Paws Up Preview – FIU Football vs Louisiana Tech

Date: Saturday, September 28th

Time: 6:00 PM EST

Opponent: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-2)

Location: Miami, FL (South Dade Kia Field @ Pitbull Stadium)

TV Channel: ESPN+

Betting Line: LA Tech -2.5

MIAMI, FL – Sometimes you just need to throw last week behind and look ahead, and FIU Football doesn’t have much of a choice.

There’s no getting by it. Last week’s loss to Monmouth has set this season back for FIU by A LOT. With a 1-3 record in the non-conference, the road to a bowl game becomes a lot more complicated.

Even if the Panthers beat some bottom-tier teams in Conference USA such as UTEP, New Mexico State, and Kennesaw State, they would still only have four total wins.

To receive bowl eligibility, a team needs six wins, which would mean tough wins against undefeated Liberty, Sam Houston State, a hungry Jacksonville State tea,m and Middle Tennessee – who FIU has not beaten since 2018.

Bringing Joy Back To Jersey

As far as the game itself, it was a mixed bag of results. On offense, the passing game was solid with Keyone Jenkins setting a career-high in passing yards with 362. But their running game was nowhere to be found for the second straight week.

Defensively, it was a nightmare performance. Although Monmouth had a solid offense, FIU surrendered 45 points on 540 yards of total offense to an FCS school will always be a bad look for an FBS team regardless of the opponent.

Overall, it was a bad showing. Despite the game coming down to a yard, as Eric Rivers fumbled the ball right in front of the end zone with seconds to go, FIU should have never been in that position.

A Rust Off From Ruston

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs came from Ruston, almost 300 miles north of New Orleans. The season has also been underwhelming, with a 1-2 record. They took down Nicholls State but lost two close games against NC State and Tulsa.

With back-to-back 3-9 seasons for head coach Sonny Cumbie, there are talks about him being on the hot seat. So far, this hasn’t been the start to the season that he was looking for.

The Bulldogs have a major quarterback concern. Jack Turner has had his moments as the starter, but with two touchdowns and two interceptions thus far, some wonder if he’ll continue leading this offense. Both Blake Baker and Evan Bullock saw time on the field last week, so there is a chance they will take the field against FIU.

LA Tech doesn’t have a solid running game either. With 239 rushing yards up to this point, Donerio Davenport is leading the way for the moment with just 82 yards.

If losing Kris Mitchell set FIU back in the receiving core, then LA Tech losing Smoke Harris (Who has signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL) has changed the face of their offense exponentially.

Tru Edwards and Jay Wilkerson both look good for the Bulldogs, but they don’t have an explosive playmaker along the same line as Smoke. Edwards leads the team with nine catches for 169 yards.

This is where the Bulldogs’ defense steps in. As the highest-rated unit in the conference, their new defensive coordinator Jeremiah Johnson utilizes a 3-3-5 scheme that prioritizes terrorizing the quarterback.

Part of an impressive linebacker room, Zach Zimos leads all Bulldogs with 29 total tackles, but Kolbe Fields has been an impressive playmaker who has the only interception of the season so far for Tech.

Who Wins – FIU or Louisiana Tech?

The shortcomings of both squads are pretty similar, all things considered. Because of that, I think this is going to be a very even game.

Both running games have a lot to improve, though the Panthers might have the edge as far as playmaking through the air. At the same time, FIU’s defense has a lot to prove after an embarrassing performance to Monmouth.

It’s a coin toss kind of game, so I have a coin toss type of score as the outcome.

FIU – 21

LA TECH – 20