Rusty Smith tried to keep his frustration bottled up. But the longer FAU's senior quarterback spoke, the more his irritation seeped out.

Two points and about 40 yards short of perhaps leading the Owls to a comeback win against Louisiana-Monroe (2-2), Smith could not keep his voice from rising in pitch and cadence after FAU's 27-25 loss.

``We have to stop beating ourselves,'' said Smith, noting two penalties that put FAU's final drive in reverse after getting first downs. ``If we're expecting to win football games, we can't do any of that. Just stupid, stupid stuff.''

Take away the final two minutes of each half, and the Owls (0-3) might have done enough to notch a victory in their Sun Belt opener. Instead, it was one of those evenings where it seemed everything FAU tried in those crucial minutes blew up in their faces.

``An odd play here, a missed play there,'' said coach Howard Schnellenberger, who shouldered some of the blame for calling back the punt team on fourth-and-10 near midfield with 25 seconds left before halftime.

Smith's pass was batted away, and the Warhawks hit two quick passes to get into range for Radi Jabour's 39-yard field goal and a 20-15 halftime lead.

``That was the differential in the score,'' Schnellenberger said.

The Owls might have overcome it, though, had they not shot themselves in the other foot in the game's final stages.

After Smith's 5-yard TD pass to Darian Williams pulled FAU within two with 3:05 left, the Owls forced a punt and took possession at their 7.

Passes to Williams and Jason Harmon gave the Owls a first down at their 21 -- only to see a ULM defender go flying backward well after the whistle. Tackle Lavoris Williams was flagged for a personal foul, giving FAU its first down at the 10.

Unable to find a deep zone against ULM's six- and seven-back coverages, Smith and the Owls were spinning their wheels deep in their territory as the clock ticked under 20 seconds. Though Smith hit six of his first eight passes in the drive, none went for more than 10 yards.

A 15-yard strike to Chris Bonner finally got the ball to the 50 with four seconds left -- in range for Smith to fire the ball toward the end zone. But that too wound up moot -- tackle Carl Spitale was caught holding.

``Playcalling-wise, [the drive] was perfection,'' Smith exclaimed. ``Execution-wise, complete idiocracy,''

Running back Alfred Morris called the penalties ``big deflaters. It's just a big disappointment to lose by two points like that. I feel like we were the better team than [ULM], but it didn't show.''

Lost in the end was a 498-yard offensive performance by the Owls. Smith accounted for 347 through the air, completing 30 of 50 attempts, and Harmon set a career best with 11 catches for 132 yards. Morris added 122 yards on 23 carries.

``Between plays we were keeping each other up and saying that we can bend, but don't break,'' ULM defensive tackle Aaron Williams said. ``Sometimes they're going to make good plays because they're a good team just like we are.''

Trey Revell threw for 207 yards to spark the Warhawks, though just 36 came after halftime. Equally effective were his legs, running for two first-half TDs that put ULM in front to stay.

Oddly enough, no home team has walked off with victory in the series. ULM is 4-0 when visiting the Owls, but 0-2 against them in Louisiana.

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