There is a process when you have a bad football team on your hands

First, you get a little disappointed that the team is expected to be awful. Second, you realize first hand how bad that team is and you partake in the bashing of a down-and-out program. And finally, you open your eyes in a moment of realization and figure out that if the team will ever prosper again, they must continue to be awful for the foreseeable future.

Ever hear the saying, “It’s always darkest before dawn”?

Well that’s my point exactly. The football team is 0-3. They got blown out by an above average ACC team in Maryland 43-10. They got shutout by in-state rival UCF 38-0. And they were kind enough to provide Bethune-Cookman University with their first ever win over an FBS school in a  34-13 route.

And if you were at all cringing at the site of that last graph, this next one will definitely have you running for the hills.

Up next for the Panthers is the nationally ranked University of Louisville. I think I might of understated Louisville in that last sentence so let me play them up because they deserve that much respect.

The Cardinals come into the FIU game 3-0, with wins over Ohio, Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky. Now those are not names to be impressed with whatsoever but it is not whom they have beaten that is impressive, but the way they have beaten these teams. The Cardinals have allowed a combined 27 points in their first three games. In comparison, the Panthers have allowed a combined 115 points through their first three contests.

My point is the Cardinals are way, way, way better than anything FIU has seen this year and that this game could be the darkest moment in the Panthers season.

But remember, it’s always darkest before the dawn.

And maybe there are a few glimpses of light shining on this team. The B-CU game was a coming out party for T.J. Lowder, who caught six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Maybe, just maybe he’s the second coming of another famous two-initialed first name wide receiver who once donned the Panthers colors. The guy I am talking about, T.Y. Hilton, once torched Louisville for some 200 plus total yards en route to probably the biggest win in FIU football history.

With the 100-yard performance last week, Lowder became the first FIU receiver since Hilton to  have a 100-yard game by his third career start. Freaky ain’t it.

Lowder, who was a true freshman when Hilton was a senior in 2011, has kept in touch with the Indianapolis Colts star in order to get help on how to become a better player. Well, at least last week it looked like whatever Hilton has been preaching, Lowder has been listening.

Lowder has a ton of upside. He’s just a redshirt sophomore and still has two years to hone in on his craft and become that unstoppable force that Hilton once was for the Panthers.

And if he ever wanted to be “The man,” like Hilton was, there could not be a better stage to do it on than against Louisville on Saturday. Remember, that was the same stage T.Y. once took and he took the Cardinals by storm.