Continuing the response to Rusty....
FAU is a situational play for me. FIU sits undefeated in conference a game ahead in the loss column to MTSU and Marshall. FIU have already defeated MTSU and face Marshall in the season finale. The point being, if FIU were to lose here they just need to handle midlevel favorite roles against Charlotte and UTSA to get to the Marshall game in the finale and win the conference. FAU, conversely, sits at 3-5, which is in competition with TCU for most disappointing team performance so far this year. Owls will need to win 3 of their last 4 to get bowl eligible and still have to travel to UNT (not an easy venue). This game would appear to be a line in the sand game for FAU. FAU passing offense has just taken a severe step backwards this year, so they rely on Singletary and their running game to get the job done. So it is important they be able to successfully run and FIU is giving up 4.59 per carry so far this year, making that seem doable. Short travel and maybe even fans in the stadium. FIU is fairly balanced offensively and run about 60% of the time (though they have led a lot), while having a really big yards per attempt number. FAU run defense and defense in general has been no great shakes but I do like FAU to have better success running than FIU and given that is what I think both teams want to do, I like the owls from that perspective. I will say that if either team falls behind two scores, I like FIU's chances of coming back better. The FAU QB play is just terrible. So this one is barely matchup and highly situational for me.