After a rough patch of opening quarters to begin the season, Florida Atlantic had found itself on the right side of the scoreboard recently.
The Owls scored 14 points in four of their past five opening quarters, leading each of those games, and were tied at 7 once. This came after a three-game stretch in the beginning of the season where FAU was blanked in the opening quarter in three consecutive games and outscored 35-0.
That FAU returned in its season finale.
After taking a 7-0 lead, the Owls allowed 21 points on three consecutive Middle Tennessee drives in the first quarter on the way to finishing the season being outscored 111-94 in the opening 15 minutes.