HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (Nov.  14, 2015) -- FIU couldn't overcome an emotional, raucous and efficient Marshall in a 52-0 loss in Huntington, W. Va., Saturday afternoon. The Panthers played for the first time at Marshall in FIU's 13-year program history.
 
Saturday's game marked the 45^th anniversary of the Marshall team plane crash. Marshall held a pre-game ceremony to honor the crash victims and donned black jerseys for the first time in its 120 years of football.  
 
The Panthers had a three-and-out to begin the game. The Herd didn't take long to score the first of their 38 first-half points. MU needed just five plays to get in the end zone. MU quarterback Chase Litton completed a 33-yard pass to Davonte Allen on the Herd's first play to the FIU 12.
 
Four rushes by Remi Watson later and Marshall led 7-0. Watson's 1-yard touchdown run ironically happened with 11:14 left in the first quarter. It was on 11/14 (November 14) 45 years ago that Marshall's plane crashed.
 
After a second-consecutive three-and-out for FIU, MU was back at it. On the sixth play of the MU drive, Litton found Justin Hunt for a 7-yard touchdown pass.
 
FIU forced MU to punt on its next possession but after the Panthers' third three-and-out of the first quarter, Deandre Reaves returned Chris Ayers' 50-yard punt 69 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead for the Herd.
 
Marshall added another Litton touchdown pass and a 62-yard touchdown run by Watson to go up 38-0 at halftime.
 
FIU quarterback Alex McGough was 11-of-25 for 98 yards. With the 98 yards, McGough passed former FIU quarterback Wesley Carroll for the FIU single-season passing yardage record. McGough currently has 2,627 yards. Carroll threw for 2,623 yards in FIU's 2010 Sun Belt championship season.
 
FIU closes out the regular season next Saturday at home against WKU. Kickoff for the season finale is at 2:30 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.
 
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/.