Van Camp, Owls beat rival Panthers

Jeff Van Camp finished a promising, if unexpected, stint as Florida Atlantic University's starting quarterback with two first-half touchdown passes Saturday in a 28-21 win against Florida International.

Van Camp, a redshirt junior from Gulf Breeze who graduated Navarre High School in 2006, was expected to backup Owls' four-year starter Rusty Smith this year before taking over the offense in 2010. But a season- and career-ending shoulder injury to Smith against Middle Tennessee State on Oct. 31 accelerated that schedule. Van Camp finished that game and started the Owls' last five contests, winning three.

Sophomore running back Alfred Morris led the Owls' attack against the archrival Panthers, catching an 8-yard touchdown from Van Camp in the second quarter and running for scores of 9 and 20 yards in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. He rushed for 158 yards on 25 carries, finishing the season with a Sun Belt Conference-best 1,392 yards.

Van Camp completed 15 of 27 passes for 220 yards against FIU. For the year, he completed 109 passes in 184 attempts for 1,372 yards, with 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions for an efficiency rating of 141.2.

The Owls finished the season with a 5-7 record, 5-3 in Sun Belt games. They beat the Panthers (3-9, 3-5) for the seventh time in eight meetings.