BOCA RATON, FL - Monmouth University (0-1, 0-0 CAA) dropped its season opener to Florida Atlantic (1-0, 0-0 AAC) 42-20 on Saturday night in Boca Raton, Florida.
 
The Hawks trailed 28-14 at the half but the Owls scored a pair of third quarter touchdowns to put the game out of reach. MU was the only team to score in the final frame. Quarterback Marquez McCray finished with 249 yards passing on 26-of-46 attempts with a pair of touchdowns. Dymere Miller led the Hawks with nine receptions for 76 yards.  
 
Running back Sone Ntoh scored the first points of the 2023 season when he plowed in the from Owl two yard line to cut the FAU lead to 14-7 with 1:53 left in the first quarter. The Hawks marched 75 yards on 13 plays with Marquez McCray leading the way completing four of six passes and picking up 11 yards on the ground. FAU took the first lead of the game, going up 7-0, needing five plays to go 80 yards to pay dirt. They extended the lead to 14-0 on a Tony Johnson nine-yard reception.
 
After the defense recorded a big fourth down stop, McCray threw his first touchdown pass of as a Hawk on a fourth-down 27-yard connection to Assanti Kearney. Monmouth drove 62 yards on nine plays to cut the Owl lead to 28-14 with 25 seconds remaining before halftime.
 
The Hawks registered two turnovers on defense in the second half, with Jake Brown grabbing an interception in the middle of the field and Eddie Morales pouncing on a fumble near the MU goal line that was forced by safety Tyrese Wright. The Hawks got their final score of the game when McCray hit Dre Tucker for 16 yards after a six-play, 75-yard drive.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"I thought we played extremely hard. There were some things we did extremely well, there were other things that we didn't do very well. When you play up a level and you play an FBS team, your mistakes are magnified. I think we had eight penalties and they were all crucial penalties and you can't have those, you have to play an almost perfect game."
- Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan

 

• TJ Speight had his best game as a Hawk finishing with six receptions for 72 yards with a long of 42
• Freshman Logan Barnes made his first career start on defense for the Hawks
• Ryan Moran finished with a career-high 13 tackles, including nine solo stops
• FAU's two scores in the second half came on big pass plays, receptions of 35 and 72 yards
• Monmouth returned to wearing white helmets for the first time since the 2021 season
• Freshman Michael Calton Jr. recorded his first collegiate points on an extra point in the first quarter
• McCray started his first game for the Hawks at quarterback after playing 32 games for Sacred Heart
• The defense got a key fourth down stop with 2:33 left in the second quarter from their own 37
• Redshirt freshman Gavin Nelson's first career catch went for 21 yards in the second quarter

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• The 20 points is the most scored by the Hawks in six FBS games
• Jaden Shirden's three receptions were a career high. He finished with 24 rushes, two short of tying his career-high set against Delaware last season
• Monmouth's offensive line allowed just one sack in the contest
• The Hawks fall to 0-6 all-time against opponents from the Football Bowl Subdivision
• McCray completed passes to eight different receivers in the contest
• Brown had eight tackles and the interception in his Monmouth debut
• Monmouth had eight penalties for 62 yards, FAU was flagged for 33 on three flags
• The defense held FAU to 3-of-9 on third down and 0-2 on fourth down attempts

 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will open the Coastal Athletic Association season with a 6 PM game at Towson next Saturday.