2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
FIU Panthers (6-6; 6-2 Sun Belt Conference)
vs.
Toledo Rockets (8-4; 7-1 Mid-American Conference)
Sunday, December 26, 2010 • 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Ford Field (65,000) • Detroit, Mich.
Series: Tied 1-1
Last: 9/26/09 – Toledo 41, at FIU 31
TV: ESPN (Dave Lamont/pbp, JC Pearson/analyst)
THE GAME - After winning their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship, the FIU Panthers are headed to their first-ever bowl game, the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. FIU closed out the season winning six of their last eight games, to capture the Sun Belt Crown.
In their first bowl game, the Panthers will face a familiar opponent in the Toledo Rockets. Two years ago, FIU picked up its first-ever FBS non-conference win with a 35-16 victory against Toledo in the Glass Bowl. Last season, the Rockets came down to Miami and beat the Panthers 41-31.
TOUCHDOWN KING - T.Y. Hilton had another outstanding game against Troy (11/13), racking up 261 all-purpose yards. Hilton also scored two rushing touchdowns, at the time giving him 25 touchdowns for his career, which is the most in FIU history, surpassing Rashod Smith's 24. Hilton now has 26.
Mr. 5,000 - T.Y. Hilton's 49-yard reception in the third quarter of FIU's game against Louisiana (11/22) put him over the 5,000 all-purpose yard mark, making him the first player in program-history to achieve that milestone. Hilton currently sits at 5,329 all-purpose yards
T.Y.2K - With 124 receiving yards against Florida Atlantic (10/30), junior wide receiver T.Y. Hilton became the third Panther ever to go over 2,000 receiving yards for his career. Later in the year, Hilton had a season-high 140 against Arkansas State (11/27). He finished the regular season with 2,461 for his career. Against the Red Wolves, Hilton also became the first Panther with 2,000 kickoff return yards, and he finished the regular season with 2,133.
GIMME SIX - Junior running back Darriet Perry has become FIU's go-to guy at the goal line. So much so, that Perry has scored a program-record 14 rushing touchdowns this year. For his career, Perry is second in rushing scores with 19 (Rashod Smith - 24).
THE HONORABLE MR.HILTON - For his performance against ULM (11/6), Hilton was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week as well as the Special Teams Player of the Week. In addition, Rivals.com named Hilton their Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, collegefootballperformance.com named Hilton one of their Kickoff Return Performers of the Week, and he was one of four players to be selected "Paul Hornung's Most Versatile Performances of the Week". The honors kept rolling in for hilton as he was awarded an ESPN Helmet Sticker on ESPN.com. This marked the second time Hilton has won each weekly Sun Belt Award as he was named SBC Special Teams Player of the Week for the week of September 29, 2008, and Offensive Player of the Week for the week of November 8, 2008. It's also the second time Hilton is honored as Kick Return Performer of the Week by collegefootballperformance.com.
RUN LIKE THE WIND - This season the Panthers shattered the program's single-season rushing record, racking up 2,270 yards on the ground. FIU has averaged 189.17 rushing yards this season, which ranked 28th in the country at the end of the regular season.
RUNNING WILD ON THE TROJANS - FIU's dominant running game has never been as good as it was on Nov. 13 against Troy. The Panthers gashed the Trojan defense for a program-record 448 rushing yards and a record-tying four rushing touchdowns.
TRIPLE THREAT - Against the Trojans (11/13), FIU had three players go over 100 yards rushing for the first time in program history. Darriet Perry led the way with 186 yards, followed by T.Y. Hilton with 158 and Darian Mallary with 118.
FIVE OF A KIND - This season the Panthers had five players run for over 200 yards. Darriet Perry led the way with 707, followed by Darian Mallary (669), Jeremiah Harden (301), Kedrick Rhodes (293) and T.Y. Hilton (278).
CHRISTMAS CARROLL - When Christmas comes and goes and the Panthers play in their first bowl game, quarterback Wes Carroll will be in position to break every FIU single-season passing record. Carroll is already tied for the single-season passing touchdown record with 15 and with 2,483 passing yards, he's just 11 yards shy of a new single-season record. Already this season, Carroll's 61.8 completion percentage is the highest by any FIU quarterback, and his 2,479 yards of total offense (-4 rushing) are the most in program history.
