Paws Up Preview – FIU Football @ Jacksonville State

Date: Saturday, November 16th

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Opponent: Jacksonville State Gamecocks (6-3)

Location: Jacksonville, AL (AmFirst Stadium)

TV Channel: ESPN+

Betting Line: Jax State -14

For whatever happens on Saturday, both good and bad, remember that FIU did this to themselves.

The Panthers don’t have any wiggle room. To get to a bowl game, you need 6 wins in a season. With a 3-6 record and three games to go, one loss spells out doom for postseason football.

All of a sudden, those one-score losses against Monmouth, Liberty, and Sam Houston State are adding up. Now, they have to take on a CUSA Title favorite – the Jacksonville State Gamecocks – with one of the scariest running games in CUSA.

Running The Aggies Outta Town

It’s not all doom and gloom for FIU. They’re at least coming into this game off a bye week, which means a full week of rest, relaxation, and injury recovery. At the same time, it could also mean rust. We shall see.

One player that will be making their return to the team is offensive lineman John Bock II. After being suspended last season, the junior center will make his return, either as a starter or coming off the bench.

In addition, the Panthers are coming off one of their most complete games of the season against New Mexico State. A 34-13 thrashing, FIU looked good on both sides of the ball.

Defensively, the Panthers limited both Aggie quarterbacks to 30 total passing yards. They consistently brought pressure, resulting in two sacks, and three tackles for a loss. The secondary cashed in on two interceptions by Hezekiah Masses and Jojo Evans.

Offensively, FIU capitalized on what the defense gave them – premium field positioning. Keyone Jenkins had one of his best games as a Panther – 18 receptions for 338 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Wide receiver Eric Rivers capitalized on a secondary that didn’t adust, racking up a historic 295 receiving yards (The most in FIU history) and three touchdowns.

Overall, there’s not much say. New Mexico State was an inferior team, and FIU took advantage of that from beginning to end. In the second half, they extended their lead and never gave the Aggies a chance to get back into that game.

A Fowl Opponent To Take On Now

For as good as FIU looked against one of the worst teams in CUSA, they’ll now have to take on arguably the best.

A lot of people wrote off the Jacksonville State Gamecocks early this season when they lost their first three games to Coastal Carolina, Louisville, and Eastern Michigan. But their offense figured things out, and they’ve since won six straight games, usually in dominant fashion.

They’ve also had FIU’s number. They knocked off the Panthers in 2020 when they were still an FCS team, then beat them again last season in the 305. Credit to Jax State, they’ve been a successful FBS team in just two years of work, winning a bowl game in 2023 and locking in another for this season.

Silly NCAA rules prohibited the Gamecocks from competing in the CUSA Championship game last season. But with a perfect conference record, they’re making a case to not only get in the title game this season, but also host it.

They have the offense to do it as well. Logan Smother began the season as QB, but Tyler Huff has stepped in and has been nothing short of reliable, throwing for 1,701 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He’s also a solid runner, recording 826 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.

As good as Huff is, the star of the show is running back Tre Stewart. With 161 carries under his belt, he’s recorded 1,083 yards and 17 touchdowns, averaging over six yards per run.

Ashton Jeanty is a Heisman candidate at Boise State, but Stewart is still a special back who highlights one of the best running games in the COUNTRY. FIU having a mediocre rush defense might bite them in the rear on Saturday.

Jax State’s defense is good but not necessarily impressive. They’ve collected 16 sacks and 11 interceptions, with safety Antonio Carter leading the way with 74.

Who Wins – FIU or Jax State?

The Panthers need to take a page out of Louisiana Tech’s playbook.

No, the Bulldogs should have beaten the Gamecocks last week. Instead, they gave up a last-second hail mary which was, of course, caught in the end zone. They then went on to win in overtime.

But there’s no getting around the running game Jax State has. This is a unit that no team is ready for, let alone FIU.

I understand how important this game is for the Panthers, but beating arguably the best team in the conference in their stadium might be too much of an ask.

JAX STATE – 28

FIU – 10