Paws Up Preview – FIU Football @ Middle Tennessee

---

DATE – Saturday, November 6th

TIME – 3:00 PM EST

OPPONENT – Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Conference USA)

VENUE – Floyd Stadium (Murfreesboro, TN)

HOW TO WATCH – ESPN+

ODDS – FIU -1.5

Before you bail out just yet, keep in mind a bowl game is *still* possible for FIU Football. This two-game skid for the Panthers isn’t helping, with the Vice Night dud and now a loss to Missouri State.

The Kennesaw State loss was one in which the Panthers held on for three quarters, then the Owls pulled away. But the losses to Mo State? That was almost entirely due to FIU and self-inflicted mistakes, which makes it way more infuriating than the blowout losses to Delaware and UConn.

But for as bad as it’s recently been for the Panthers, it’s been significantly worse for Middle Tennessee. With a 1-7 record, the Blue Raiders are in jeopardy of not even matching their win total of 3-9 last season. So, that makes for a must-win game for FIU. They still have postseason ambitions, while MTSU will look to play spoiler.

“Every team should have pride in playing at home,” said head coach Willie Simmons, who was a member of the MTSU coaching staff from 2007-2011. “During my years there, that was something that, obviously, we talked a lot about protecting our home turf. We’ve had our rough bouts on the road against a lot of our conference opponents, but this team has shown that we can go on the road and play well against quality opponents.”

“Going up to Western earlier this season and winning there did a lot for our confidence. So we’ve shown that we can do that. We’ll need that same type of confidence. We’ll need that same type of energy, starting fast and playing 60 minutes of football. I think that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

Sorrows In Springfield!

The biggest reason why FIU lost to Missouri State? Mistakes. A fumble from both Keyone Jankins and C’Quan Jnopierre early on set an unfortunate tone. But it didn’t stop there; FIU racked up eight penalties. The worst one? Kyle McNeal punched a Missouri State player, got hit with a 15-yard personal foul, and essentially killed a scoring drive late in the game.

Ok, let’s give the Bears some props. They figured out FIU’s deadly running game, limiting Kejon Owens to 63 yards and 115 total rushing yards. On the other side, former Panther Shomari Lawrence blazed by the Panthers’ defense with 104 yards and two touchdowns in a feel-good revenge game, I’m assuming.

Untouched on his way in for 6⃣!#OutHitOutHustle | #ProveIt pic.twitter.com/250SpW2n1F

— Missouri State Football (@MoStateFootball) October 30, 2025

Look, when the Panthers play mistake-free football for a full 60 minutes, and everything’s clicking on offense and defense, you get a performance like their win over Western Kentucky. When they allow mistakes to blossom, you give up a beyond-winnable game to Missouri State. It was already difficult to get to a bowl game, but this loss was a huge setback.

Madness In Murfreesboro?

Things aren’t looking too hot at Floyd right now. This has been a flat-out bad season for MTSU. They had a narrow 14-13 win over Nevada in September, then proceeded to lose five straight games, taking them out of bowl eligibility. What hurts even more is that four of them – against Kennesaw State, Missouri State, Delaware, and Jacksonville State – were one-score losses.

That includes a loss to FCS Austin Peay to open up the season. This isn’t good for head coach Derek Mason. A bit of grace is served for a coach’s first season, as they went 3-9 in 2024. But if things don’t go their way, they might not get to that win total before the season’s over.

Talent-wise, they have playmakers here and there, such as quarterback Nicholas Vattiato. He’ll end up as oe of the greatest QBs in MTSU history, but is having an off-year in his senior season with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. His offensive line hasn’t helped him out much, allowing 17 sacks. That may partially be why their offensive line coach, Kendall Simmons, has now left the program.

Offensive Line Coach Kendall Simmons has stepped away from coaching duties, effective immediately.https://t.co/STYy1FVD2s

— Middle Tennessee Football (@MT_FB) November 4, 2025

They also don’t have a reliable running back, averaging 85.5 rushing yards per game – that’s the second-fewest in Conference USA. Receiving-wise, look for Nahzae Cox to have a big game as their leading receiver with 424 yards and five touchdowns.

Defensively, they give up over 374 yards per game, which is on the low end in CUSA. However, they’ve still found a way to give up 29 points per game, which is on the high end.

Who Wins – FIU or MTSU?

There’s simply too much at stake for FIU in this game not to go into it motivated and ready to play. The most realistic shot of getting to six wins starts with a win on Saturday, and the Panthers have the team to do it.

If anything, this season can be known for snapping losing streaks to teams – FAU and WKU. Well, the Panthers haven’t won in Murfreesboro since 2011. This would be the time to snap that streak once and for all.

Assuming Lyghtz has a pulse, he’ll be playing. And he’s already had to battle better defenses so far this season, so the offense should have its way. On the other end, the defense needs to put up a WKU-type performance – bend, but don’t break in the red zone and force interceptions.

And you can’t tell me there’s a bit of personal revenge for guys like Coach Simmons and Julius Pierce. We found out the hard way last week what revenge can do to a player… or coach.

FIU – 41

MIDDLE TENNESSEE – 24

About Post Author