After big win, Golden Panthers shift focus to Knights

By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer

The first practice after the biggest win in FIU regular season history got cut short due to lightening. No, it was not the streaks of T.Y Hilton who won the Sun Belt offensive player of the week for the second straight time this year and the Walter Camp offensive player of the week award, it was the inclement weather often seen in Miami around noon.

“It’s just like camp, lightning comes so we come in, go over some more plays under the shelter and then just look at coach Mario Cristobal and if he says that’s it, then that’s it,” said Hilton.

Hilton struck the Heisman pose after his second touchdown of the night against Louisville, but his plans on ever doing it again are probable.

“I just got caught up in the moment; I probably won’t do it again,” Hilton said.

Along with Hilton’s accolades, linebacker Winston Fraser was awarded defensive player of the week for the Sun Belt for his 71-yard interception return for a touchdown and eight tackles against Louisville.

The defense held Louisville to only 17 points in the win and made key stops on third downs and near the endzone and towards the end of the game, but quarterback Will Stein did throw for a career high 349    yards.

“A lot of those yards came later in the ball game, and we had six sacks but we should have had more,” said Cristobal. “We have to have more plays on offense, they had 80 plus plays and we had about 50.”

Practice began at 10:30 a.m. with some light drills and situational plays that the first and second teams ran. Seen on the field in an orange injury jersey was starting defensive end Tourek Williams, but head coach Cristobal did not say much about it, only that he is “good to go.”

They will take on the number one ranked defense in college football in points on Saturday when they face the University of Central Florida, who just recently held Boston College to a field goal in their 30-3 victory over the weekend.

With that win, the Knights moved up to number 30 in the latest associated press poll, which means they will be the highest ranked team the Panthers have played so far.

The bulk of their defensive domination is a result of teams not being able to run the ball on them.  They have allowed 1.9 yards per carry through two games, and Boston College totaled 57 yards the entire game.  This does not bode well for FIU who, after their four touchdowns, 208 yard rushing performance against North Texas in week one of the season, got only 45 when they faced BCS school in Louisville.

The offense that they have generated has been mostly on the ground while compiling 551 rushing and 431 passing. Like former UCF star quarterback Daunte Culpepper, sophomore quarterback Jeff Godfrey likes to run the ball and has a Conference USA high five rushing touchdowns right now. He also had 13 rushes for 69 yards against BC.

When he is not using his legs he is using his arm, one that has produced 26-35 completions and 287 yards passing, but zero touchdowns. This could be a key game for the FIU defense in noticing that they like to score their touchdowns on the ground, rather than through the air.

They also make great use of a deep running back roster that contains Ronnie Weaver, Brynn Harvey and Latavius Murray. All three have rushed for 100 plus yards on the season.

It is unknown whether this could be the next serious rival for FIU, but either way Hilton is not too worried about it.

“It could be a big rivalry game, two teams from Florida and we’re just ready to battle it out,” Hilton said.