Miami, Fla. (FIUSports.com) – The FIU football team (1-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) travels to Lafayette, La., opening its 2012 Sun Belt Conference schedule at first-place Louisiana (2-1, 1-1 Sun Belt) on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Cajun Field. Kickoff with the Ragin' Cajuns is scheduled for 7 p.m. (EST) and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN3. The FIU Sports Radio Network will also have the live call of the game, heard anywhere around the world on FIUSports.com.
Click HERE to view FIU-Louisiana Game Notes
Click HERE to listen to the FIU Sports Radio Network
Under Head Coach Mario Cristobal, FIU is 3-2 in Sun Belt Conference openers with wins in 2008, 2010 and 2011. The Panthers enters the game at Louisiana coming off a narrow home loss to then No. 18 Louisville, 28-21, last Saturday.
The FIU offense was the first of nationally-ranked Louisville's 2012 opponents to better the Cardinals in total offense 326-323. The FIU defense held the Cardinals to a 2012 season-low 323 total yards, 129 yards rushing and 194 yards passing. The FIU defense also held Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to 53 percent passing (19 of 36), where he had entered the game passing 81.8 percent on the season.
Individually, redshirt senior running back Jeremiah Harden stepped in as the starting tailback and recorded 102 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Senior wide receiver Wayne Times extended his streak to 21 games with at least one reception dating back to the 2010 season.
On defense, senior strong safety Johnathan Cyprien finished with a game-high nine tackles, including four solo and five assisted. He also had his fourth career interception in the game.
The FIU and Louisiana coaching staffs will be wearing Coach to Cure MD patches this week to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. Fans are encouraged to donate online at www.CoachtoCureMD.org or donate $5 by texting CURE to 90999.
GAME DETAILS:
Date: Saturday, Sept. 29
Location: Lafayette, La.
Time: 7 p.m. (EST)
Stadium: Cajun Field (31,000)
2012 Records:
FIU: 1-3 Overall, 0-0 Sun Belt
Louisiana: 2-1 Overall, 1-0 Sun Belt
Series: Louisiana leads 5-2
Social Media: Twitter.com/@FIUFootball
Game Broadcast: ESPN3; FIU Sports Radio Network at FIUSports.com
Next Up:
Opponent: Arkansas State (2-2/0-0 Sun Belt) [vs. WKU, Sept. 29]
Date: October 4 (Thursday)
Location: Miami, Fla.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Stadium: Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium (20,000)
Game Broadcast: ESPNU
FIU - Louisiana Connections
The FIU roster is 80 percent Floridians (84 of 105) however, the state of Louisiana has placed the second-most amount of Panthers with six.
Louisiana's roster has seven players from the state of Florida, with six of the seven hailing from the South Florida tri-county region (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties).
Isame Faciane (Jr., DT); Slidell (Salmen)
Marques Cheeks (Fr., DL); New Orleans (O. Perry Walker)
Darrian Dyson (Fr., DL); New Orleans (Edna Karr)
Raymond Jackson (Fr., WR); New Orleans (O. Perry Walker)
Leonard Washington (Fr., DL); New Orleans (Edna Karr)
High School Connections
St. Thomas Aquinas (3): FIU: Jeremiah Harden (R-Sr., RB), Nico Shepherd (Fr., TE); Louisiana: Rodney Gillis (Sr., S).
Slidell, La. (Salmen) (3): FIU: Isame Faciane (Jr., DT); Louisiana: Jamal Robinson (So., WR), Ben Duhon (Sr., DL).
Harvey, La. (West Jefferson) (2): FIU: Glenn Coleman (Jr., WR); Louisiana: Jarad Martin (So., OL).
FIU in Sun Belt Conference Play
FIU enters its eighth Sun Belt Conference schedule (since 2005), and sixth playing under Head Coach Mario Cristobal (since 2007).
Since 2005, FIU is 21-31 (.404) vs. Sun Belt competition (however, three wins were vacated in 2005 for an actual 18-31 NCAA record). At home, FIU is an even 13-13 (.500) vs. the Sun Belt, while going 8-18 (.308) on the road.
Under Cristobal, FIU has built its program back up and has improved greatly in league play. Since 2007, FIU is 18-20 (.474) in Sun Belt games, while going 11-8 (.579) at home and 7-12 (.368) 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 11-5 (.688) in SBC games, with a 6-2 (.750) home and 5-3 (.625) road record.
Playing Opponents with 100 Years of History
FIU, in its 11th season playing football and eighth at the FBS level, are playing a school, Louisiana, which is one of the oldest football programs in the nation dating back 110 seasons to 1901.
Aside from UCF (34th season since 1979), FIU's other four opponents, Duke (100), Akron (112), Louisville (94) and Louisiana (110) have a combined 416 seasons of football between them.
Looking ahead are aged Arkansas State (1911), Middle Tennessee (1912), 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 four exciting home game remaining on the 2012 schedule, including Sun Belt schools Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee (Homecoming), 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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