Florida Atlantic beats Louisiana-Lafayette 40-29

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Rusty Smith threw four touchdown passes as Florida Atlantic beat Louisiana-Lafayette 40-29 on Saturday. Florida Atlantic (5-5,3-2 Sun Belt Conference) won its fourth straight game while handing the Ragin' Cajuns (5-5, 4-1) its first conference loss.

Smith was 17-for-26 for 290 yards, and Rob Housler caught two of Smith's touchdown passes and had 65 receiving yards.

The Owls took a 6-0 lead on Charles Pierre's 6-yard touchdown run in the first, and stretched the lead to 12-0 on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Bonner from Smith.

After Florida Atlantic made it 19-0 on Smith's second touchdown pass, a 14-yard strike to Rob Housler in the second quarter, Louisiana-Lafayette pulled to 19-7 on a 14-yard touchdown run by Tyrell Fenroy. But a 10-yard touchdown run by Willie Rose gave Florida Atlantic a 26-7 lead at halftime.