JACKED UP - Sophomore kicker Jack Griffin tied a career-best with three field goals against Arkansas State (11/27). He had previously converted on three field goals against Florida Atlantic. For the season, Griffin has connected on 15 field goals, which is the best single-season total in FIU history. Griffin is also 41-for-41 on PAT attempts, setting a new single-season record for successful PATs. Griffin is now FIU's single-season record-holder with 86 points scored. In the regular season finale against Middle Tennessee (12/4), Griffin connected on a career-best 50-yard field goal, which is the second-longest in FIU history (Moss - 52)
SACK LUNCH - Against Louisiana (11/20), the Panthers tied a program-record with seven sacks. The assault was led by Jarvis Wilson's three sacks, which is one shy of the FIU record. As a team, the Panthers have also set a single-season program-record with 31.0 sacks. The Panthers finished the regular season 19th in the country with 2.58 sacks-per-game.
O-LINE HELMET STICKER - Never has FIU's offensive line been as good as it has this season as they've allowed just 1.5 sacks per game, which is good for 36th in the country. FIU's o-line has also never been as good as they were against Troy (11/13) when they opened holes for the running game to the tune of 448 rushing yards. For that dominating performance, the entire FIU offensive line was awarded a Helmet Sticker by ESPN.com.
BEWARE OF GAITOR - FIU's game against Troy (11/30) was billed by many as a matchup of the two best all-purpose runners in the conference, T.Y. Hilton and Jerrel Jernigan. While Hilton certainly delivered, Hilton's teammate Anthony Gaitor personally made sure Jernigan did not. Matched up man-to-man with Jernigan, Gaitor finished the game with eight tackles, one for loss, but more importantly, limited Jernigan to just 32 receiving yards. The dominant performance earned Gaitor Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week honors.
GAITOR BAIT - Known as one of the best pass defenders in the conference, Anthony Gaitor's biggest contributions in FIU's victory over WKU (10/9) came behind the line of scrimmage. With WKU driving towards a potential game-tying touchdown, Gaitor made a stop behind the line of scrimmage on an end-around that put WKU in a 4th-and-8 situation after a loss of four yards. Two drives earlier, Gaitor forced WKU to punt after sacking Kawaun Jakes on third down. Gaitor was back at it against North Texas (10/16), picking up another sack. On the season, Gaitor has career-highs of 9.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
ELLING$ON - "Money Plays" are defined as plays resulting in a first down or touchdown. This season, senior wideout Greg Ellingson has been FIU's go-to "Money Man." Ellingson leads the team with 32 such receptions (29 1st downs/ 5 TD). Through his career, Ellingson has been one of FIU's most consistent and reliable receivers. This season has been no different as he has 546 receiving yards on 36 receptions. Ellingson now has 1,952 career receiving yards, which is the fifth-best total in FIU history.
CAREFULLY COORDINATED TURNAROUND - In 2010, the Panthers were under the direction of new coordinators on offense and defense in the form of former Toledo assistant Scott Satterfield and Geoff Collins, respectively. FIU's new coaches helped turn around both units right away, and it showed in the national rankings. At the end of the regular season, FIU ranks 44th in total offense after ranking 100th in '09. On defense, FIU ranks 57th in the country after ranking 119th in '09.
FOUR FOR 4 - T.Y. Hilton has had many big games in his FIU career, but none as big as his performance against ULM (11/6). Hilton amassed 291 all-purpose yards, scoring four touchdowns to lead FIU to a 42-35 win in double overtime. The junior from Miami became the first Panther to score a TD in three different ways in the same game, as he caught two touchdowns, ran for one and returned a kick for a score. Hilton's first score gave FIU a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. After ULM tied the score on the next possession, Hilton responded with a 95-yard kickoff return for touchdown. In the fourth quarter, with FIU clinging to a 21-20 lead, Hilton beat a ULM defender on a jump ball and then broke a tackle to score on a 67-yard catch. Then on FIU's first play in overtime, Hilton took a reverse into the end zone for a 25-yard rushing touchdown.
TWO WAYS - Junior Mertile (No.2) had played in 23 games as a wide receiver going into FIU's game against Louisiana (11/22). Against the Cajuns, not only did Mertile play cornerback for the first time in his collegiate career, but the redshirt sophomore intercepted a pass and returned it 26-yards for a touchdown. Mertile then made his first start at cornerback in the game against Arkansas State (11/27). Mertile again came up big against Middle Tennessee (12/4)as he picked off Dwight Dasher in the end zone to keep the Panthers within striking distance.
