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FORT LAUDERDALE - There might have been Florida Atlantic coeds crowned in the end zone and recent grads doing their best "Bleacher Tigger" with an Epcot-castoff FAU Owl, but Clint Marks and Cleannord Saintil had the sweetest homecoming at Lockhart Stadium on Saturday.

"Yeah, it's going to be a nice trip back," said Marks, the Estero High alum and the Middle Tennessee State quarterback, after his team's 35-14 win before 10,117.

As if that alone didn't justify the postgame party - both had close to 30 friends and family members offering hugs - it was the first win in three tries against the 5-year-old Owls, who have twice snatched improbable wins from the Blue Raiders.

In 2003, FAU became the fastest program to beat a Division I-A team (in its 22nd game) with a 62-yard score on fourth down with no time left. Last year, Marks' first as the starter, he threw three interceptions to fuel a second-half meltdown.

"We got that monkey off our backs," said Marks, who went 11-of-18 for 116 yards and spent most of the afternoon handing to tailbacks Eugene Gross and Ralph King, who combined for 235 yards on 52 attempts and five touchdowns. "We went into halftime last year with (a double-digit lead, at 21-7 on Saturday) and I told everybody, 'Just keep playing. Don't make mistakes and we'll be just fine.'"

In fact, the only mistake for the Raiders (2-3, 1-1 in the Sun Belt Conference) came on Marks' fourth attempt, with safety Greg Joseph leaping for an interception near the goal line just 2:32 into the game. Still, there was FAU, again mounting a would-be comeback after quarterback Danny Embick's 1-yard sneak cut the lead to 21-14 with 5:21 in the third.

The first was a leaping grab for 12 yards on a 3rd-and-7 to the Raiders' 40 with four minutes in the quarter. Middle Tennessee did little with the remainder of the drive, but the punt pinned the Owls on their own 12 against a defense that allowed just 269 yards for the game.

On the Raiders' next possession, Saintil prolonged what became the back-breaking, 12 play, 69-yard scoring drive with a 13-yard catch on third-and-8 near midfield. Gross' 11-yard run with 11 minutes left capped the drive.

"Saintil's become such a clutch guy for us," Raiders head coach Andy McCollum said. "He had a bunch of family - I don't even know how he got all those tickets - and he made some big plays for them. He's made those plays for us all year."

Said Saintil, who caught three of his five passes over that two-possession stretch: "I just felt like I wasn't making any plays and I had to come through for us."

Both players left the game midway through the fourth, waving and smiling toward the mostly-empty visitors stands and laughing when McCollum got a Gatorade shower for scaling the How ard Schnellenberger hump.

In fact, Schnellenberger, the legendary FAU coach, called it "a humbling loss for Florida Atlantic," adding that his team "didn't play winning football in any portion of the game."

"Hey, they should have come ready to play," he said with a laugh. "Me and Clint talked about this (game) yesterday and it just put smiles on our faces. We were already happy to play in front of our family and friends, but to come get a victory, that was the No. 1 thing."

Clint's father, Carlos, said he's been traveling from the family's Fort Myers home for "all eight years of Pop Warner, four years of high school and three years of college," the latest wearing his No. 17 home jersey with the self-screened "MARKS" on the back.

SAVIDGE SHOWING: Naples High graduate Josh Savidge started his seventh game as a true freshman defensive tackle for the Owls (1-6, 1-2), recording a season-high four tackles.

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