Adrian Benitez | Staff Writer
Junior quarterback Haden Carlson didn’t expect to have the FIU football team’s season on his back.
The quarterback hailing from Lutz, Florida had been warming the bench all season until tonight, where not one, but two Panther quarterbacks left the game with shoulder injuries.
To make matters worse, Carlson was entering the game with the Panthers trailing 27-21 to the UTEP Miners, who had failed to win any of their 6 previous games. One of these losses was against the FCS Southern Utah Thunderbirds.
Carlson, thrust into the spotlight with no warning, had six minutes to avert an embarrassing loss that would put the Panthers’ season in jeopardy.
This was the culmination of a chaotic game between the Panthers and Miners played on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
UTEP won the toss and elected to receive. After a three-and-out, the Panthers’ special teams unit opened the game in style by blocking a punt. The Panthers’ offense would have a boost on their first drive, starting at the 30.
FIU quickly took advantage of the opportunity, getting into the endzone in three plays. Junior wide receiver Dean Patterson got the score from 16 yards out, giving the Panthers a quick lead.
The Miners responded quickly, with sophomore wide receiver Kenny Odom getting behind the defense to catch a 62-yard pass. Their offense stalled out afterward and was held to a field goal, making the score 7-3.
The offense had opportunities to respond, but couldn’t make them happen. Most notably, a deep pass to junior wide receiver Eric Rivers which could have gone for a touchdown was overthrown.
Later in the quarter, the defense came up big. Miners freshman running back Ezell Jolly fumbled the ball and senior defensive back CJ Christian fell on it. The Panthers got the ball at the opposing 38.
Unfortunately, the Panthers would squander the field position in the worst way possible when sophomore quarterback Keyone Jenkins threw a pass right to senior linebacker Dorian Hopkins. Hopkins ran the ball 84 yards, setting the Miners up at 1st and goal.
Jenkins was injured attempting to tackle Hopkins on the return, forcing the Panthers to make a quarterback change on their next series.
The Miners quickly capitalized on the pick, with sophomore quarterback Skyler Locklear running it into the endzone from three yards out, giving UTEP a 10-7 lead to open the second quarter.
After Jenkins’ injury, sophomore quarterback Amari Jones entered the game.
On his second drive under center, the Panthers made a bold call by going for it on 4th and 3. The decision paid off in spades when Jones found Rivers, who took it all the way into the endzone from 33 yards out. The Panthers were back in front.
After a lengthy drive from the Miners, The Panthers got the ball with two minutes to go in the half. Their drive stalled out due to two consecutive misplaced snaps from freshman center Jaheim Buchanon, one of which nearly resulted in a safety.
The resulting punt from inside the five-yard line gave the Miners the ball in Panthers territory. Quickly capitalizing, Locklear found junior running back Jevon Jackson for a 22-yard receiving touchdown to give the Miners a 17-14 lead at the break.
On the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half, they made it to their own 48 before going for it on fourth down. The play was stuffed, resulting in a third Miners drive starting in Panthers territory.
A 15-yard penalty on junior linebacker Travion Barnes made matters even worse. Thankfully, the Panthers’ defense would mitigate any further damage and hold the Miners to a field goal. UTEP’s lead increased to six points.
The Panthers started fast on the ensuing drive, with Jones finding Rivers for a 30-yard completion. Unfortunately, two offensive penalties moved the drive back by 15 yards and forced a disappointing punt.
Thankfully, the defense came through, forcing a punt that went only 17 yards, giving the Panthers the ball in their own territory. Despite this, the drive would end in disaster when junior safety Lantz Russell picked off Jones.
However, the defense bailed the team out again in a paradoxical way when junior defensive back Bobby Salla Jr. got an interception of his own on the very next play. A 32-yard return set the Panthers up with a 1st and goal.
Junior running back Kejon Owens slammed it into the endzone immediately after, and the Panthers got the lead back to end the third quarter.
Unfortunately, the defense would allow the Miners to travel 76 yards downfield on the next drive. Jackson ran for 31 yards in the series, ending it with his second touchdown of the game. The Miners took a 27-21 lead.
With 6:31 to go in the fourth, senior defensive lineman Maurice Westmoreland came crashing down on Jones with a big sack that knocked him out of the game. Down by six with time running out, it was now up to third-string Carlson to lead the offense.
Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Carlson’s second pass was picked off by sophomore cornerback Amier Matthews-Boyd. Carlson was the third different Panther quarterback to throw an interception in the contest.
The UTEP offense moved down the field quickly, eventually making a field goal to move the score to 30-21. With 2:35 remaining, the game had virtually been iced.
The Panthers got the ball back only for junior safety Dillon Williams to get the Miners’ fourth interception of the day. Jackson would get off a 42-yard run for good measure, and UTEP would go down to a knee to seal an improbable first win of their season.
The Panthers’ run defense woes from the Liberty matchup carried over into this game. The defense gave up 211 yards on the ground, 148 of which were tallied by Jackson alone. This is becoming a worrying trend for the Panthers’ defense.
Though the defense wasn’t great, the offense did them no favors. The Miners scored 20 of their 30 points on drives that started in Panthers territory. These short fields were all accrued through some sort of mistake made by the offense.
The offensive line had a particularly bad game. The unit gave up 25 penalty yards and two sacks, one of which resulted in Jones being knocked out of the game. Adding Buchanon’s bad snaps to the mix makes the cumulative effort look even worse.
However, more than anything, this loss can be chalked up to something that has been a pervasive issue with Panthers football: playing down to inferior competition.
Even taking the quarterback injuries into account, the fact remains: A Panthers team fighting for a chance to make a bowl game should not have played like this against this Miners team, especially given their performance against undefeated Liberty last week.
Nevertheless, the Panthers record now drops to 2-5 after the loss, leaving the team’s back right up against the wall. Bowl contention is now almost certainly out of the picture barring a miraculous late-season run.
Desperately searching for a way to patch up their sinking ship, the Panthers will return home to Pitbull Stadium to play the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
Follow Adrian Benitez on X: @ab305FIU
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