Miami, Fla. (FIUSports.com) – The FIU football team (1-5, 0-2 Sun Belt) is back in action on Saturday, Oct. 13, as the Panthers host Middle Tennessee (3-2, 1-1 Sun Belt) in a Sun Belt Conference match-up on homecoming at Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
Kickoff with the Blue Raiders is scheduled for 6 p.m. (EST). The FIU Sports Radio Network will have the call of the game, heard anywhere around the world on FIUSports.com. Additionally, FIUSports.com will be streaming video of the game live.
Click HERE to view FIU-Middle Tennessee Game Notes
The Middle Tennessee game will serve as the Panthers' 2012 Homecoming contest. Under Head Coach Mario Cristobal, FIU has gone 3-2 in Homecoming games, and have won three of its last four.
The FIU Homecoming 2012 theme is “Unleash the Spirit”, with additional information available online at: http://hc.? u.edu/
In honor of injured Tulane player Devon Walker, the FIU Panthers displayed a “DW” sticker on their helmets. On Sept. 8, in a Conference USA game at Tulsa, Walker, a senior safety, suffered a cervical spine fracture after colliding with a teammate. In an effort to support and raise awareness, FIU has joined C-USA programs in wearing a helmet sticker with Devon's initials for the remainder of the season.
FIU enters the game vs. Middle Tennessee coming off a 34-20 defeat to Arkansas State on Thurs., Oct. 4. The Blue Raiders come to Miami after suffering a 31-17 loss to ULM on Sat., Oct. 6.
Senior Wayne Times continued his career-long streak to 23 straight games with a pass reception with his ?ve catches vs. ASU.
Senior Darian Mallary returned to game action vs. ASU and found the endzone for a team-high seventh time this season.
Senior kicker Jack Grif?n scored eight points (2 FG, 2XP) in the ASU game. He now has 226 career points moving him past former FIU All-American T.Y. Hilton into No. 2 all-time.
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GAME DETAILS:
Date: Saturday, Oct. 13
Location: Miami, Fla.
Time: 6 p.m. (EST)
Stadium: Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium (20,000)
2012 Records:
FIU: 1-5 Overall, 0-2 Sun Belt
Middle Tennessee: 3-2 Overall, 1-1 Sun Belt
Series: Middle Tennessee leads 4-3
Social Media: Twitter.com/@FIUFootball
Game Broadcast: FIU Sports.com (Live Video Stream and FIU Sports Radio Network)
Next Up:
Opponent: Troy (3-2/2-1 Sun Belt) [vs. WKU, Thurs., Oct. 11]
Date: Saturday, Oct. 20
Location: Troy, Ala.
Time: 1 p.m.
Stadium: Veterans Memorial Stadium (30,000)
Game Broadcast: Sun Belt Network/CSS
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FIU – Middle Tennessee Series
The all-time series with Middle Tennessee started when FIU began playing a Sun Belt Conference schedule in 2005. The Blue Raiders own the on-?eld series advantage, 4-3, with FIU's three wins coming in 2005, 2008 and 2011.
Last year, FIU traveled to Murfreesboro, Tenn., in the regular season ?nale for both schools and defeated host Middle Tennessee, 31-18, at Floyd Stadium. The win gave FIU a school-record eighth regular season victory.
Former quarterback Wes Carroll threw touchdown passes in the game, to alums Jonathan Faucher and T.Y. Hilton, while current Panthers Kedrick Rhodes and Jeremiah Harden each added scores on the ground.
Rhodes led all rushers carrying the ball 20 times for 117 yards. The 100-yard game was his ?fth in 2011, tying the single-season mark held by Rashod Smith (2004).
Jack Grif?n would kick all four extra points before hitting a 25-yard ?eld goal in the fourth quarter for FIU's ?nal points of the game.
Past Games
12/3/05; Middle Tennessee; (W) 35-31 [16,730]
8/31/06; at Middle Tennessee; (L) 6-7 [20,058]
9/29/07; at Middle Tennessee; (L) 6-47 [15,605]
10/7/08; Middle Tennessee; (W) 31-21 [15,108]
11/7/09; at Middle Tennessee; (L) 21-48 [17,808]
12/4/10; Middle Tennessee; (L) 27-28 [16,628]
11/26/11; at Middle Tennessee; (W) 31-18 [10,227]
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FIU – Middle Tennessee Roster Connections
Middle Tennessee is the ? fth opponent in 2012 where the Panthers don't have a player from their competitor's home state (Duke-North Carolina, Akron-Ohio, Louisville-Kentucky, ASU-Arkansas). However, each of FIU's opponent has ?elded players from the state of Florida.
Middle Tennessee has 17 players from Florida, including seven from the Tri-County (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) region. A total of ? ve Blue Raiders have high school connections with members of the FIU football team.
Green Cove Springs, Fla./Clay High School
FIU: Shane Coleman (R-Fr., RB); MT: Jared Singletary (R-Fr., CB)
Hollywood Hills High School
FIU: Caleb Vincent (R-So., LB); MT: Christian Henry (R-So., LB)
Clearwater Central Catholic High School
FIU: Ian Koch (Fr., OL); MT: Greg Rein (R-So., DS)
North Augusta (SC) High School
FIU: Loranzo Hammonds (R-Fr., QB); MT: Marcus Thurmond (R-Sr., WR)
Mobile, Ala./Davidson High School
FIU: Denzell Perine (So., DE); MT: Patrick McNeil (R-So., DT)
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FIU in Sun Belt Conference Play
FIU is in its eighth Sun Belt Conference schedule (since 2005), and sixth playing under Head Coach Mario Cristobal (since 2007).
Since 2005, FIU is 21-33 (.389) vs. Sun Belt competition (however, three wins were vacated in 2005 for an actual 18-33 NCAA record). At home, FIU is 13-14 (.481), while going 8-19 (.296) on the road.
Under Cristobal, FIU has built its program back up and has improved greatly in league play. Since 2007, FIU is 18-22 (.450) in Sun Belt games, while going 11-9 (.550) at home and 7-13 (.350) on the road.
Most notably, starting in 2010, when FIU won the Sun Belt Conference championship and began its streak of two straight bowl seasons, the Panthers have gone 11-7 (.611) in SBC games, with a 6-3 (.667) home and 5-4 (.556) road record.
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Playing Opponents with Centuries of History
FIU, in its 11th season playing football and eighth at the FBS level, are playing a school, Middle Tennessee, that is in its 98th season of football, and whose program began in 1912. However, the program is relatively new to the FBS level beginning as an independent in 1999 before joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2001.
Aside from UCF (34th season since 1979), FIU's other six opponents, Duke (100), Akron (112), Louisville (94), Louisiana (110), Arkansas State (98) and Middle Tennessee (98) have a combined 612 seasons of football between them.
Looking ahead are aged Troy (1909) and WKU (1913). South Alabama in Week 10 and FAU in Week 11 are more familiar with FIU's youth having begun football in 2009 and 2001, respectively.
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FIU has two home games remaining on the 2012 schedule, including Sun Belt schools WKU and ULM. Tickets can be purchased by visiting FIUSports.com or by calling 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263).
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
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