Sep 07, 2008
The Golden Panthers were shut out for the first time since last season’s opener at Penn State, 42-0 by the Iowa Hawkeyes on their trip to Iowa City, Saturday afternoon. I was FIU’s (0-2) second trip to a major conference opponent in as many weeks, falling to Kansas on Aug. 30, 40-10
The Hawkeyes (2-0) rolled up 512 yard of total offense, with over 200 coming in the first quarter. The hot start can be credited to Ricky Stanzi, who started his first collegiate game for Iowa at quarterback, and
Shonn Greene, who rushed for 130 on 13 carries, 101 of which came in the first quarter.
Stanzi, who split the snaps with incumbent starter Jake Christensen, finished the day 8-of-10 for 162 yards and three touchdowns.
Christensen was ineffective for Iowa in his two first half drives, turning the ball over on downs, and directing a three-and –out. Julian Reams got the ball moving early for FIU, averaging nearly fiver yards per carry in the first half before being sidelined with a concussion, and not returning in the second quarter.
Paul McCall struggled behind a depleted offensive line, which was missing three of its starters, and allowed the FIU quarterbacks to be sacked six times. McCall played only in the first half, and finished 8-of-16 with just 55 yards passing, and two interceptions. The junior starting quarterback looked indecisive at times, and he was replaced to begin the second quarter with Wayne Younger.
Younger had decidedly better results moving the football than McCall, completing six of his first seven passes, and finishing 11-of-20 overall. Younger was able to move the Golden Panthers into Iowa territory twice in the third quarter, but penalties stifled both drives, and FIU turned the ball over on downs.
The scoring began with an 11-yard touchdown run by Shonn Greene on Iowa’s opening drive in the first quarter, which was the first of three Hawkeye scores in the first frame. Ricky Stanzi tossed a 59-yard touchdown pass to Derell Johnson-Koulianos, and Paki O’Meara had a 17-yard touchdown scamper.
In the second quarter, Stanzi threw two more touchdown passes, the first, a 23-yarder to Brandon Myers, and the second, an 8-yarder to Colin Sanderman to take a commanding 35-0 lead into the half.
Jake Christensen engineered a touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to conclude the scoring.
“We got over powered,” said coach Mario Cristobal, about his team who got pushed around by the Iowa lines on both sides of the ball. “Let’s call it what it is, that a Division-I football team that’s way ahead of us right now”
FIU had trouble on the lines for the majority of the day, allowing nine tackles for loss to go along with the six sacks, and defensively, not registering a sack or quarterback hurry in the game.
The coaching staff had planned to insert Wayne Younger into the game at some point, and the breakdowns on the offensive line proved to be one of the reasons Younger played when and as much as he did, and coach Cristobal talked about that decision
“We were having a little bit of trouble holding up up-front, and Wayne had success when he was in there, so we let him go the rest of the way. A game like this is good for a guy like Wayne, because he can escape and be creative on the run and he moved the football and did some good things” The coach also addressed Wayne’s play in the second half, and how it may have an effect on
Paul McCall’s starting job, “We’re still going in with Paul as our starter, and we’ll watch film and make some corrections, but we feel like we said at the beginning of the season, we’ve got two guys that can play football, and Wayne just looked like he was getting hot, and it was more of a better matchup game for him to play in”
Linebacker Scott Bryant looked to the positives after the game, and talked about some attitude adjustments FIU has made under coach Cristobal “We picked our slack up [in the second half], and we didn’t have our heads down, that the old FIU.
The Golden Panthers will have a week off before taking on the South Florida Bulls on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. for their home opener, and the first game in FIU’s new stadium