Florida Atlantic defense comes up big to help beat Florida International 16-10

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Collin Rogers made three of his four field-goal attempts for Florida Atlantic, and the Owls forced three turnovers in the first quarter then held off Florida International for a 16-10 victory on Saturday night.

After Robert Czeremcha's 36-yard field goal for Florida International capped the scoring with 13:28 left in the game, the Panthers turned the ball over on downs on each of their final three drives.

JJ Kohl threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4 from the FAU 9 and was sacked on fourth-and-5 near midfield with 2:38 to play. After the Panthers forced a three-and-out with 1:51 remaining, Kohl drove the Panthers to the FAU 17 but then threw three straight incomplete passes to end it.

FAU's Leonard Farrow scored on a 4-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, two plays after Kohl threw the first of his three interceptions in the opening quarter. Rogers made a 24-yard field goal early in the second, and Kohl scored on a 3-yard run just before halftime to cut the Panthers' deficit to 10-7.

Rogers kicked field goals from 30 and 36 yards in the third quarter.

Caden Veltkamp was 24-of-36 passing for 202 yards without an interception for Florida Atlantic (2-1). Chris Tooley III, Bo Simpson-Nealy and Jonathan Bax each had an interception for the Owls.

Kohl completed 22 of 43 passes for 262 yards for Florida International (1-2).

Up next

Florida International: Home against Long Island on Saturday.

Florida Atlantic: At Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.