By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

When it comes to their approach on defense, the FIU defensive line is heeding the mantra of one of the most successful NFL coaches.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who has led his team to five Super Bowl titles, famously tells his players, "Do Your Job."

"Last week we kept preaching 'Just do your job'," said FIU defensive lineman Newt Salisbury. "If everyone keeps doing their job there's no way we can't succeed. On that final defensive stand that's all I kept thinking just to do my job. A lot of good things happened."

A lot of good things did happen because the Panthers defensive front executed and never was it more apparent than in the final defensive stand of the 13-7 win against Rice last Saturday night in Houston.

With less than two minutes to play in the game and trailing by six points, the Owls reached the Panthers 9 to set up a first-and-goal.

On the next four plays the FIU defensive line applied the pressure to allow their teammates to make critical stops and preserve the victory.

Safety Niko Gonzalez made a tackle for no gain on first down. Linebacker Sage Lewis tackled Rice receiver Austin Walter for a two-yard loss on second down. Defensive lineman Anthony Johnson stopped quarterback Jackson Tyner for no gain on third down and on fourth down the Panthers defensive line pressured Tyner into overthrowing Aaron Cephus, who was well-covered by Isaiah Brown, in the back of the end zone.

"If we have 11 guys doing their job the other team doesn't score," FIU defensive line coach Kenny Holmes said. "We got pressure on the quarterback on that final play when he was trying to throw the ball in the end zone. [The final defensive stand] builds character for the rest of the season, knowing that we can do that -- being on the field last in the two games we have won."

In its previous game, the FIU defense had to make two defensive stops on a pair of Hail Mary plays by Alcorn for the Panthers to come away 17-10 winners.

The defensive line is quick to credit the linebackers and secondary with getting them in the right spots when Rice was sending multiple players in motion and using a variety of alignments.

"[Middle linebacker Anthony] Wint did a great job the whole night calling the defense and especially on those final four plays making sure we were lined up correctly," Johnson said. "Rice was trying to throw us off with all the motion but Wint did a great job studying film and knowing where everyone was supposed to be."

Despite questions in the preseason as to how they would pressure the quarterback, the Panthers defensive line is responding. There are three defensive linemen (Johnson 11 tackles, Fermin Silva 9 tackles and Salisbury 8 tackles) among the top 11 tacklers on the team. The four sacks by the FIU defense are all by defensive linemen and Silva leads FIU with six tackles for loss.

"We're right where we are supposed to be at," said Holmes of the defensive line. "We are getting better every day. I think the sacks will come. We got two last week and we got quite a bit of hits on the quarterback. Those stats start to show up when you believe you can get to the quarterback. Now you expect to rise and make that play, to be able to be a decision maker of the game because that's what the defensive line is. We can make the outcome of the game totally different than what everybody else expects."