Can FIU Football Still Make A Bowl Game?

MURFREESBORO, TN – FIU Football currently finds themselves with a 4-5 record and a 1-5 record against Conference USA opponents. To qualify for a bowl game – something FIU hasn’t done since 2019 – a college football FBS like the Panthers needs to win six games in a season.

Once you reach six games, a selection committee run by the NCAA will assign you to one of 43 different bowl games across the country. Depending on how long it took you to make it or even what record you have, they will go off of that. Some bowl games also have ties to certain conferences.

For FIU, the Best they can finish is 7-4 and the worst they can finish by qualifying is 6-6. Some bowl game destinations include the Cure Bowl in Orlando and the Boca Raton Bowl in… Boca Raton. There’s also the Bahamas Bowl which, due to renovations, had its location changed to Charlotte, North Carolina.

A bowl game for FIU would be a massive accomplishment, especially just two years after Athletic Director Scott Carr and Head Coach Mike MacIntyre stepped onto the scene. Their last bowl game appearance was the 2019 Camellia Bowl, in which they lost to Arkansas State by a score of 34-26.

Last season, the Panthers finished with a 4-8 record under MacIntyre’s first year as head coach. This season, the Panthers got off to a strong 3-1 start, but began to struggle as they dropped three in a row and after taking a crucial road game against the winless Sam Houston State Bearkats, the Panthers have then lost to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.

In the Panthers’ loss to Jax State, a lot of factors went into going from one half to another. First off, true freshman quarterback and FIU sensation known as Keyone Jenkins, or as he is usually called, “Lights Out,” threw for only 18 yards and completed two of eight passes.

He would be benched for junior quarterback Grayson James who was the team’s starter through most of 2022 and was named the starter heading into their week zero matchup against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. James performed well, throwing for 200 yards, one passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and completing 12 of 20 passes.

“Grayson’s played in games and we felt like he could get us in rhythm and get the ball out of his hand some,” said MacIntyre following the game. “He would be able to move the football and we worked that especially with a young quarterback I’ve had to do that before. He [Keyone Jenkins] will bounce back, and keep working. Grayson did a good job when he came in.”

The game against the Gamecocks marked the first of a tough four-game stretch for the Panthers which includes an SEC opponent in the Arkansas Razorbacks and a Conference USA opponent in the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The former is a part of one of the most renowned conferences in all of college football, and the latter is a familiar for for FIU.

It is worth noting that according to most projections, the Panthers were slated to win three games or less this season, so they have already beaten that, but an improvement is winning more than last year’s four victories.

FIU’s first opponent will be the 2-6 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. This is a team that the Panthers almost beat at home on the last game of the season, but this time around, FIU heads over to Murfreesboro, where they have historically struggled.

Despite those struggles, the Panthers still have a solid chance against the Blue Raiders, which has one of the worst offenses in C-USA by the numbers, though still has a very solid defense. Beating MTSU would put them at five wins but with two games remaining.

FIU has only faced off against Arkansas once in school history. In 2007, the Panthers lost to a final score of 58-10, but now look to change that up. This season, Arkansas is 2-6 and 0-5 within the conference. They recently fired their offensive coordinator (which is never a good sign) and have struggled offensively.

Finally, FIU heads back home for senior night against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers who are 4-4 on the season – not too far from the Panthers. Led by their quarterback Austin Reed, the Hilltoppers’ offense is one of the best in the conference and will be a tough matchup for FIU.

“We want to do it [make a bowl game] all we can,” said MacIntyre. “It’s a growing process and our guys keep fighting, they keep working, they keep growing and they keep doing it. We want to win every one of them, every single one of them.”

“I’m hurt for the young men, I’m hurt for the coaches. We just gotta get back and keep fighting. It’s a process. You just keep building and keep building and we will eventually get there.”

When looking at those final three games, FIU can only afford one loss, which would be most likely against the Razorbacks. I believe FIU will take down the Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro and the Hilltoppers back here at The Cage.

Another big question that impacts the course of the next three games is if MacIntyre will make a change at quarterback, especially after the success that James had against the Gamecocks.

After all, James has experience in big games and was QB1 in 2022 and is also one of the more veteran players on this FIU squad, so for the Panthers to go with what has worked before definitely is something that should be considered and wouldn’t be a bad option.

In the Panthers’ loss to Jax State, James made a 60-yard throw to wide receiver Kris Mitchell which fell right into his hand. Jenkins, who has made those types of throws before, didn’t do that whatsoever through the first half of play.

Aside from the sudden quarterback situation, another big issue for the Panthers not only in this past game but throughout the whole season has been the inability to make tackles. Despite an impressive defensive line, running backs still tend to find open holes and make cuts.

The Gamecocks have the second-best rushing offense in the conference, which turned out to be shown at full force Wednesday when quarterback and the most recent C-USA offensive player of the week winner Zion Webb ran for over 150 yards and scored a touchdown.

If the Panthers can make adjustments when it comes to making big stops, then the chances for FIU to make a bowl game go up even higher.

“He made a couple runs early, but that long run, they’re kind of pulled away and it was a good scheme by them,” said MacIntyre. “We got caught up inside one of our backers. They’ve been tossing the ball and they pulled the guards, which is hard to see sometimes. So that was a good scheme by them and a good run by him. He’s just a really good runner.”

“He’s really fast. He gets the first guy, he’s hard to walk down. He’s a fast quarterback, faster than most.”

The Panthers made a bowl game for the first time with MacIntyre as the coach would be something that benefits not only the players on the team, but the students as well who had the chance to watch a winning team this season go at it and make the push that hasn’t been done for several years already.

I do believe the Panthers make a bowl game, but there needs to be a change first, and it starts on both sides of the ball.

As previously mentioned, the next game for FIU is on November 11th at 3:30pm EST against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on the road. The final home game of the season is on November 25th at 3:00 pm EST against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.