BOCA RATON — Barring any setbacks with his injured ankle, Florida Atlantic quarterback Chris Robison is expected to return to the starting lineup this weekend.



FAU head coach Lane Kiffin said on his Sunday teleconference call that he anticipates Robison will start against rival Florida International on Saturday night. Robison started FAU’s first seven games before suffering his injury in a 31-7 loss to Marshall on Oct. 20.



Though graduate student Rafe Peavey started and played most of Friday’s 21-13 loss to Louisiana Tech, Robison completed two of his three passes for six yards on FAU’s final drive in the fourth quarter.



“With another week (of practice), I would think he plays,” Kiffin said.



Robison has completed 62.5 percent of his passes this season for 1,645 yards, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Eight of his interceptions have come on the road, where FAU is winless in four tries.



Robison practiced before the game and looked ready to go, but watched from the sidelines for all but one of FAU’s drives as Kiffin elected to start Peavey, a transfer from Southern Methodist. Peavey struggled in his first career start, completing only 15 of his 26 passes for 115 yards and an interception. He was also sacked three times and had a critical fumble shortly before halftime.



With FAU needing a jolt late in the game, Kiffin sent Robison in to play instead of primary backup and redshirt junior De’Andre Johnson.



“It’s just a situation where I thought we had to throw the ball (vertically) at the end of the game there — almost like a two-minute type of mode,” Kiffin said.



After winning both the Conference USA Championship Game and the Boca Raton Bowl last year, FAU is only 3-5 (1-3 in C-USA) with fading postseason hopes. Robison and the Owls need to win three of their final four games to clinch bowl eligibility.



An injured Robison isn’t FAU’s only problem on offense. Kiffin cited drops by the wide receivers and offensive line issues as reasons why a dangerous Owls offense has been outscored 52-20 in their past two games.



“We don’t have depth and when guys are playing well, you don’t rotate guys and guys get tired,” Kiffin said. “They play a lot better early.”



Johnson update: Kiffin’s decision to play Robison rather than give Johnson a chance caught many by surprise. A fan favorite who starred on Netflix’s “Last Chance U” while at East Mississippi Community College, Johnson has engineered three scoring drives in relief this season.



Johnson is far more dangerous on the ground than in the air, however. The redshirt junior has completed only three of his seven passes for 32 yards this year but has run for 57 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.



“Had it been a situation where we were able to run the ball more, we would have went with De’Andre,” Kiffin said.



Kiffin said he still has confidence in Johnson, a former Mr. Florida who signed with Florida State out of high school. Johnson was the first player to sign with FAU when Kiffin was hired in Dec. 2016.



Rivalry week: Rivals since their days at the FCS level, FAU and FIU (6-2, 4-0) will play the 16th Shula Bowl on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., Stadium). FAU leads the all-time series 10-5 but has dropped three of the past six games.



The Owls clinched the C-USA East Division with a 54-28 win in last year’s Shula Bowl. Both rosters feature many players from South Florida.



“Rivalries, especially when they’re close like this or (if) it’s the same city like UCLA-USC, they’re different than maybe like rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee,” said Kiffin, who coached the Volunteers and Trojans before serving as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator. “These kids have played each other so much and so many local kids, that adds to it.”



FAU has not won at FIU since December 2009.



Game notes: Saturday’s game will air locally on a to-be-determined channel in addition to the Stadium app and Facebook. … FAU opened as three-point underdogs.