First road game of season against Louisville brings national spotlight

By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer

History was made on Sept.1 when FIU won their first home opening game at the FBS level against conference foe North Texas 41-16. On Sept. 9 they will try to make some more history and beat a BCS school for the first time ever as they take on the Louisville Cardinals in Kentucky on ESPN.

In the first week of the season, the Golden Panthers were able to rack up 401 total yards of offensive, with 283 of them coming from T.Y. Hilton, the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week. However, this time the Golden Panthers will face the 38th-ranked defense in the nation, something head coach Mario Cristobal is well aware of.

“They are known for playing a lot of man defense, they challenge you and they make you make plays,” said Cristobal. “They play a lot of freshmen. They did last year and played a lot this past game as well, and it’s going to be a lot harder to come by.”

The man coverage that Louisville uses may play be an advantage for the offense   especially for T.Y. Hilton, who caught a 60-yard touchdown in the season opener. After the game, the senior wideout couldn’t believe that North Texas played single coverage on him. According to Cristobal, the challenge is on everyone, and it is a test that the players are looking forward to.

The two players who will be responsible for trying to stop Hilton, Anthony Conner and Jordan Paschal, are relatively new cornerbacks. Conner, a redshirt senior, missed the entire season last year to a torn ACL and played has played in just 10 games for his collegiate career, all coming in 2009 with no interceptions. Paschal is a redshirt freshmen and did not play last week due to an injury. He may be able to play Friday.

“We will see as the course of the game goes on where we can go with the ball and what we can do,” said Carroll on the possible idea of exploiting the corners with Hilton.

The Louisville defense last year held opponents to 19 points per game and allowed 144 yards rushing and 167 yards passing per game. In their first game against Murray State, they held them to just nine points, 148 yards passing and 143 yards rushing. They have had to replace Malcolm Tatum (44 tackles, 4.5 sacks) and third-team All-Big East defensive end Rodney Gnat (29 tackles, nine sacks) on the defensive line, but still return seven starters on defense overall.

The defense of FIU has not given up any points just one game into the season and plan on bringing the same intensity and mentality to the Louisville offense. One advantage that they will have is new defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, who coached against the Cardinal offense just one year ago while he was the defensive coordinator at UConn. In that game, Louisville put up 26 points against his defense in a 26-0 loss.

“Their offensive coordinator is a pro guy, and last year playing us they came out and played with passion and they get after it,” Orlando said.

This year’s offense will look much different with new starting quarterback Will Stein and new starting running back senior Victor Anderson.

Stein threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns in the win versus Murray State, while Anderson, who is replacing fourth round draft pick and first-team All-Big East running back Bilal Powell, ran for 61 yards on nine carries with one touchdown.

The Cardinals also lost their top two wide receiver threats from a year ago in Cameron Graham and Doug Beaumont, making life a little easier for their secondary, who could be without senior safety Chuck Grace. Grace is facing possible suspension for a hit to the head he gave Andrew Powers of North Texas towards the end of the game.

If Grace does not see the field, there are a wide variety of players who Cristobal mentioned that can take his place. Terrance Taylor, Justin Halley and Demarkus Perkins come to mind. Right now, Taylor to start at free safety on the depth chart.