Florida Atlantic

Now that the presents have been unwrapped and many of you are rushing to stores for post-Christmas deals, it's time for college football to blitz into the new year with a glut of games. You can argue all day about the merits of thirty-four bowl games (personally, I think it's too many), but at the least some of these games offer momentary diversions from college basketball, which in many cases is still a week or so away from conference play.

The Sun Belt takes center stage for the second consecutive Tuesday, as Florida Atlantic (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) hosts Troy (2-2, 1-0) in a rematch of last season's finale that saw FAU win at Troy to earn the New Orleans Bowl bid. The Owls, thanks in large part to a tough non-conference schedule that sent them to Texas, Michigan State and Minnesota, ranks seventh in the Sun Belt in both scoring offense and turnover margin. But with senior QB Rusty Smith running the show, FAU is more than capable of putting up some big numbers.

BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic University's men's basketball Head Coach Mike Jarvis has received commitments from four players who will attend the university and be part of the Owls' team in 2008-09. The recruits include a pair of the nation's top prep school guards, Alex Tucker (Redondo Beach, California), Shavar Richardson (Bronx, New York) and sharp-shooting high school standout Nick Gagel (Jeffersontown, Kentucky).