DP IS GRAND - Darriet Perry's 186 rushing yard performance against Troy (11/13) put Perry over 1,000 rushing yards for his career, making him just the fourth Panther to reach that plateau. Perry joins Rashod Smith, A'mod Ned and Julian Reams in that category. However, Perry's 4.1 yards per carry are second only to Smith's 5.2 among the four 1,000-yard runners. For his career, Perry now has 1,181 rushing yards.
RETURN TO FORM - In 2008 and '09, Hilton scored a touchdown on each of his first returns of the season. Up until the game against ULM this season (11/16), Hilton hadn't broken through for a TD return. After ULM tied the score at seven, Hilton responded with a 95-yard kickoff return for touchdown, and finished the game with 168 kick return yards. The return was Hilton's fourth-career return for touchdown (3 KR, 1 PR), tying him for first all-time at FIU (Nick Turnbull - 1 PR, 2 INT, 1 FUM; Lionel Singleton - 1 PR, 2 KR, 1 INT). Hilton has now returned a kickoff for a touchdown in each of his three seasons at FIU.
YOU CAN'T TOUCH THIS - The FIU offensive line went through a major overhaul this offseason. Not only did Alex Mirabal take over as new offensive line coach, but FIU lost three starters off last year's O-line. With the addition of Caylin Hauptmann, the
emergence of Cedric Mack, Curtis Bryant and Rupert Bryan, and of course,
Rimington Watchlist member Brad Serini, the FIU offensive line has been dominant in the passing game, allowing just 18 sacks through the first twelve games. The 1.5 sacks-per-game allowed rank 36th in the country.
TWO AWARDS FOR NUMBER SEVEN - For his outstanding performance on September 18 against Texas A&M, Gaitor was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week. This marks the second time Gaitor has received the honor, the first coming in 2008 after intercepting two passes and returning one for a touchdown against Middle
Tennessee (10/11/08). For his efforts, Gaitor was also named Honorable Mention
Defensive Back Performer of the Week by collegefootballperformance.com.
HELMET STICKER FOR ALL - For their efforts against Texas A&M on September 18, the entire FIU defense was awarded an ESPN.com Helmet Sticker. The award was one of four given out to members of schools from AQ conferences. FIU was again awarded a helmet sticker after their 28-21 victory over WKU (10/9). This time it was head coach Mario Cristobal who received the honor for his team's performance against the Hilltoppers.
PANTHER CUBS - As it seems to be the case every year for FIU, numerous freshmen have seen playing time for FIU in 2010. A total of 15 freshmen and redshirt-freshmen have seen action this season for the Panthers. All-in-all, 36 underclassmen (Fr., R-Fr., So., R-So.) have seen the field this year for FIU.
FORGED IN STEELE - The 2010 Sun Belt Conference Champion FIU Football team placed a conference-best 14 players on Phil Steele's 2010 Postseason All-Sun Belt Conference Team. Leading the way for the Panthers were first-team selections T.Y. Hilton, Anthony Gaitor and Jonathan Cyprien. Brad Serini, Greg Ellingson, Winston Fraser and Jack Griffin all received second-team nods, while Darriet Perry, Jonathan Faucher, Cedric Mack, Caylin Hauptmann, Joshua Forney, Jarvis Wilson and Toronto Smith all made the third-team.
THE NOT-SO-DIRTY DOZEN - On September 25 against Maryland, Wesley Carroll set an FIU record by completing 12-consecutive passes at one point. Carroll's streak began in the second quarter when he connected with T.Y. Hilton for an eight-yard gain. The streak carried into the third-quarter until a 2nd-and-14 attempt to Ty Frierson fell incomplete. Included in the 12 completions were touchdown passes to Greg Ellingson and Jonathan Faucher. Carroll set an FIU record by completing a pass to 12 different receivers.
FLINGIN' IT - In FIU's 42-28 loss to Maryland on September 25, quarterback Wesley Carroll set the FIU record for most pass attempts (58) and most completions (35).
THEY'RE ALWAYS WATCHING - For the third-consecutive year, senior center Brad Serini has been named to the Rimington Award Watchlist. The prestigious award is given each year to the nation's best center. Serini has been a staple on the FIU offensive line, starting all 37 games since his arrival at FIU. Serini's leadership will be crucial in 2010 as he leads a very talented, but very young offensive line.
