Zach Kittley gets FAU bowl eligible in UTSA rout

UTSA came into Thursday with the best overall record in the American Conference. It left with a 60-burger on its forehead.

Chris Vannini

@ChrisVannini

FAU puts up a 60-burger on 7-1 UTSA. Zach Kittley has the Owls at 6-3, their most wins since Lane Kiffin was there in 2019. UTSA's loss is also big in the race for the G6 playoff spot.

That Lane Kiffin line is the part that should make Owls fans sit up. The 2019 Kiffin team was the last FAU group to get to 6 wins, and the program hasn't been to a bowl since 2020. Kittley is only in Year 2 and he's already got them there, with 3 games left to stack more on top. That's not a slow rebuild. He flipped the thing in about 20 months.

The star of the night was Easton Messer, and it wasn't close. He caught 7 balls for 85 yards and 3 touchdowns, then threw a 14-yard touchdown pass of his own, which made him the first player since Washington's Dante Pettis in 2016 to put up 3 receiving TDs and a passing TD in the same game. Not bad for a guy who was a low-ranked recruit coming out of high school.

Bruce Feldman

@BruceFeldmanCFB

FAU WR Easton Messer, once ranked as the 360th best wide receiver in the 2022 recruiting class, is now up to 12 TDs accounted for in the Owls last three games. He has four tonight in FAU’s 57-29 rout of UTSA. Stud.

12 touchdowns accounted for in 3 games is absurd production from anybody, never mind a receiver who was a total afterthought in his recruiting class. Messer isn't the only weapon, either. Caden Veltkamp threw 4 touchdown passes and Leonard Farrow ran for more than 100 yards, so UTSA couldn't sell out to stop any one guy.

Bruce Feldman

@BruceFeldmanCFB

35-year old Zach Kittley has turned FAU around in a hurry. The Owls beat what was a 7-1 UTSA squad, 60-29, to improve to 6-3. It’s the first time FAU’s reached 6 wins since 2019. They’re averaging 55 points in their last four wins and big QB Caden Veltkamp is turning some NFL scouts heads this year.

Veltkamp is the Kittley story in one player. Kittley recruited him once before, and when FAU hired Kittley away from Texas Tech, where he spent 3 seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Veltkamp transferred in from Western Kentucky to follow him. Kittley was the youngest head coach in FBS when FAU hired him in December 2024. Now his quarterback is getting looks from NFL scouts and his offense is averaging 55 points across its last 4 wins. The Air Raid travels.

The other half of this game is UTSA, and it's a big deal for them. The Roadrunners were right in the middle of the Group of 6 race for a College Football Playoff spot, and getting run off the field by 31 is the kind of loss the committee doesn't forget. A 1-loss G6 champ can make a case. A 2-loss team that gave up 60 has a much harder one, and the rest of the G6 contenders just got some room.

As for FAU, bowl eligibility is the floor now, not the goal. 3 more games is a chance to turn a nice Year 2 into a real one, and if Veltkamp keeps getting NFL buzz and Kittley keeps putting up 50-plus, the next question in Boca won't be whether he can win there. It'll be how long the bigger programs leave him alone.