MIAMI (October 13, 2017) – The FIU football team returns to Riccardo Silva Stadium on Saturday for just the second time this season as it welcomes first-time foe Tulane, out of the American Athletic Conference, to Miami. The Panthers come into the contest with Tulane looking to equal their best start in school history, joining the 2011 squad that also began the season with a 4-2 record. Fans can also listen to the game on 790 the Ticket, the Panthers' official radio broadcast home for the 2017 season, or by logging onto either www.FIUSports.com or www.theticketmiami.com. A.J. Ricketts (play-by-play) and Hurlie Brown (color analyst) will be in the booth all season long.  
 
FIU is also 2-1 in Conference USA play this season with wins over Rice and Charlotte. The only setback came last weekend at Middle Tennessee. The Panthers also started their conference season 2-1 in 2008 (Sun Belt), 2010 (Sun Belt) and 2014 (Conference USA). FIU will resume conference play on Oct. 28 at Marshall following its bye week next weekend.
 
Click here for complete FIU game notes.
Click here for complete Tulane game notes.
Click here to watch the game live in C-USA.tv
 
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between FIU and Tulane.
 
The Panthers are coming off a tough 37-17 loss at Middle Tennessee last weekend. Quarterback Alex McGough threw for 209 yards on 20-of-31 passing with one interception and a touchdown. In addition, he also rushed for a touchdown, the 15th of his career. McGough's main target was wide receiver Thomas Owens, who caught 11 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. His 162 yards fell just four yards shy of equaling his single-game high. Alex Gardner led the ground attack with 43 yards on 11 carries.
 
Defensively, Bryce Canady led the way with a career-high nine tackles in the loss.
 
Tulane comes into Saturday's game with a 3-2 record and a 1-1 mark in the American. The Green Wave are coming off a convincing 62-28 win over Tulsa last Saturday in New Orleans. Tulane will host another Florida school next week in the "Big Easy" as USF visits Yulman Stadium.
 
Game Notables
- The Panthers look to improve to 4-2 for the second time in school history, joining the 2011 team that also accomplished the feat. A win would equal the best start in school history. The 2011 team finished the season with an 8-5 record (5-3 Sun Belt) and played in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida.
- FIU looks for its first win over Tulane and to even its record this season against AAC schools at 1-1. The Panthers lost to UCF, 61-17, in the season-opener.
- Saturday is the sixth game for Butch Davis at FIU (3-2), and 134th of his collegiate head coaching career.
- The Tulane game was supposed to be the final non-conference game of the season for the Panthers, however due to the Indiana game being canceled and deferred to a future year, FIU added UMass to the schedule on Dec. 2 (unless FIU plays in the Conference USA Championship game).
-Saturday will mark the 184th game in FIU history.
 
For FIU football ticket information, contact the University Credit Union Box Office at 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263).
 
For the latest information on Panthers football, follow us on Twitter, @FIUFootball.
 
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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 eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.