MIAMI (August 30, 2017) – The 2017 season begins on Thursday as FIU travels up Florida's Turnpike to Orlando to face UCF. Kickoff at Spectrum Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network with Sean Grande calling the action and Aaron Murray providing color commentary. Tina Cervasio will be on the sidelines. Fans can also listen to the game on 790 the Ticket, the Panthers' official radio broadcast home for the 2017 season. A.J. Ricketts (play-by-play) and Hurlie Brown (color analyst) will be in the booth all season long.
Click here for complete game notes
Thursday's game with UCF marks the long-anticipated return of
Butch Davis to the sidelines. Davis, who was named head coach of the Panthers on Nov. 15, 2016, returns to the field for the first time since the 2010 season when he was the head coach at North Carolina. Davis spent seven seasons in Chapel Hill with the Tar Heels.
Thursday marks the sixth meeting between FIU and UCF, dating back to the 2011 season. The Knights hold a slight 3-2 all-time series lead. Thursday is the Panthers' third trip to Orlando to face UCF. FIU defeated the Knights, 15-14, on Sept. 3, 2015 in its last trip to Spectrum Stadium.
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, and check out
Pete Pelegrin's in-depth coverage of FIU Athletics on his official blog, The Prowl, at www.FIUSports.com.
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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/.
