MIAMI – Winners of four in a row and bowl bound for the first time this decade, the FIU football team has accepted an invitation to participate in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl in Dallas against UTSA on Friday, Dec. 26.
 
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET (7 local) and the game will be broadcast on ESPN from the SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
 
FIU officials are working to create the best possible bowl experience for all fans. Information related to game tickets, travel, lodging or events surrounding the bowl are still being finalized and will be communicated in the coming days.
 
For those who have not already completed the bowl interest form, please visit FIUSports.com/BowlForm and fill out the short document to ensure you receive all FIU bowl game information. Additionally, please bookmark FIUSports.com/Bowl as this bowl central page will have all information related to the game.
 
Fans are urged to please wait to purchase game tickets directly through FIU. This not only financially benefits FIU while ensuring all Panther supporters are seated together, but it also is the only way to officially track the number of fans who travel. That documented support is a vital factor when bowls are making their selections; therefore, future FIU bowl locations will be influenced by the number of tickets that are purchased directly from FIU.
 
"We are incredibly honored to accept an invitation to the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl," said Director of Athletics Scott Carr. "This is a great bowl game which honors our nation's everyday heroes. Executive Director Brant Ringler and his team host and run a first-class event. We are excited to compete and represent FIU on a national stage, and I know our student-athletes, students, alumni and supporters will have a great time and create some lifelong memories. I encourage all of Panther Nation to get behind this team and join us in Dallas as we look to conclude a great first season under Coach Simmons!"
 
This will be FIU's sixth all-time bowl game but first since 2019 and comes in Willie Simmons initial season as an FBS head coach. With FIU's dominant 56-16 win at Sam Houston to close out the regular season last Saturday, the Panthers (7-5) are guaranteed their first winning season since 2018. It also continued Simmons' streak of having a winning campaign in all nine of his years as a head coach (first eight at the FCS level between Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M).
 
Additionally, a bowl game triumph would be the 8th victory of the season for FIU, which would be tied for the 2nd most in program history (2011, 2017) behind only a nine-win year in 2018.
 
FIU and UTSA – an American Conference member – have met four times before with the all-time series tied at two games apiece. All four meetings came between 2014 and 2022 when UTSA was a Conference USA member.
 
FIU enters the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on the aforementioned four-game winning streak, which is tied for the longest in single-season program history (2010, 2018). A victory in Dallas would produce the longest single-season winning streak in program lore.
 
The Panthers went undefeated in November and garnered a total of 14 All-Conference USA postseason honors. Highlighting that list was running back Kejon Owens, who was named Offensive Player of the Year – the first FIU player to earn the award in the CUSA era (since 2013).
 
In total, FIU had four First Team and five Second Team honorees along with two Honorable Mention and two All-Freshman recipients. The quartet of first teamers and quintet of second teamers are both the most during FIU's tenure in the league.
 
FIU's inaugural season was 2002, and the Panthers played three years at the FCS level (formerly Division I-AA) before making the jump to FBS (formerly Division I-A) in 2005. FIU made its first bowl appearance in 2010, and has a 2-3 all-time bowl record:
 
2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (Dec. 26 in Detroit, MI)
FIU def. Toledo, 34-32
 
2011 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl (Dec. 20 in St. Petersburg, FL)
Marshall def. FIU, 20-10
 
2017 Bad Boy Movers Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 21 in St. Petersburg, FL)
Temple def. FIU, 28-3
 
2018 Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl (Dec. 21 in Nassau, Bahamas)
FIU def. Toledo, 35-32
 
2019 Camelia Bowl (Dec. 21 in Montgomery, AL)
Arkansas State def. FIU, 34-26
 
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