Box Score
Final Statistics | Head Coach Mario Cristobal's Postgame Interview
DENTON, Texas (AP) -Paul McCall threw for 234 yards and four touchdowns to lead Florida International to a 42-10 victory over North Texas on Saturday night.
T.Y. Hilton caught two touchdowns and had 145 yards receiving for FlU (2-3), which had entered the game ranked last in the nation in total offense.
But facing the fourth-worst defense in the country, McCall went 11-of-19 to notch career highs in both yardage and TDs. In his first four games combined this season, McCall had thrown one touchdown and 272 yards passing.
Giovanni Vizza passed for 274 yards and threw three interceptions for North Texas (0-5), which has yet to lead in a game this season.
FIU running back A'mod Ned broke through for a 26-yard touchdown run, and Alonzo Phillips scooped up a blocked punt and returned it 11 years for another score.
"We're young and we still have a long way to go, but we're building," summed up head coach Mario Cristobal. "We could have scored more tonight and we didn't. We could have shut them out and we didn't. But we're getting better, one game at a time."
Casey Fitzgerald caught 10 passes for 120 yards for North Texas. Micah Mosely scored on a 1-yard run with 1:03 left for North Texas' only touchdown.
Game Captains: Brad Serini, Marshall McDuffie, T.Y. Hilton.
FIU's first drive of the day, which stalled at the North Texas 11, ended when the Golden Panthers failed on a fourth-and-one conversion. FIU had been successful on its previous five fourth-down tries.
Quentin Newman's sack of NT quarterback Giovanni Vizza was his first of the season after recording 2.5 sacks in 2007. That marked FIU's fifth overall sack of the season.
Paul McCall's 65-yard TD pass to T.Y. Hilton was the freshman's third touchdown of the season (second by pass) giving FIU a 7-0 lead and marked the first time the Golden Panthers had led in the first quarter of a game since last Nov. 17 against Louisiana-Lafayette (6-0), seven games ago.
O'Darius D'Haiti's blocked punt, the first of his career, was FIU's third of the season (the most in a year since three in 2005). Alonzo Phillips' 11-yard return for a TD marked the first time FIU had returned a blocked punt for a TD since Cory Fleming's 22-yard return vs. Troy on Dec. 2, 2006.
Marshall McDuffie's first-quarter interception was his second of the season and the second in as many games.
Hilton's 73-yard TD reception was his longest of the year and the second-longest touchdown pass in the history of the program (89 yards vs. Maryland, 9/23/06). His second TD reception tied the mark for most in a game, accomplished five other times in the history of the program.
Hilton became the 21st 100-yard receiver for FIU and his 138 yards on two catches is the sixth most in the history of the program.
FIU's second interception of the game, by Anthony Gaitor, was his first of the season, after leading the team with two last year.
A'mod Ned's 26-yard TD run was his second of the season and ninth of his FIU career, tying him for second play on the program's all-time list with Adam Gorman (2002-05) and Julian Reams (2005-08).
FIU's 28-0 lead marked the first time the Golden Panthers had shutout an opponent at the half, since Nov. 26, 2005 against Florida Atlantic (24-0). It was the largest halftime lead since a 41-0 score against Jacksonville on Oct. 30, 2003, while FIU was a NCAA I-AA member.
DL Reggie Jones, playing his first game of the season, makes the first interception of his career and returns it 21 yards. It was the third interception of the game for FIU equaling the number of interceptions the team had over its first four games of the year.
McCall throws his third TD pass of the game, 8 yards to TE Eric Kirchenberg, the first TD catch of his FIU career. McCall's three TD passes ties his career record for most in a game, also coming against North Texas last Dec. 1.
That TD gave FIU 35 points for the second-consecutive game. The last time FIU had scored a minimum of 35 points in at least two-consecutive games was the end of the 2005 season, when the Golden Panthers scored 38 against Western Kentucky (11/19), 52 vs. Florida Atlantic (11/26) and 35 against Middle Tennessee (12/3), all at home. FIU had never before scored 35-point-or-more in two-consecutive road games.
McCall's 28-yard TD pass to WR Greg Ellingson was his fourth of the game, tying the FIU record set by Jamie Burke against Albany (11/19/02) in the program's very first year of I-AA competition.
The 42 points mark the first time that FIU has scored at least 40 points in a game since Nov. 26, 2005 against Florida Atlantic (52-6) and the first time the Golden Panthers have scored 40-points-or-more on the road.
