Richard Gibson/Staff Writer
FIU continued their dominance in the Riccardo Silva Stadium, beating UTEP by a score of 32-17. FIU has now won four of their five home games.
The Panthers have played their last three games at home against UMass, Charlotte, and UTEP. The offense of FIU has put up a combined 124 points in that stretch, and their defense has only allowed 40 points total.
“A win is a win.” said head coach Butch Davis. “You don’t win the game without some good things happening. We’re scoring points as well as controlling field positioning. We had a decent practice on Tuesday, but an average on Wednesday. Our practice on Thursday was really hard, and the team responded, and the leaders stepped up.”
FIU’s passing game, led by quarterback James Morgan, was a key part of FIU’s offense. Early on in the first quarter, it proved to be successful, setting up kicker Jose Borregales for the FIU’s first points with a 32-yard field goal. The defense was slow in the first quarter, giving up a touchdown to UTEP with five minutes left.
While the first quarter seemed to favor UTEP, everything changed in the second quarter. FIU’s offense and the defense began to step up. Not long after the second quarter began, Morgan threw a nine-yard passing touchdown to wide receiver Shemar Thornton.
In the resulting offensive drive for UTEP, FIU’s defense pushed them back to their own end zone. A high snap went over their quarterback’s head and landed in the end zone. Just like that, FIU got its first safety of the season, and the score was 12-7.
The rest of the second quarter consisted of field goals from Borregales, with the first being 34 yards, and the second being 46 yards. FIU’s lead heading into halftime was 18-7.
The third quarter was a stalemate between both teams. Both defenses held each other for the entire quarter, and neither team scored any points.
In the fourth quarter, FIU put up two more touchdowns thanks to running backs Napoleon Maxwell and Anthony Jones. Even though UTEP managed to score a field goal and a touchdown, there was too little time left.
Morgan had a solid night, throwing for 150 yards and a passing touchdown.
“Offensively, there were a lot of things we could’ve cleaned up, but we still did some things pretty well. We executed our stuff, and the defense played great, and it ended up being a win,” said Morgan.
Jones had a fantastic night, consisting of 15 carries and 102 rushing yards and a touchdown. Maxwell also rushed for 37 yards off of five carries and another touchdown.
The defense also had a fantastic night. UTEP struggled to get any rhythm on offense for most of the second half. CB Rishard Dames got the only interception on the night in the first half. FIU had more yards in both rushing and passing, totaling 335 yards, in comparison to UTEP’s 274 yards.
Borregales was perfect, going 3/3 on field goals as well as extra points. In the past three games, Borregales has gone 6/6 in field goals, and only missed one extra point. Borregales believes his bonds with his holder and snapper have helped him.
“Alec Hallman is my holder, and Tommy Zozus is my snapper. Tommy’s my roommate, and we talk a lot. Sometimes we have bad practices, and we talk it out and get it out of our heads. Alec came from Oregon, and I loved getting to know him. It’s just good to have him on the team. He’s always motivating, and I always trust him,” said Borregales.
FIU’s record is now 4-3, and they only need two more wins to become bowl eligible for the third straight season. Their next game will be on the road against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, October 26th at 3:30 p.m. The next home game for FIU will be in two weeks when they go against Old Dominion.
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