(USA TODAY): Florida Atlantic quarterback Rusty Smith grabbed this week's USA TODAY's Player of the Week honor with an impressive performance against Minnesota. Smith had five touchdown passes and threw for 463 yards to help the Owls from the Sun Belt Conference upset Minnesota 42-39. The senior won the award with the unanimous support of the fan balloting (28,464 votes), college football editor Erick Smith and Gannett News Service columnist Mike Lopresti. Rusty Smith— Florida Atlantic's quarterback stunned Minnesota as he threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns in the Owls' surprising 42-39 triumph against the Golden Gophers. Go to this link and look for "Player of the Week" voting line "check out this weeks Nominees" : http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2007-09-16-player-of-the-week_N.htm?csp=34

(MIAMI, AP) - Rusty Smith threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns, and Florida Atlantic forced seven turnovers to beat Minnesota 42-39 Saturday. It was the first victory for Florida Atlantic against a Big Ten Conference team. Minnesota fell to 10-1 against Sun Belt Conference teams. Willie Rose caught two touchdown passes for the Owls (2-1), who gained 580 yards. Smith went 27-for-44. Adam Weber threw four touchdown passes for Minnesota (1-2), but also was intercepted four times. He finished 31-for-47 for 335 yards. Smith's final touchdown pass, a 16-yarder to Conshario Johnson, extended the Owls' lead to 42-24 in the fourth quarter before the Golden Gophers rallied. They scored twice on passes to Ernie Wheelwright, but an interception by Tavious Polo at the Florida Atlantic 35-yard line with three seconds left sealed the win. The score was 14-all before the Owls took advantage of two Minnesota turnovers to score three touchdowns in the second quarter and lead 35-14. Jay Thomas returned a kickoff 91 yards for Minnesota's first score.

(USA TODAY INSIDE SLANT) The Owls earned their first big signature win in the Football Bowl Subdivision/Division I-A era by holding off Big 10 foe Minnesota 42-39 on Sept. 15. FAU dominated the game early, building a 35-14 lead, and despite being outscored 25-7 in the second half, was able to hold on for the victory. "We felt our personnel was better than their personnel," FAU sophomore quarterback Rusty Smith told the Palm Beach Post. "We thought we had trained harder, were faster, stronger and more athletic. We came into this game knowing that. It turned out to be true." One key in the victory was FAU was able to run the ball, which helped Smith have a record-setting day with 463 yards passing and five touchdowns. Secondly, while the Owls allowed a lot of passing yards, they intercepted four passes and recovered three fumbles. The opportunistic offense, coupled with an offense that Minnesota had no answers for, allowed the Owls to improve to 2-1 (1-0) in the Sun Belt. NOTES, QUOTES. GAME BALL GOES TO: QB Rusty Smith, The sophomore threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns, both career highs, in the Owls' 42-39 victory over Minnesota. More importantly, he didn't throw an interception. KEEP AN EYE ON: TE Jason Harmon, The junior had five receptions for 104 yards against Minnesota. QUOTE TO NOTE: When you are in the infancy of a program, a win over a Big Ten team is significant and I intend to make the most of this win for these kids," FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger told the Palm Beach Post after the Owls' 42-39 victory over Minnesota. STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL: LOOKING GOOD: The Owls racked up 580 yards in total offense and didn't have a turnover in their 42-39 victory over Minnesota. QB Rusty Smith, The sophomore helped the Owls offense bounce back from a bad game (42-6 loss at Oklahoma State) with 463 yards passing and five touchdowns against Minnesota. FAU's defense forced seven turnovers against Minnesota. LB Frantz Joseph, The junior was all over the field against Minnesota. He had a team-high four tackles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass. STILL NEEDS WORK: FAU jumped out to a 35-14 halftime lead at Minnesota, but the Owls were outscored 25-7 in the second half and had to hold on for a 42-39 victory. The Owls secondary did intercept four passes, but it allowed a whopping 335 yards passing against Minnesota. K Keegan Peterson averaged just 33.8 yards on five punts against Minnesota.

(Golden Gopher, MN) Before game day: "Minnesota has never lost to a current member of the Sun Belt Conference and is 10-0 all time against the league, including a 2-0 mark in road games. The Gophers’ last game against a Sun Belt Conference member came at home against Florida Atlantic in 2005. Minnesota’s last road game at a Sun Belt Conference school occurred 2002, when the Gophers romped to a 35-11 victory at Louisiana-Lafayette. In its 10 games against current Sun Belt members, Minnesota has scored an average of 40.4 points, with an average margin of victory of nearly 32 points per game. In fact, the Gophers have been held below 30 points by just one Sun Belt foe (Arkansas State in 1998). Florida Atlantic, which is in just its seventh year of existence and third year in the NCAA’s Bowl Subdivision, also enters Saturday’s match-up looking to move to 2-1 on the young season. The Owls opened the year with an impressive 24-17 victory over Middle Tennessee as FAU held the Blue Raiders to 217 yards of total offense. Florida Atlantic was unable to sustain the momentum last week at Oklahoma State, however, falling to the Cowboys 42-6 in Stillwater. Legendary head coach Howard Schnellenberger, who won a national championship at Miami (Fla.) in 1983 and started the FAU program from scratch when he was hired in 2000, will be looking to get his Owls back on the right track after being held to just 203 yards of total offense last week at Oklahoma State."