Our Cardinals are rolling right along during the early part of this college football season and will take a 3-0 record into week four. The Cards really haven’t been challenged yet and I don’t think that will change on Saturday when the Florida International Panthers come to town for a noon kickoff. The game won’t be televised but you can watch it on ESPN 3. The Cardinals and Panthers have battled on the gridiron two times in the past and the series is tied at 1-1. FIU came to Louisville on September 9th 2011 and beat the Cardinals 24 to 17. Last year it was the Cardinals who claimed victory down in Miami beating the Panthers 28-21.
The best way to sum up this FIU program is by using the word “raw”. They are in complete rebuild mode with a new coach, new players and a new league. Their new coach is Ron Turner, the ex-Illinois coach who spent the last eight seasons in the NFL before returning to the college game. And they moved from the Sun Belt to Conference USA. The Panthers are 0-3 to start their season and are hungry for that first win of the year.
FIU has some decent players at their skill positions. Leading Ron Turner’s pro style West Coast offense will be junior quarterback Jake Medlock. He has passed for 300 yards and one touchdown this season. Medlock did sustain a concussion last weekend against Bethune-Cookman. Should Medlock not be able to play, sophomore E.J. Hilliard would start in his place. Hilliard has completed 10 of 13 passes this season in relief duty, totaling 75 yards. Coach Turner said Medlock was day-to-day, and he refused to rule him out for Saturday’s game.
The primary targets have been sophomore WR T.J. Lowder, sophomore WR Fred Porter, and freshman TE Jonnu Smith. These three have combined for 300 yards and two TDs this season. At 6-2 and 6-3 Porter and Smith are a prototypically sized starting receiver corps for this system. The receiving group is the deepest group on this team.
One of the expected foundations in a rebuilding season for FIU’s football team was Kedrick Rhodes. He was destined to be that schools all-time leading rusher. All that before he was dismissed from the team for firing a gun on campus. Taking over the running back workload are sophomore Lamarq Caldwell, and freshman Alfonso Randolph. These guys have combined for 62 carries for over 180 yards so far this season. As I mentioned above this FIU team has several great young raw athletes in the skill positions. Unfortunately for this offense they also have a raw offensive front; the Panthers are breaking in five new starters along the line. This group is going to struggle against a tough Cardinal defense to have enough room and time to operate. Charles Gaines, Preston Brown and Lorenzo Mauldin should be more than up for this challenge and I look for the Louisville defense to impose their will Saturday.
FIU’s defense lost its star end, two leading figures at tackle, the entire starting linebacker corps and three starters in the secondary. This defense will rely heavily on the group up front. They have a big and versatile defensive front led by senior tackles Isame Faciane and Greg Hickman. They also have two very good DE’s in Giovani Francois and Paul Crawford. They will help in keeping a Cardinal running game from going wild, but our Cardinals will face an inexperienced secondary this weekend in Papa Johns Stadium and will likely look to take advantage early and often. I don’t see a way FIU holds Teddy and company under 400 yards through the air.
The Cardinals are a 40 plus favorite in this game and the bottom line here is FIU’s youth and inexperience. They have been exploited in every game they’ve played this season and that won’t change Saturday. If you are a rebuilding football team the last thing you want to see on the schedule this year is that Cardinal head. It’s going to be a long day for Florida International. And should be a great opportunity for Louisville to work on some things before the schedule gets tougher.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 55 FIU 6