Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger braces during a victory dunk in the waning moments of the New Orleans Bowl. FAU defeated Memphis on Friday in New Orleans.

New Orleans ? Howard Schnellenberger’s reaction to having a bucket of icy sports drink dumped on him showed precisely why Florida Atlantic chose him to build their fledgling football program.

The 73-year-old coach didn’t flinch. He’d been there before. Now so has the team he started from scratch.

Rusty Smith threw for 336 yards and a New Orleans Bowl record five touchdowns to lead Florida Atlantic to a 44-27 victory over Memphis on Friday night.

“We have a strong squad,” Schnellenberger said. “I think we can compete with America.”

It was the first bowl game for FAU, which has had a football team for only seven seasons at its Boca Raton, Fla., campus and didn’t join the NCAA’s Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) until 2005.

The victory was especially sweet for Owls players who had gotten all too used to the comedic refrain, “F-A-who?” when they would visit opponents whose teams had far more tradition.