By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

Donald Senat thinks that when Temple coach Geoff Collins look across Tropicana Field next Thursday night and sees the FIU defense he will think it's 2010 all over again.

Collins was FIU's defensive coordinator that season when the Panthers won their first bowl game at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit.

Senat -- who was a backup center on that 2010 FIU team that also won the Sun Belt Conference championship -- sees a Panthers defense this season that is very similar to the 2010 FIU defense that was ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt.

"It starts with the senior leadership on both defenses," said Senat, who is now an FIU football academic advisor. "The attitude of this defense in getting stops when they are needed the most is the same attitude of the defense that we had in 2010. Both defenses get after the quarterback. Coach Collins was a great defensive coordinator here and the speed he will see with this defense will remind him of the defense he had in 2010 here at FIU."

Like the 2010 FIU defense, the current Panthers defense has a habit of rising to the occasion. For example, in 2010 FIU ended Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson's Heisman Trophy hopes when the Panthers sacked him six times and intercepted Johnson four times.

This season the FIU defense has come up with clutch goal line stands against Rice and UTSA, stuffed the then-No. 8 rushing offense in the nation in Tulane, choked a potent Marshall offense and stopped Conference USA"s top quarterback, Western Kentucky's Mike White.

"That goes all the way back to training camp and how we prepare," said cornerback Brad Muhammad of the ability to match top offenses. "We thrive off those situations when our backs are to the wall. We rise to the occasion."

It began in late September for FIU with the defensive stand at Rice to win the game. Trailing 13-7, the Owls had first-and-goal from the FIU 9 with 1:49 left in the game. FIU made four consecutive stops to derail Rice.

"That's where that type of mentality started," said FIU defensive coordinator Brent Guy of the defensive stand at Rice. "Our confidence grew a little bit more each time the situation happened. We haven't been great at any of it as far as statistically but the timing of when we have been good at things has been very good. Once you have done it once, you know it can happen again."

If you ask FIU defensive players and Guy what defensive moment or game they are most proud of you'll get several different answers. Two of the more interesting answers were games when FIU had to alter its game plan.

"The game I'm most proud is the one that Treyvon [Williams] and I didn't even play in because we were hurt, the Tulane game," linebacker Anthony Wint said. "Tulane was coming off a 500-yard game. There were some nerves before that game but our defense held a very good offense to just 10 points. That game was a testament to how hard our guys work and how much film they watch. A lot of guys that don't play much stepped up in that game and made plays."

Guy points to the Charlotte game where the 49ers came to FIU with a different offensive scheme than what they had shown on film in the first four weeks of the season.

"It's probably going to shock you but the Charlotte game is the game that stands out the most for me," Guy said. "We did not play the run game well and they came out and ran the ball a lot more with the quarterback than they had shown on film. Charlotte changed offensive coordinators that week and went to an option quarterback run game and they scored a bunch of points on us in the first half. We got in at halftime, adjusted and gave up just three points in the second half and won the game 30-29."

The FIU defense seeks to continue its timely play next Thursday against Temple in the Gasparilla Bowl. During the 16-year history of FIU football the Panthers have had some solid defenses. The current FIU defense hasn't been shy to seek advice from a similar defense – the 2010 FIU unit, which had three NFL draft picks in Johnathan Cyprien (Titans), Tourek Williams (Chargers) and Anthony Gaitor (Buccaneers).

"Tourek and Cyp were here in the summer and we worked out and talked about football," FIU defensive end Fermin Silva said. "Tourek talked to me about overcoming things like my size for a defensive lineman. Cyp is someone I look up to as a big brother. They were part of the defensive foundation of this program and we are just trying to follow what they accomplished."