Say what you want about Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin, but it’s hard to accuse him of being overly conventional or tradition–bound. The latest example of an unusual move from the FAU coach came Friday in the Owls’ game against No. 16 UCF. On three fourth downs in a row, Kiffin put his quarterback in, but had him punt.. Then, trailing 14-0 and facing fourth and four with 3:24 left in the first quarter, Kiffin sent in his punter…and instead snapped it to upback Gerald Hearns for a 24-yard pickup and an easy first down.
Now that’s how you keep defenders off balance. And this led to further success for the Owls, as they marched all the way down the field and scored on a pretty sprint draw from Devin “Motor” Singletary:
A successful fake punt sets up this TD for Motor and @FAU_Football 💪 pic.twitter.com/Q057DyRnLQ
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) September 21, 2018
After that, Singletary added another touchdown, further bolstering his impressive career totals:
With 53 rushing TDs, FAU's Devin Singletary now is tied for 23rd ALL-TIME in Division 1 football.
— Tom D'Angelo (@tomdangelo44) September 22, 2018
And FAU added a further field goal to take a 17-14 lead. While UCF got a touchdown to retake the lead before the half (they’re up 21-17 at the break), FAU has certainly made this interesting. And it all started with that exceptionally well set up fake punt.
[Kevin McGuire on Clippit]