FIU wins a close one 31-27.

Nice video, Pete...and cool to see FIU's own Isiah so cool and relaxed while touting his FIU basketball player, team and program. Really nice.

Great stuff, Pete. Interesting that Pooh Bear might make it a go this late in the season, but hope he makes an immediate and positive contribution on the team. As for him being recruited as a safety, I don't recall reading that in my following of his recruitment, as he was also talked about as a linebacker by rivals, scout, and ESPN.com. It appears to me he is a linebacker...and a good one at it. Actually, in his visit to Iowa State, according to ISU's rivals page, he met with their linebacker coach, after which meeting he said "I met with the linebackers coach and we talked about playing weakside backer. That's what I played in the Army Bowl".

+1 Pete. @FIU FPL: those are very good points you brought up there, and some interesting ones I didn't notice as well. As for Man Child and Laporte, I suspect that we will see more of them with every passing week. Also, some in my group saw at the beginning of the second half where Cedric Mack apparently got overcome with heat exhaustion or something related, as the trainers had to put bags of ice all over his upper body. How is he doing, and what happened to him?

Not the prettiest win ever, especially since we started out in front 21-0, only to survive the game, but hey...it's a win! While the officiating was as terrible as I've seen, particularly early on, we have to do something with all those penalties if we want to reach our potential and win some games in our conference. Other than that, I enjoyed the game, the tailgating, the festivities and thought the crowd, the students in particular, are beginning to buy into this thing called College Football. Congrats FIU!

Interesting stuff guys! Alt, anything that has to do with recruiting of players that are not officially part of the team OR that have NOT signed a letter of intent (LOI) can not be discussed by coaches, staff, and (I assume) employees of FIU Athletics, since it can lead to NCAA sanctions. I suppose that once some of these recruits actually sign to play for FIU, maybe Pete can talk a little bit more freely, and perhaps even interview them....and I'm not totally sure of this, btw. It's better to be safe than sorry in this respect.

Nice insightful story on Wes Carrol, Pete. As for the game, FIU beats WKU 34-24.

Cool and good stuff with "The Other Game"... Interesting thing about the ESPN refusing to change FIU in everything they do, but I found it even more intriguing the fact they don't oblige with Virginia Tech either.

Gooch, what we have is we host UCF and Duke, while going to Louisville confirmed for next year, and I think I read where Pete posted not long ago that the 4th OOC game next year...and the following...would be Akron.

Very proud of Mike and his career as a Miamian and FIU'er, besides a great Florida Marlin as well. Congratulations on such a productive career Mike!!

Thanks for the extra info on men's basketball, Pete. It sure seems as if Eric Frederick has caused an impression on several returning players's minds. It does appear he is a 'wide body', which is precisely kind of what we need. However, I remember reading about him on several reports, he can step out and really hit the 3-pointers as well. Really not usual to have kids grow that much this late, but it does happen to some (David Robinson at Navy is the prime example I remember), so it bodes well for Brandon Moore to add a couple of inches, especially if his "specialty" is blocking shots. We need as many of those as possible.

Good to see that Laporte is finally healthy enough to make the trip and perhaps even get some playing time. We need all the tools we have at our disposal, and depth will be improved as well. As far as the game between the Panthers goes, I'm not feeling it as well. Of course, I hope and want FIU to win, but I will call this game as Pitt winning it 35-17.

I pretty much agree with your grading of the units, Pete. As far as special teams, I would say we've actually taken a step back this year, as we've had punts blocked, and punt returned for a TD already, while not really breaking one TD return of our own....of course, TY finally had a special return late in the Maryland game. I agree with Puma's assertion about the apparent propensity of our defense to give up several "big plays" a game to the opposing offense, even after dominating pretty much the game defensively. Point last week against Maryland, where FIU gave up 169 rushing yards total, of which 132 came on the 2 rushing TD's they had. Other than those 2 runs, Maryland only had 37 yards rushing in 26 rushing attempts! If our defense learns to play a little more consistent in terms of not having a couple of defensive breakdowns, this defense might become formidable. If they don't, then unfortunately, the big play may become our defensive achilles heel. Very good Offensive Line play so far as well, with WR's doing very good too....

IA very nice Out of the Cage segment, Pete. Interesting that Phil Gary mentioned Frederick as the newcomer that's impressed him the most. Hope he comes in and produces immediately and in bunches.

The new locker rooms and meeting rooms are done with extreme class and look so much better, plus bigger than the previous space for men's and women's locker room area. Very good insight into what's going on in terms of improvements on the Bank. Thanks for showing us.

Exactly Max! Nice feature on Toronto, Pete. Let's go FIU!!

Like many of the posters here have already indicated, Maryland will not take us lightly, as perhaps both Rutgers and aTM did on varying degrees. So, our team should focus and train hard to bring it on Saturday noon over at the Maryland field, because the Terps will come out fighting. It's really hard to predict on FIU winning because of our history. But I will this time around. FIU wins 24-17.

I agree with Blue and Gold Heart. We are, once again, double-digit underdogs (or at least were at the beginning of the week)to Maryland, and we have our work cut out, plus I believe their coaching staff won't have such a hard time making their players realize that FIU is a lot better than 0-2 this season. Of course, the more depleted their O-Line is before and during the game, the better our chances for an upset will be. I'm hoping on it!! Go FIU!!

Nice story, Pete. We are all waiting for IT to happen...not talking about Isiah. We are playing some good defensive football, and I hope we can keep improving and start finishing up games like real soon. Go FIU!

Nice interview Pete!! I like the overall vision, and renewed emphasis of growth that President Rosenberg is pushing forward. It will make FIU undoubtedly one of the top 10-12 universities in the nation in terms of enrollment, while still pushing for an overall improvement in the FIU "student experience", without compromising numbers. I like it. Main Street FIU, 20,000 more students in 10 years, doubling the amoung of on campus residents in 5 years, exploring the possibilities of more "mixed use" (retail, parking, and FIU students' residences) agreement with the city of Sweetwater and perhaps with the Youth Fair. That's what I'm talking about....

Great comments and find, Alex. I can't wait to see how our team responds to last week's loss, after the first week's loss to Rutgers. I hope our team comes back firing on all cylinders come Saturday noon, and provide us with the upset win we've been waiting for so long. Here's to our team's performance against TAMU last Saturday!! Go FIU!!

Garrett Wittels is a class act indeed...and a great ambassador of FIU as well.

Very nice write up. As FIUer stated, this serves as a nice "change of pace" in between games and other related personnel info. Hoping for a surprisingly happy message board tomorrow night at around 10-11 pm. Go FIU!!

Nice to hear/read all this basketball information straight from our head coach, Pete. I too, can't wait now for FIU hoops, even if Dom Ferguson doesn't get to play this season. Yes, FIUFan, I distinctly remember Shakey's RP-40 motto since the very first year he arrived at FIU. Those were fun years indeed in hoops. My prediction for the TAMU-FIU game is TAMU 34 FIU 24. Of course, I'm hoping for an FIU victory over in College Station, Texas. Go FIU!!

Great blog, as usual. I would also like to ask Coach Cristobal if any other "late signee" will be available for next year's class. There was some talk that a 4-star Offensive Lineman who originally signed with Michigan was (somehow) a possibility to end up at FIU. Also, Alphonso Bryant, another 4-star recruit when he signed with UCF two years ago, was rumored to be interested and decided to enroll at FIU during Summer B. Any news on this?