Game Ten
:FIU: :@: :Arkansas_State:
Game Notes
--- Continuing down the homestretch of the 2013 season, the conference race still as tight as ever, with us on top at 6-0, Troy right on our asses as 6-1 and Arkansas State right behind at 4-1. If we win this game, we clinch at least a guaranteed share of the title. If we lose, it’s all up in the air. The Red Wolves come into the game with a 6-3 record, 4-1 in the Sun Belt and look to continue their winning ways over us, sitting at 2-0 against us in my career. We, meanwhile, are looking to continue our best ever winning streak, sitting currently at six games. We won the coin toss and elected to kick.
The Red Wolves had a minor setback at the start of their offensive drive, getting tagged for a false start penalty, but Phillip Butterfield got the offense corrected quickly, throwing passes of 6 and 12 yards for an early first down. After a three yard rush by Sir Gregory Thornton, Butterfield threw a 4 yard pass to make it third and three before picking up the first down by himself on a five yard rush. After a 19 yard pass, Thornton got tackled for a two yard loss, though quickly made it up with a 15 yard pass to Carlos McCants. After an incomplete pass, Butterfield found Dexter Samuel for two yards and Thornton picked up six yards on the ground, not enough however, as the Red Wolves were left with fourth and one from our 11 yard line. Bobby Zalud got the Red Wolves on the board first with a 28 yard field goal, making it 3-0 with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Our first drive got started on the 21 yard line, Storm Johnson taking the ball up the gut. Up the gut didn’t gain much as the Red Wolves defense swarmed Johnson for only a two yard gain. Two incomplete passes, and that was the end of our drive.
After calling fair catch on the 38 yard punt at their own 38 yard line, the Red Wolves again started moving the ball, with Thornton picking up four yards before Butterfield connected with McCants for 16 yards. After a two yard rush by Butterfield made it second and 8 at our 40 yard line, Butterfield was forced to throw the ball away on consecutive plays, bring the ASU drive screeching to a halt. Zalud’s punt went 44 yards and ended in a touchback. Our next offensive drive, we came out firing as Jake Medlock found Willis Wright for a 24 yard gain along the right hash marks for a first down at our 44 yard line. After a three yard rush by Johnson and an incomplete pass by Medlock, Johnson was able to haul in an 11 yard pass from Medlock on third and 7 to give our offense new life in Arkansas State territory at their 42 yard line. After an incomplete pass intended for Wright, Medlock found Dominique Rhymes over the middle for a 19 yard gain, before connecting with Wright for a 23 yard touchdown pass as the clock hit all zeros. A PAT by Yusef Hagen and we had a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After a 16 yard kickoff return to open up the second quarter and start the Red Wolves at their own 21 yard line, it was nowhere but backwards for their offense, as Butterfield was tackled for a four yard loss, and two incomplete passes, left the Red Wolves facing fourth and 14 at their own 17 yard line. A 40 yard punt was fair caught by Johnson to give us the ball at our 42 yard line. Johnson got our drive off to a fast start, picking up 12 yards on an off tackle rush, to give us first down at the ASU 46 yard line. Johnson kept it going as he hauled in a 19 yard pass from Medlock, giving us first down at the 28 yard line. A 17 yard pass to Rhymes set up first down at the 11 yard line with 3:47 left in the half. Johnson would only need one more play, taking a pitch left, beating the corner and diving over the pylon and into the end zone for the 11 yard touchdown rush, giving us a 14-3 lead with 3:32 left in the first half.
Despite starting on their own 12 yard line, the Red Wolves had little worry as our defense handed them five free yards on an offside penalty, before Thornton picked up a first down with a 7 yard rush. After throwing away a pass, Butterfield rushed for a pair of four yards gains, leaving the Red Wolves with fourth and two on their 34 yard line and another punt coming up. Taking back over on offense on our 30 yard line, Johnson and Darrian Mallary combined in an unstoppable rushing effort, breaking off six straight rushes of 4, 19, 18, 3, 10 and 14 yards, before Johnson walked the ball in on first and goal from the half yard line for the touchdown, making it 21-3 with 31 seconds left in the first half. After a 23 yard kickoff return out to the ASU 33 yard line, four straight incomplete passes from Butterfield brought the first half to a close, with us holding a surprising 21-3 lead over the Red Wolves.
