MIAMI (Oct. 24, 2015) -- If certain FIU football alumni attended Saturday's homecoming game between FIU and Old Dominion they were welcomed with a resounding 41-12 win by the Panthers and discovered some of their records were broken in the process.
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Quarterback
Alex McGough threw for 390 yards and three touchdown passes. McGough's three touchdowns moved him ahead of former FIU quarterback Wesley Carroll, who held the FIU single-season record with 16. Carroll was in attendance as the color analyst on the FIU football radio broadcast. McGough finished the game with 17 touchdown passes on the season and now with four and possibly five games to add to the mark.
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McGough's 390 passing yards topped former FIU quarterback Jake Medlock for the second-most passing yards in a game in FIU football history. Medlock threw for 380 yards against Middle Tennessee in 2012. Only former FIU quarterback and now Dr. Paul McCall has thrown for more in an FIU game. McCall threw for 400 yards against Florida Atlantic in Don Shula Bowl VII in 2008. It is the only 400-yard passing game by an FIU quarterback in FIU's 13+ year history.
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The Panthers jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back. McGough connected with tight end
Jonnu Smith on a four-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. McGough followed with a one-yard quarterback sneak to make it a two-touchdown advantage.
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Smith just about re-wrote the FIU tight ends record book Saturday night. Smith had 10 receptions, 183 yards and two touchdowns. Smith's 183 yards helped him surpass former FIU tight end Sam Smith as the career receiving yardage leader among tight ends.
Jonnu Smith currently has 1,495 career receiving yards. Sam Smith finished his career with 1,383 receiving yards.
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Jonnu Smith also passed Sam Smith as FIU's career receptions leader among tight ends. The 10 catches by
Jonnu Smith gave him 141 for his career. Sam Smith had 133 career receptions.
Jonnu Smith also surpassed his own FIU single-game yardage record by a tight end.
Jonnu Smith's 183 yards Saturday topped the 140 receiving yards he had against Middle Tennessee last season.
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After Old Dominion's Zach Pascal ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of the third quarter, the Panthers responded with 24 unanswered points to finish off the Monarchs.
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Clinton Taylor caught his second career touchdown pass – a 38-yard strike from McGough to make it 27-12 midway through the third quarter.
Alex Gardner, who led FIU with 96 yards rushing, plunged in from one-yard out for another touchdown. Gardner's score was the first play of the fourth quarter. Smith finished the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown catch on a pass from McGough later in the final period.
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Next Saturday FIU heads to Boca Raton to take on Florida Atlantic in Don Shula Bowl XIV from FAU Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.
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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 FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.Â
About FIU:
Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.Â
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