Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook completed 24-of-34 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown and ran for 64 yards with another score as Troy (4-2, 3-0) kept FIU winless with a 34-16 Sun Belt Conference football win in the Orange Bowl.

FIU's Wayne Younger completed 19-40 passes for a career-best 248 yards and a touchdown and he led the Golden Panthers with 35 net yards rushing.

FIU scored first when Younger called his own number for a 4-yard TD and a 7-0 first-quarter advantage. It marked the first lead of the season for the young Golden Panthers and the first rushing touchdown for the program in more than a year when A'mod Ned rushed for 5 yards against Arkansas State on Sept. 30, 2006.

But Troy would come back with 17 unanswered points. First, a Greg Whibbs 39-yard field goal put the Trojans on the scoreboard and then Haugabook's rushing TD gave Troy a lead it would not relinquish, 10-7, with 7:25 left in the half.

Later, Troy's Leodis McKelvin would field a Chris Cook punt and race 84-yard for a score and the longest punt return in the history of the program. That spoiled an otherwise record-breaking night for Cook.

The sophomore nailed a 71 yarder in the second quarter to set a school record, breaking his own mark set in the first quarter when he recorded a 68-yard punt. He finished the evening with nine punts for 456 yards, an average of 50.7 yards per kick.

Chris Abed's 39-yard field goal with 1:25 to play in the half brought FIU to within 17-10, but Haugabook engineered another quick drive, capped off by a 20-yard Whibbs field goal and the Trojans had a 20-10 halftime lead.

Troy put the game away in the third quarter on a three-yard TD pass from Haugabook to Andrew Davis and then Kenny Cattouse scored the Trojans final points of the night on an 88-yard run from scrimmage.

FIU scored late on a 9-yard pass from Younger to James Rucker with 29 seconds to play for the final margin of victory.

FIU vs. Troy
Game Notes
October 6, 2007
Orange Bowl Stadium

QB Wayne Younger passed for a career-high 248 yards, surpassing his previous career high of 133 yards set against Kansas on Sept. 22.   It was the most yards passing for an FIU quarterbackl since Josh Padrick threw for 248 against North Texas on Oct. 7, 2006.

FIU's 329 yards of total offense is a season-high, bettering the previous mark of 264 against Miami (Fla.) on Sept. 15.

Younger's 11-yard pass to WR Jason Frierson on 4 ^th -and-3 late in the fourth quarter was FIU's first fourth-down conversion on the year.

WR James Rucker's 9-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter was the first of his career.

The on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff was the first attempted in an FIU game this season.   It was first successful recovery of an on-side kick for the Golden Panthers since Dec. 4, 2004 at Florida Atlantic.

Kenny Cattouse's 88-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was the longest run ever against FIU, besting the previous long rush of 80 yards by Thomas Clayton of Kansas State on Sept. 3, 2005.

Cattouse's 205 yards rushing are the most yards gained by an individual against FIU since Austin Jermaine rushed for 207 yards for Georgia Southern on Oct. 4, 2003.

FIU's 10 points were the most the team has had at halftime since scoring 14 against Bowling Green on Sept. 16, 2006.

P Chris Cook's second-quarter punt of 71 yards set a school record for the longest punt for the second time this evening...Cook's first quarter punt traveled a school-record 68 yards, surpassing the previous record of 66 yards, also set by Cook earlier this year against Maryland (9/8/07).

Cook also set a school record for punt average in a game with 50.1 (9-451), besting Dustin Rivest's week-old mark of 44.8, set against Middle Tennessee (Sept. 29, 2007).

Cook is the owner of the four-longest punts in FIU history: 71 and 68 (tonight), 66 (vs. Maryland, 9/8/07) and 61 (at Maryland, 9/23/06).

WR Greg Ellingson's 49-yard reception in the second quarter was the longest of his career.

Greg Whibbs' 39-yard field goal at the 10:58 mark of the second quarter ended FIU's streak of holding opponents scoreless at 50:03, going back to a Middle Tennessee field goal with 1:01 left in the first half on Sept. 29.

FIU's 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter marked its first lead coming out of the opening quarter since holding a 7-0 lead against Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 18, 2006.

QB Wayne Younger's 4-yard touchdown was the first of his career and gave FIU its first lead of the season...it also marked FIU's first rushing touchdown of the season and the team's first rushing touchdown since A'mod Ned's 5-yard run against Arkansas State on Sept. 30, 2006...The 11-play, 87-yard drive was FIU's longest scoring drive since a 2-play, 87-yard scoring drive against Maryland on Sept. 23, 2006.

Younger's touchdown run was the first by a FIU quarterback since Josh Padrick's 1-yard TD run against Middle Tennessee on Dec. 3, 2005.

WR Jason Frierson's 37-yard reception in the first quarter was the longest of his career.

RB A'mod Ned's 10-yard carry on FIU's second drive pushed his career total to 1,006 yards, making him only the second Golden Panther to rush for more than 1,000 yards in his career (Rashod Smith, 2,195, 2002-04).

DL Audric Adger, DB Chance Attaway and RB John Ellis represented FIU as game captains.

FIU Head Coach Mario Cristobal
Post-Game Quotes

Opening Statement:

“It was a very hard-fought game and we certainly gave some away to very, very good Troy team. They are conference champions and it's not a secret why. They are good, they execute and they make you play the whole way through. If you miss a tackle, if you miss an assignment, they make you pay, and we did.”

