possibly due to the aftermath of the Tigers' first loss in two years and certainly due to the team's struggles in the first half. The attendance was announced as 82,345, but several sections in the upper deck were half-empty. And during a particularly bad stretch for the offense late in the first half, boos could be heard from the student section.
Trotter, trying to fill the shoes of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton, had an uneven night. He was picked off by the Owls' Cory Henry on the first play from scrimmage and finished 16-of-28 for 178 yards with two touchdowns and the interception. He also spent a good deal of the night under pressure.
''At times I felt like Barrett was running for his life tonight,'' Chizik said.
Morris led the Owls with 85 yards on 15 carries and 43 yards receiving with the touchdown. Wilbert finished 20-for-31 passing for 191 yards but threw three interceptions.
