Miami, Fla. (FIUSports.com) – The FIU football team (3-8, 205 Sun Belt) hosts the University of Louisiana-Monroe (7-4, 5-2 Sun Belt) in its regular season finale at Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m. EST.
A live video game stream, featuring the FIU Sports Radio Network, will be broadcast for free at FIUSports.com.
Click HERE to view FIU-ULM Game Notes
The ULM game will mark the finale for several FIU seniors, including: Tevin Blanchard, Josh Brisk, Rupert Bryan, Jr., Jose Cheeseborough, Johnathan Cyprien, Kenneth Dillard, Joshua Forney, Winston Fraser, Chuck Grace, Jack Griffin, Jeremiah Harden, Caylin Hauptmann, Jordan Hunt, David Istanich, Mike Jean-Louis, Paul Lungren, Mitch MacClugage, Darian Mallary, Junior Mertile, Andre Pound, Giancarlo Revilla, Kasey Smith, Shae Smith, Wayne Times, Tourek Williams and Jacob Younger.
The large senior class will be honored during the pre-game on the field, joined by their immediate family and guests.
The Panthers enter the ULM game coming off a 34-24 Shula Bowl victory over Florida Atlantic on the road at FAU Stadium Friday, Nov. 16. The Warhawks defeated North Texas, 42-16, at home in Monroe, La., on Nov. 17.
After the FAU game, Richard Leonard was named the Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the Week (Nov. 18), as well as earning Week #12 National Kick Returner of the Week honors from College Football Performance Awards. In the FAU game, Leonard recorded a career-high 181 returns yards on five attempts, including a school-record 100-yard return for a touchdown.
Jake Medlock earned Shula Bowl Most Valuable Player honors after throwing for 264 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He is only the second FIU quarterback to earn MVP honors in the 11-year history of the game, and the first since Paul McCall (2008).
Wayne Times extended his career-long streak to 28 games with a reception at FAU, totaling five catches with one touchdown. The score was his career sixth.
Johnathan Cyprien was a star on defense for the Panthers leading the team in tackles with eight, along with a forced fumble, half a tackle for loss, a pass break-up and timely interception in the fourth quarter.
Tourek Williams had 1.5 sacks and a quarterback hurry on FAU signal-caller Graham Wilbert, as part of his six total tackles and two tackles for loss. He has a team-high 5.5 sacks on the season and 17.0 sacks on his career.
Rupert Bryan became the first FIU offensive lineman to score a touchdown taking a later pass, and rushing five yards into the endzone in the second quarter.
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GAME DETAILS:
Date: Saturday, Nov. 24
Location: Miami, Fla.
Time: 6 p.m. (EST)
Stadium: Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium
2012 Records:
FIU: 3-8 Overall, 2-5 Sun Belt
ULM: 7-4 Overall, 5-2 Sun Belt
Series: ULM leads 5-3
Social Media: Twitter.com/@FIUFootball
Game Broadcast: FIUSports.com/FIU Sports Radio Network
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FIU-ULM Series Notes
The all-time series with ULM dates back to 2004 when FIU was in transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision level. ULM owns a 5-3 on-field advantage in eight previous meetings; however, FIU has defeated the Warhawks in the last two. FIU's 2005 win was vacated, to place the recognized series record to 5-2.
In the two recent FIU wins, the Panthers won in Miami (2010) 42-35 in double-overtime and 28-17 in Monroe (2011).
Last season, the FIU offense had a brilliant first half racing out to a 28-10 lead. FIU's defense was stifling in the second half holding ULM to just one score. 31 of the game's 45 total points scored came in the second quarter.
FIU vs. ULM (2-5 [#3-5])
10/16/04; at ULM; Malone Stadium; (L) 20-28; 14,496
11/5/05#; at ULM; Malone Stadium; (W) 31-29; 10,111
11/11/06; ULM; FIU Stadium; (L) 0-35; 15,009
10/20/07; at ULM; Malone Stadium; (L) 14-28; 8,814
11/22/08; ULM; FIU Stadium; (L) 31-27; 12,925
10/3/09; at ULM; Malone Stadium; (L) 48-35; 17,610
11/6/10; ULM (2OT); Alfonso Field; (W) 42-35; 17,301
11/19/11; at ULM; Malone Stadium; (W) 28-17; 10,587
# Win was vacated
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FIU - FAU Roster Connections
FIU Head Coach Mario Cristobal and ULM Head Coach Todd Berry both were on the University of Miami coaching staff in 2006. Cristobal worked with the offensive line, while Berry oversaw the quarterbacks.
Cristobal and Berry also met on the gridiron during the 2002 and 2003 seasons, when Cristobal was an assistant coach at Rutgers and Berry was head coach at Army. Cristobal's Scarlet Knights would win both of those meetings over the Cadets. With the FIU wins in 2010 and 2011, and the two at Rutgers, Cristobal is 4-0 head-to-head vs. Berry-coached teams.
FIU coaches Jeff Popovich and Juan Navarro were also on the UM staff in 2006 with Cristobal and Berry. Popovich was a graduate assistant coach, while Navarro was a volunteer coach.
Current ULM coaches Travis Niekamp and Adam Waugh were also on Berry's Army staffs that faced Cristobal while he was at Rutgers.
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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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