Panthers Fall To 0-3 On Vice Night Against Kennesaw State

For all the glamour and aesthetics that Vice Night provides to Pitbull Stadium, capping it off with a win would be a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, FIU Football was unable to keep up with Kennesaw State, falling to them by a score of 45-26. It’s certainly a step up from the blowout losses to Delaware and UConn, but a loss is still a loss.

Granted, there are more positives than usual in a loss like this for FIU. KSU was the first-place team in Conference USA following Western Kentucky’s loss to the Panthers last week. In just their second year in FBS, they’re already vying for a spot in the CUSA Championship, let alone a bowl game appearance.

“We’ll take a day off to decompress, and then we’ll get back to work on Thursday to try to figure out how to get this thing fixed,” said head coach Willie Simmons postgame. “There’s still a lot of football to play. We got an outside shot at this thing, but we got to take care of business.”

In some aspects of this game, FIU stacked up well against them and overtook them in a few categories. Still, it just wasn’t enough to overcome self-inflicted wounds as the Panthers failed to take down TWO Owls in one season.

Decent, But Not Enough

On offense, Keyone Jenkins had one of his best performances of the season with 296 yards and a passing touchdown. However, take this with a grain of salt, as that TD to Eric Nelson and a good chunk of yards came from a garbage-time touchdown with minutes to go.

Still, Lyghtz had a second-straight game with no interceptions. The passing game is slowly but surely becoming more consistent.

On that note, the running game remains the primary power source of the offense. Kennesaw State had one of the best rush defenses in CUSA, but the Panthers still racked up 207 yards and a touchdown from Kejon Owens on the ground.

On defense, the secondary had a bad night. They gave up two 70+ yard touchdowns, even if the second one was because Ashton Levells was injured as the play began. Still, 284 yards allowed by both Amari Odom AND Dexter Williams II is not a good look.

They had a rough first half, giving up 24 points. However, the defense adjusted and didn’t allow a score for almost all of the third quarter until the doors were blown open.

Noah Grant nailed a 43-yard field goal with eight minutes to go in the third quarter. However, when faced with a 23-yard chip shot, he missed it. The latter 70-yard touchdown was given up only a few plays later, which ended up being the nail in the coffin.

Hope Lies Ahead

Overall, this was a flawed game for FIU. Combine that with multiple penalties that wiped away solid plays, and FIU dug itself into a hole it couldn’t overcome.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel, though. Kennesaw State was arguably the toughest opponent remaining on the schedule. With a 3-4 record and five games to go, the road to six wins is still possible.

They’ll head on the road to take on the Missouri State Bears on Wednesday, October 29th at 8pm. It can be seen nationally on CBS Sports Network. It’s also the final Weekday CUSA game of the season for the Panthers.

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