Panthers have four games left to get it together

Anthony Calatayud / Contributing writer

This 2014-2015 Panther football team has been eons better on both sides of the ball than the previous year’s squad.

We are now a little more than halfway through the college football season and the team has tripled its win total from a year ago. With four games left in the season, the Panthers are staring at a 3-5 record.

The team is scattered with freshman starters on offense like quarterback Alex McGough and running back Alex Gardner, but also has solid veteran players on defense like cornerback and return specialist Richard Leonard. The Panthers are on pace for a 6-6 season, which would be a big swing up from last years 1-11 campaign.

If you read my profile piece on junior tight end Ya’keem Griner earlier this season, you’d know he predicted a six-win season. Also, if you’re a loyal listener to Panther Sports Talk Live, you would also know that I had faith in this team to at least hover over the .500 mark for the season.

With four games left on the schedule, all of them being conference opponents, the Panthers will take on Rice University at home, Old Dominion University away in Norfolk, Virginia, Middle Tennessee State University at home and University of North Texas away in Denton, Texas.

These four teams have a combined record of 13-15. Only Middle Tennessee is above .500, at 5-3. The Panthers have a realistic shot at being 7-5 or 6-6 this season, that win total equals a bowl game, ladies and gents!

Let’s take a look back at what has happened through eight games this season by using one of the more famous old western movies, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

 

The Good

True freshman McGough has led the Panthers in passing yards this season and is on pace for 1,700 yards 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. To put those numbers into perspective, Conner Halliday the NCAA leader in passing yards currently has 3,344. That is almost double McGough’s projected total for the year.

I mention that to tell you, good readers, that McGough is a true freshman. Yes, this Panthers offense isn’t going to put up 3,500 yards passing in a season but there is enormous room for growth with this kid.

Another shining spot on this team is sophomore tight end Jonnu Smith. Every time the Panthers need a big play on offense, #87 answers the call. Smith currently has 42 receptions for 485 yards and four touchdowns. He was named tight end of the week honorable mention by College Football Performance Awards after his game-high 8 catches for 74 yards against Marshall this past week.

This is a player that I think can play on Sundays in a year or two.

Finally, junior cornerback Richard Leonard has led the defensive to an impressive No. 1 national ranking in takeaways for the season (25) and has five interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. This is another player that will be on an NFL roster after his time at FIU.

 

The Bad

This section isn’t the worst; we saved that for ugly. This section is just to highlight some of the things that have been flat out bad about this Panther team.

The most obvious candidates for the “bad” section are the two losses to Bethune-Cookman University and University of Texas at San Antonio. The Panthers lost those two games by a combined five points.

The Bethune-Cookman game could be written off because of the quarterback instability in the first game of the season.

The second, against UTSA, cannot be written off. With a 10-7 lead at half, the Roadrunners kick three straight field goals to FIU’s one and end up winning 16-13. The Panthers had five turnovers in the game and two of those five came on literally the last two drives of the game. That’s bad.

 

The Ugly

I like to keep this section short and sweet. No one likes being ugly, not even football teams.

These stats are just plain ugly, though. FIU is ranked No. 105 in turnovers lost with 15 in eight games. Also, they are ranked No. 114 in the nation in sacks allowed with 26 for 188 yards at a clip of 3.25 per game.

Those two numbers correlate to one thing: the offensive line needs to get together and stop allowing defensive players to get to the quarterback thus limiting sacks and driving the turnover number way down.

FIU was on a bye last week, Oct. 25, but will take the field against Rice University on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 12 p.m. at The Cage.