MIAMI (Sept. 12, 2019 ) - Welcome back to Panther Tracks. Your one stop shop for everything you need to know about this week's FIU football game. 

The start of the season is not what any off us was hoping for, but there is a hidden beauty in all of this. There are still 10 games left in the 2019 season. More than enough time for Butch and the boys to turn it around. Like Coach Davis said late Saturday night, the goals set out for this team during training camp can still be obtained, but it's a week-by-week process. Let's all take it a week at a time and see where this wild ride goes. First up: The University of New Hampshire.
 
The First of Its Kind
There are not a lot of firsts still to be had in 2019. It just seems like the good stuff has all but been taken at this point in human existence, but there will be a first at Riccardo Silva Stadium on Saturday night. FIU and New Hampshire have never met on the gridiron before. That's right, the battle of the two eastern seaboard big cats has never happened at least in football anyway. The Blue & Gold played the Blue & Gray five times on the baseball diamond from 1972-1976 with New Hampshire leading the series 3-2 all-time. The two schools will meet on the hardwood for the first time later this year when Jeremy Ballard's Panthers host the UNH Wildcats on Nov. 30 at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

Our research team here at Panther Tracks thought it would be helpful we shared some basics about this week's opponent. The University of New Hampshire was founded in 1866 and fielded its first football team in 1893. Despite being an FCS power for most of this century in football, New Hampshire only has two national championships. A women's lacrosse national championship in 1985 and a women's hockey in championship in 1998. As has become accustom here at Panthers Tracks, we will have more in-depth mascot analysis at the end, but it interesting to note that the school's nickname was almost the New Hampshire Durham Bulls because of a local newspaper article written about the hockey team some 70 years before the baseball movie turned cult classic.  The modern-day Wildcats will need a little more than Crash Davis and Nuke Laloosh to leave the The Cage with a victory on Saturday night.
 
HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY
One of the bright spots from the conference opener was when Rishard Dames took an interception back 80-yards for a fresh touch in the second quarter. The Dames Dandy is the longest FBS-on-FBS pick six of the young season, which is impressive by its self. It'll take a lot to top that aspect of the play, but when you go back and watch the play either on Twitter or on ESPN's SportsCenter, two things pop off the screen at you. First is the one-handed catch by Dames. One-handed catches are among the rare few things in life that will get people to have an audible reaction. No matter who does it or when they do it, more often than not people will sit back and go WOW. While the entire play is wildly impressive, the blocking toward the end is probably the best thing about the play in general. As the old saying goes "teamwork, makes the dream work" and that is exactly what happened when the ol' Pawta Panthas squaded up in the end zone once Dames crossed the goal line. We would also like to point out that preseason C-USA Player of the Year Sage Lewis made two incredible blocks to spur the play. Because of this, Panther Tracks has been on the phone with the people over at the Rimington Trophy to see if Sage can be added to that watch list as well.
 
3-of-6
This one is for the kids. If you're a fan, alumni or general person perusing the internet for college football content at your desk (welcome by the way, we'll be here every Thursday for the rest of the season), I'll get back to you with our world-famous mascot analysis in a second. I need to talk to the students first.
 
Hey, guys! How's everybody doing? Football is here and man do I have a deal for you! Everybody knows this is one of, if not the most, highly anticipated seasons in FIU football history, right? So everybody at Panther Tracks is expecting a full and rowdy student section for all home games at Riccardo Silva Stadium. If you are an FIU student and attend three or more FIU football home games at Riccardo Silva Stadium this year, you are guaranteed one free ticket to the November 23rd match-up between your FIU Panthers and the Miami Hurricanes at Marlins Park. A valid FIU One card is required for admittance. Following the conclusion of the 3rd quarter, students will be asked to head up to the upper northwest concourse for a second swipe of their FIU One Card. You must swipe your card upon entry and after the 3rd quarter to be counted as in attendance for promotional purpose.

So get everybody you know, your friend group, your on-campus organization, your fraternity/sorority chapters and maybe even that person in your 10:00 am that you've been trying to figure out a way to talk to since the start of the semester. We bet they like football too, so bring them. 
 
Mascot Analysis: Wild E. Cat
After a deep internet dive, the crack research team here at Panther Tracks discovered that New Hampshire's wildcat is named is Wild E. Cat and has been the mascot since the second World War. In pre-war times, there were three iterations of actual live mascots from 1927-1940. The first Wildcat was named Mazie and started coming to football games after he was captured by a local farmer. Mazie's death in 1929 ushered in the era of Bozo before he mysteriously went missing in the Spring of 1933. The final live mascot that New Hampshire had went by the name of Butch Watson and lived in a Fraternity house on the campus of UNH until he was stolen by Harvard students before the two schools game in 1939. After reading all of this, you may ask yourself "how much of this is useful information?". We here at the Panther Tracks Society have deemed all of it as useful, because our Butch is better than their Butch. Shouts to our main man Roary. If you see him this weekend don't be afraid to get a picture with the big cat.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIU.Football on Instagram and @FIUFootball on Twitter and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.