A touchback on the opening kickoff of the second half got us started from the 20 yard line. Keeping the ground game going, Johnson broke off runs of 6 and 7 yards, giving us first down at our 33 yard line, before Johnson got stood up by two Red Wolves defenders on the first down play and was stripped. The Red Wolves recovered the fumble and took over possession on our 41 yard line. After a 2 yard rush by Butterfield, Butterfield found Thornton for a 14 yard gain before throwing deep to McCants for a 25 yard touchdown pass, making it 21-10 with 3:45 left in the third quarter. A 24 yard kickoff return got us started at our 32 yard line for the next drive. Johnson once again got us started on the ground, picking up nine yards on first down before busting loose for a 23 yard gain, giving us another first down at the Red Wolves 37 yard line. Returning to the air, Medlock threw incomplete on first down before finding Glenn Coleman for a 16 yard gain to give us first down at the 21 yard line. A four yard pickup to Johnson was followed with a 13 yard play action pass to Aaron Clark, setting us up with first and goal at the 5 yard line. After a halfback dive attempt only gained two yards, the remaining seconds ticked off the clock before we could get the next snap off, bringing the third quarter to an end, our lead sitting at 21-10.
Opening up the fourth quarter, we again tried to go up the middle, but Johnson was tackled for no gain, bringing up third and goal from the three yard line. The third down pass attempt was knocked down, leading to a 20 yard field goal by Hagen, extending our lead to 24-10 with 4:17 left in the game. After a 15 yard kickoff return set the Red Wolves up at their own 19 yard line, they quickly started on their drive, with Thornton picking up 8 yards on the ground before Butterfield found R.J. Fleming for a 9 yard gain. After an incomplete pass on first down, Butterfield tore our defense to shreds with passes of 9, 17 and 12 yards, leading to first down at our 26 yard line. After another incomplete first down pass, Butterfield connected with Thornton for 14 yards, our defense got tagged with a one yard penalty, and Butterfield found Fleming again, this time for 8 yards, setting up second and two at our two yard line. A Thornton rush went for a loss of two, leaving the Red Wolves with third and four from the five yard line, before Thornton found pay dirt with a five yard touchdown rush, making it 24-17 with 2:39 left to play.
Johnson returned the 65 yard kickoff out 21 yards, starting our offensive drive at our 26 yard line with 2:29 left in the game. Trying to run out the clock, Johnson was able to pick up 8 yards before the Red Wolves called timeout with 2:16 left to play. Another rush attempt by Johnson netted two yards, leaving us with third and inches, as the Red Wolves called another timeout with 2:13 left to play. Attempting a pitch right on third down, Johnson was unable to get turned up field, being run out of bounds for no gain with 2:08 left in the gain and the punt team coming on the field. A booming punt left the Red Wolves starting on their own 15 yard line and only 1:59 left to play, and their offensive drive started poorly, as Artez Brown was tackled for a three yard loss, pushing the Red Wolves back to their 12 yard line. Arkansas State kept their drive alive as Butterfield hit a pass to Brown for 11 yards before Thornton converted on third and two with a three yard rush. After an incomplete pass, our defense got tagged with a 13 yard penalty, giving the Red Wolves first down at their 39 yard line with 1:29 left to play. Butterfield took full advantage, finding Thornton for a 17 yard gain, and Brown for another quick 23 yards, down to our 21 yard line with 1:14 left. After an incomplete pass, Butterfield hit J.D. McKissic for 21 yards, setting up first and goal at the half yard line with 1:01 left to play. One the very next play, Butterfield dove in for the touchdown on a QB sneak, tying the game up at 24 points apiece with 52 seconds left in the game.
After a 31 yard return by Johnson, out to our 29 yard line, our offense was left with 39 seconds to get into field goal range. Rhymes got our drive started with a quick 20 yard pass from Medlock, setting up first down at our 49 yard line with 34 seconds left. After using our first timeout, Medlock found Coleman coming across the middle, but the play resulted for only a gain of 11 yards, leaving us with first down at the ASU 40 yard line and 28 seconds left to play, forcing a second timeout. Two incomplete passes left our drive in jeopardy, before Medlock sealed the fate of the drive, taking a sack for a loss of 8 yards with 17 seconds left to play. Hagen kept us in alive for overtime after booting the punt 47 yards, leaving the Red Wolves on their one yard line with 7 seconds left to play. On the Red Wolves first play, it turned out overtime would not be needed in end, as in one of the craziest endings to a game I had ever seen, Thornton was tackled just over the goal line for a safety, giving us a 26-24 lead with three seconds to play. The ensuing safety punt ran out the remaining seconds and sealed the victory for us, our first victory over the Red Wolves since I took over as offensive coordinator.
