MIAMI (November 7, 2017) – FIU looks to continue its winning run against Old Dominion after becoming bowl-eligible for the third time in the program's 16-year history last week. The Panthers (6-2, 4-1 Conference USA) defeated UTSA 14-7 last Saturday to clinch bowl-eligibility.
FIU hosts the Monarchs (3-6, 1-4 C-USA) on Nov. 11, in a Conference USA matchup at Riccardo Silva Stadium. The Panthers and Monarchs meet for the fourth time in their series history on C-USA TV. A.J. Ricketts (play-by-play) and Hurlie Brown (color analyst) will call all of the action. 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. Ricketts and Brown will be in the booth all season long.
A victory against the Monarchs would make it just the second time in FIU history that a Panther's team has won seven games in a regular season. The 2011 FIU team holds the program record for wins in a season with eight.
Click here for complete FIU game notes.
Click here for complete Old Dominion game notes.
Last week behind a stout defensive effort FIU knocked off the UTSA Roadrunners. The Panthers defense held the third-highest scoring offense in C-USA to just seven points. FIU also kept UTSA to a season-low 261 total yards in the win.
FIU quarterback
Alex McGough threw two touchdown passes in the win – one to
Thomas Owens and the other to
Shawndarrius Phillips. The Panthers scored their two touchdowns in a span of 13 seconds after UTSA fumbled a kickoff return.
Linebackers
Treyvon Williams and
Anthony Wint led the FIU defense with a combined 25 tackles. Williams had a team-leading 13 stops on the night, including a sack. Newt Salisbury had two of FIU's four sacks in the win.
Game Notables
- The Panthers look to extend the best start in school history to 7-2 which would put them one win away from tying a program-best eight wins, which the 2011 team accomplished.
- The Panthers look for their fourth straight win which would be the first four-game winning streak since 2010, when the Sun Belt Champions won four in a row from Nov. 6-Nov. 27. The 2010 Panthers defeated ULM, 42-35, in double overtime; Troy, 52-35; Louisiana, 38-17 and Arkansas State, 31-24.
- FIU looks to improve to 5-1 in conference play for the first time since 2010. The 2010 Panthers started Sun Belt play 6-1 and went on to win the league finishing 6-2.
- Saturday is the ninth game for
Butch Davis at FIU (6-2), and the 131st of his collegiate head coaching career.
- Saturday will mark the 187th game in FIU history.
- FIU receiver
Thomas Owens looks for his fifth 100-yard receiving game in the last six games. In the last five games, Owens has gone for 72 yards against UTSA, 114 yards at Marshall, 152 yards against Tulane, 162 yards against Middle Tennessee and 101 yards against Charlotte.
- FIU has won six games when rushing 30+ times (6-1).
- FIU's trio of linebackers look to add to their totals.
Treyvon Williams (59),
Anthony Wint (53) and
Sage Lewis (42) have each racked up over 40 tackles.
- Senior wide receiver
Thomas Owens leads C-USA in receiving yards (800) and receiving yards per game (100.0).
- FIU is 21-of-22 (95%) when it gets inside its opponents red-zone, which ranks seventh nationally.
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/.
