Richard Gibson/Staff Writer
FIU has finally unveiled the schedule for the 2020 football season. The season will consist of five games at home, and seven on the road. The schedule consists of eight Conference USA teams, one American Athletic Conference team, two Independent Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and one Football Championship Subdivision team. FIU has played nine of these teams in the 2019 football season.
FIU’s first game will be at home against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on September 5th. The Gamecocks are an FCS team who play in Northern Alabama and finished 6-6 last season. Usually, when an FBS team hosts an FCS team, they’re meant to be easy wins. There have been major upsets in the past, however, such as Appalachian State upsetting Michigan in 2014.
In the second week, FIU will travel to Orlando to take on the UCF Knights on September 12th. This AAC team went undefeated two seasons ago, then beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl. In 2019, they went 10-3, then beat Marshall in the Gasparilla Bowl. FIU will host UCF in 2022, as part of their home and home series.
The next game will be on the road against the Old Dominion Monarchs on September 19th. FIU narrowly beat them last year, winning by a score of 24-17. In 2019, they finished their season with a 1-11 record, only beating Norfolk State.
On September 26th, FIU will play in Lynchburg, Virginia, against the Liberty Flames. The Flames, who are an independent FBS school, finished last season with a 7-5 record and beat Georgia Southern in the Cure Bowl. There are only six independent teams in FBS (Liberty, UMass, New Mexico State, Army, Notre Dame, and BYU), and Liberty had the second-best record behind Notre Dame.
From here on out, every team that FIU plays will be an opponent from the 2019 season. After the Liberty Game, FIU will get a one-week bye. Then, they’ll host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on October 10th. The Blue Raiders embarrassed FIU last season, beating them by a score of 50-17.
After that, FIU will go on the road to play the Charlotte 49ers on October 17th. FIU soundly defeated them by a score of 48-23 last season.
Next up is the UMass Minutemen, who FIU will play on the road on October 24th. FIU shut out the Minutemen last season, winning by a score of 44-0. UMass finished the year with a 1-11 record, only beating the Akron Zips.
After this, FIU will host the Marshall Thundering Herd on October 31st. Marshall was the last regular-season opponent for FIU in 2019, and the game ended in a tough 30-27 loss.
FIU will then have to travel to El Paso, Texas, to take on the UTEP Miners on November 7th. This is another team that FIU managed to soundly beat by a score of 32-17.
Next up is perhaps the biggest game of the season: The 19th annual Shula Bowl between FIU and the FAU Owls. The matchup will take place on November 14th at home. The last three matchups between the two schools have all been in favor of FAU, including last season’s 37-7 beatdown. In total, FAU has won 13 of the 19 matchups against FIU, dating back to 2002.
The last game on the road will be against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on November 21st. WKU beat FIU early on in the 2019 season, beating them by a score of 20-14.
The last game of the 2020 regular season will be at home against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on November 28th. LA Tech was also a team that beat FIU early on in the 2019 season, by a score of 43-31.
All in all, this is a difficult schedule for FIU. The fact that they’ll have to play seven road games won’t help them, either. However, if FIU manages to stay healthy and play solid football on both sides of the ball, they shouldn’t have a problem becoming bowl eligible.
A good estimate for FIU’s record this upcoming season is 7-5 Against teams such as Jacksonville State, UMass, Charlotte, and UTEP, FIU should have no problem winning. FIU should beat Liberty, but it’ll be a close match, as Liberty is a better team than people may think. Some other close games will probably be Old Dominion and Western Kentucky, but FIU should win both.
FIU will likely lose to UCF, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, FAU, and Louisiana Tech. UCF has experience against more difficult opponents per season, and every other team managed to beat FIU last year by a wide margin. (Except for Marshall) Still, a 7-5 record is more than enough to become bowl eligible, and it would be FIU’s fourth straight bowl appearance under head coach Butch Davis.
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