With the win, we improve to 7-3 on the season, 7-0 in the Sun Belt Conference and clinch at least a share of the 2013 SBC title. With the loss, Arkansas State drops to 6-4 for the season and 4-2 in conference play, eliminating the Red Wolves from any chance at the conference title. Up next, we return home to for some in-state warfare, hosting #10 UCF. The Knights come into the game with an 8-2 record and sitting in third place in the Big East with a 6-2 conference mark. Looking back on their season, UCF opened up the year with a 27-20 overtime win at Louisville, got a 55-31 win at Houston, lost 45-10 at #7 Boise State, picked up a 28-14 win at home over Cincinnati, and lost 38-24 to Rutgers. They then responded by reeling off five straight wins, 42-7 over South Florida, 31-28 against Marshall, 35-10 against Connecticut, 35-3 over Akron and 31-15 at San Diego State. They close out their year at FIU and at SMU.
Final Score
:FIU: 26, :Arkansas_State: 24
Stat(s) of the Game:
FIU Offense – Definitely a combined effort today. Passing games was beast at times, running game was beast at other times, and there were times both sucked. Ultimately did enough to keep us there at the end until we got lucky.
FIU Defense – Had their usual Swiss cheese moments, was doing great until the fourth quarter, came through huge in the clutch for us in the final seconds.
FIU Kicking – Another perfect day, 1 for 1 in field goals, 3 for 3 in extra points.
Scoring Summary
Team |
1st Quarter |
2nd Quarter |
3rd Quarter |
4th Quarter |
Final Score |
:FIU: |
7 |
14 |
0 |
5 |
26 |
:Arkansas_State: |
3 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
24 |
Time |
Team |
Result |
Play |
Score |
First Quarter |
3:01 |
:Arkansas_State: |
Field Goal |
B. Zalud, 27 yard field goal |
:Arkansas_State: 3-0 |
0:00 |
:FIU: |
Touchdown |
W. Wright, 23 yard pass from J. Medlock (Y. Hagen kick) |
:FIU: 7-3 |
|
Second Quarter |
3:32 |
:FIU: |
Touchdown |
S. Johnson, 11 yard run (Y. Hagen kick) |
:FIU: 14-3 |
0:31 |
:FIU: |
Touchdown |
S. Johnson, 1 yard run (Y. Hagen kick) |
:FIU: 21-3 |
|
Third Quarter |
3:45 |
:Arkansas_State: |
Touchdown |
C. McCants, 25 yards pass from P. Butterfield (B. Zalud kick) |
:FIU: 21-10 |
|
Fourth Quarter |
4:19 |
:FIU: |
Field Goal |
Y. Hagen, 20 yard field goal |
:FIU: 24-10 |
2:39 |
:Arkansas_State: |
Touchdown |
S. Thornton, 5 yard run, (B. Zalud kick) |
:FIU: 24-17 |
0:52 |
:Arkansas_State: |
Touchdown |
P. Butterfield, 0 yard run (B. Zalud kick) |
TIED 24-24 |
0:03 |
:FIU: |
Safety |
S. Thornton tackled in the end zone |
:FIU: 26-24 |
Game Stats
Florida International |
Stat |
Arkansas State |
26 |
Score |
24 |
16 |
First Downs |
15 |
330 |
Total Offense |
292 |
21 - 153 - 2 |
Rushes - Yards - TD |
18 - 38 - 2 |
11 - 19 - 1 |
Comp - Att - TD |
19 - 33 - 1 |
177 |
Passing Yards |
254 |
1 |
Times Sacked |
0 |
1 - 5 (20%) |
3rd Down Conversion |
4 - 9 (44%) |
0 - 0 (0%) |
4th Down Conversion |
0 - 1 (0%) |
0 - 0 (0%) |
2-Point Conv |
0 - 0 (0%) |
5 - 2 - 1 (60%) |
Red Zone - TD - FG |
3 - 2 - 1 (100%) |
1 |
Turnovers |
0 |
1 |
Fumbles Lost |
0 |
0 |
Intercepted |
0 |
6 |
Punt Return Yards |
0 |
122 |
Kick Return Yards |
94 |
458 |
Total Yards |
386 |
3 – 45.0 |
Punts - Average |
3 - 41.0 |
3 - 19 |
Penalties |
1 - 5 |
11:55 |
Time of Possession |
8:05 |
Florida International Contract Goals Update
Fail Impact |
Goal |
Progress |
Pass Impact |
:3redarrow: |
500+ rushing yards in each season |
:check: |
:3greenarrow: |
|
Win 8 games in one season |
:check: |
:3greenarrow: |
|
2000+ total offensive yards in each season |
:check: |
:3greenarrow: |
:3redarrow: |
7+ passing TD in one season |
:check: |
:3greenarrow: |
|
10+ points per game in each season |
31 PPG |
:3greenarrow: |
:3redarrow: |
2400+ total offensive yards in one season |
:check: |
:3greenarrow: |
:2redarrow: |
Win 4 games in one season |
:check: |
:1greenarrow: |
:6redarrow: |
2000+ total offensive yards in one season |
:check: |
|
Job Security Status
96%