On giving up long runs in the third quarter:

“If you are running one of our schemes and you bring pressure from one end of the field, the boundary end has to have contain. He lost it twice and we got circled. But either way, we had angles twice and you get a player on the ground, you live to play another down after a 10- or 12-yard gain. We have to make those tackles. We have to make those plays. Unfortunately, twice, we didn't. When (Kenny Cattouse) he got behind us, we're not quite fast enough to catch those guys. They ran by us for a long play against us.”

On Wayne Younger:

“He's good. He's solid. He is a solid young man. He is a freshman who is surrounded by freshmen. He really executes his assignments really well. Unfortunately, when things break down, he has to get creative. We talked a lot about having to negotiate a throw, having to make something out of nothing. Using your feet to beat an opponent and if you're overmatched a little bit up front and that protection breaks down, we tell him that part of his check down is to run the football and make something happen.”

On Omar Haugabook...

“He is a good football player. I remember watching him in high school. Omar is a great kid and a great football player. What you see from him is that he is a very efficient football player. There is not a lot of wasted time or motion. He understands the system. He is a senior now and has been in the system for awhile. He understands where pressure is coming from. He takes a hit, gets tackled and he continually gets up. When you have a player like that, you have to punish him whenever you get a chance. He just kept getting up and up and up. Hat's off to him. He's a great football player.”

On missed tackles...

“Unfortunately that is part of the process, making sure you have the right players on the field, making sure they're doing the right things and making sure you recruit players who can do certain things. You have to be able to tackle a guy, especially if you're in a defensive call and in a position to make it. Again, you can't point a finger at a player and you don't want to point a finger at a coach. You have to make plays, you have to make calls. We didn't do it. We did it in some phases. We jumped out in front for the first time all year. We were up 7-0 and had some good momentum. We found a way to kick a field goal at the end of the half. We should have carried that momentum over. But we didn't score until the end of the game. It was not enough.”

On the play of the defense against Troy 's fast pace...

“We're running our defenses in and out and we're calling our plays extremely fast to be set for them so we can manage the game ourselves. Again, I thought we did a better job against the pass, at times. But they hit a couple big ones that hurt us and that was the difference in the game.”

On the improvement and play of FIU's offense...

“The offense at times flashed. But not nearly good enough. Early, we took the ball and had a great drive. We went right down the field and scored a touchdown. We had a couple other drives that looked like they were very promising, but had too many stalls. We converted a couple third-and-longs, we had a couple better third-and-whatever situations instead of the typical third-and-twelves that we found ourselves in in games past.

“I think that's a sign of a little bit of maturity. We're trying to grow a little bit as an offense. I think A'mod (Ned) got off to a great start running the football. Julian (Reams) had a couple nice runs as well. The pieces are starting to come together better. The bottom line is the kids are starting to believe what the process is. They're starting to realize, that with as much film as we're studying, that one block here you miss, the one assignment you miss, the timing and lineup of the line up brings us back five yards and starts you all over again. It hurts you. We finally connected on a screen pass on a third-and-17 to go 30 yards. A'mod hit the gas as best he could. He got tackled after a 30-yard gain. But again, that play three weeks ago becomes fourth-and-15 because we weren't able to complete those kind of passes. There are steps and it's a very good defense. There is progress. Of course, we're never satisfied. But we're starting to find those pieces.”

On the team's focus for the upcoming bye week...

“We are going to call this ?Improvement Week.' We're going to pick three things on offense and three things on defense that we fell we can improve on drastically and at the same time, get better at things that we do well. At the same time, it's a big week for recruiting. People realize this is a young program. If you're a recruit and watching us play, there are players are all over the field that can come over here and help us win. It is a very, very busy week. The bye week, in the media sounds easy. The bye week is actually turn-it-up time. You work more hours because, typically, Friday is a bit shorter, but you'll be on the road and in schools all day.

On punter Chris Cook...

“Keep doing it. It's nice to see that we have a couple guys who can kick and punt the ball and aren't superstitious. They just go out and do their job and work hard at it. We need that. It certainly changes the game. When ( Troy ) had the ball first, they drove the ball 65 yards but still only got to our 35-yard line. Hidden yardage. They had to start at their two and could never get to our goal line. We need that. We need that big. But at the same time, when we have a chance to make a tackle on the spot for zero gain, we have to wrap those guys up and not let them go 75 yards for a touchdown.”

Wayne Younger

“We came out with intensity and ready to prepare for the week.”

On playing against big Trojan defensive line:

“Give credit to Troy.  Their defense was pretty strong and big and they move pretty well.  I think our offensive line handled it pretty well and we are going to keep improving."

Scott Bryant

On playing against dual-threat of Haugabook and Cattouse...

“Defensively, we went out and played our style of football, like we practiced all week.  Haugabook and Cattouse are a great dual-threat.  Third quarter, we let them open us up a little bit, but we give them all the credit.”

On why Cattouse had over 200 yards...

“It all boils down to mis-tackles and mis-assignments.  Defense-wise we just have to come out and play.”

Chris Cook

On breaking punting records... 

“The first punt was against that tsunami wind.  It was more form than power, and that is really what punting is.  So it was probably just good form.”

On having the first lead of the season... 

“It was good morale for the team and you could tell everyone was psyched up.  We were ahead 7-0 and we just wanted to keep that intensity up.  It's something we have to work on, getting better and stronger and healed up into the bye weekend and see what happens two weeks from now.”