Smooth Pancakes' Coaching Carousel Career

[SmoothPancakes]

Basically, summing up the game, we suck. Our offense, while able to move the ball fairly well, once again couldn't do anything in the red zone, for the second time in three games. 7 times into the end zone, and all we had were 3 field goals and our only touchdown of the game which didn't come until 1:30 left to play. A pair of interceptions that gave Florida Atlantic the ball two straight possessions on our 50 yard line didn't help. Now I have to win out just to hope for a bowl invite.

And considering we lost in such a horrible fashion to Florida Atlantic, our rivals, I have an extremely bad taste in my mouth right now.

[SmoothPancakes]

As for the conference, well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Sun Belt Conference just got even more chaotic. Troy is the new conference leader at 4-1, thanks to their 20-17 win over North Texas. After that, it’s a logjam as North Texas drops down into a tie with Arkansas State and Florida Atlantic, all at 4-2. Even Louisiana-Monroe now has a chance, coming out of nowhere, thanks to a two game winning streak, to be sitting in the back seat with a 3-3 conference record. Louisiana-Lafayette (3-5), myself (2-4), Western Kentucky (2-4), and Mid Tennessee State (1-4) have all been eliminated from conference title contention.

This week’s national games of note, there was almost another new #1 after this week. #1 Alabama had to score two 4th quarter touchdowns, the last coming with 2 minutes left in the game, to pull off a 35-31 come from behind victory over #8 Mississippi State. There will be a new #2 next week, as Florida State was shellacked by unranked Miami (FL) 41-7. The team that should fill that vacancy, the Boise State Broncos. #3 Boise State won the game of the week in blowout fashion, defeating #11 TCU 52-20. Elsewhere, #5 Oregon defeated #6 Stanford 45-38, #7 Nebraska kept things perfect in the Big Ten with a 37-14 win over #19 Penn State, #10 Oklahoma State barely escaped Texas Tech 24-21, while things got worse for #13 USC as they dropped their second straight game, a 20-17 loss to unranked Washington. #14 Georgia Tech lost to unranked Virginia Tech 26-19, and #23 Texas A&M knocked off #22 Kansas State 45-10.

The number of undefeated teams this week drops to 4 losing, thanks to Florida State’s whooping at the hands of Miami (FL). #1 Alabama at 10-0, Boise State (currently #3) at 9-0, SMU (currently #9) at 10-0, and Houston, still unranked for some ungodly reason, at 10-0. Based on this week's results, the National Championship right now would be between Alabama and Boise State if the season ended, Oregon, who jumped LSU in the polls thanks to the Stanford win, would be on the outside looking in at #3.

As for conference races nationally, in the ACC, in the Atlantic Division, #2 Florida State is still top dog at 6-1, #21 NC State is second at 4-2. Coastal Division, Miami (FL) takes over the top spot at 6-1 while #14 Georgia Tech drops to 5-2 due to their lose to Virginia Tech. The Hokies are behind them at 4-2. The Big 12 is still anyone's guess. #10 Oklahoma State and #23 Texas A&M are tied on top at 6-1, Oklahoma right behind at 5-1, Kansas State and Missouri have very slight chances at 4-3. The Big East is still impossible to pick. #25 Pittsburgh and #24 USF remain tied on top at 4-1, Cincinnati is next in line at 2-2. Essentially the rest of the Big East still have an almost impossibly slight, though extremely unlikely, chance, as Syracuse, Louisville, Rutgers, and West Virginia are all 2-3. The Big Ten, in the Leaders Division, thanks to Nebraska beating Penn State, #18 Wisconsin takes over the top spot at 5-1, while #19 Penn State falls into a second place tie with #16 Ohio State at 4-2. The Legends Division finds #7 Nebraska still sitting comfortably on top at 6-0, with #17 Michigan and #12 Michigan State both barely hanging on at 4-2.

C-USA, in the East Division, Southern Miss remains on top at 6-1, UCF has barely a chance at 4-3. In the West Division, it's continuing to go down to the wire, as #9 SMU is 7-0 and Houston (who despite being 10-0 overall is still unranked) is 7-0. Next week is going to decide the division as both face each other. In the MAC, the East Division continues to be a cluster. Thanks to their 28-17 win over Temple, Miami University now takes over the top spot at 6-0, while Temple falls to 6-1, and Ohio remains behind at 5-1. The West Division suddenly got a lot tighter thanks to Central Michigan’s 34-7 loss to Ohio. With the loss, Central Michigan remains on top, but drops to 5-2. That gives Northern Illinois hope at 4-2. The Mountain West, thanks to their win over TCU, #3 Boise State is now the top dog at 4-0. #11 TCU drops into a second place tie with San Diego State at 4-1. Colorado State continues to have a chance at 2-2.

In the PAC-12, the North Division finds #5 Oregon still on top at 7-0 thanks to their win over Stanford, with #6 Stanford remaining behind with a 6-2 record, though the Ducks are your North champs thanks to the head to head tiebreaker. In the South Division, things got a little muddier thanks to USC’s second straight loss. The #13 Trojans remain on top at 5-2, but the door has been opened for Arizona, sitting at 5-3. In the SEC, in the East Division, South Carolina is your division champs with a 5-3 record thanks to their 41-13 victory over Florida. In the West Division, #1 Alabama remains in first place with a 7-0 record, #4 LSU is in second with a 5-1 record, but Alabama will win the West due to the head to head tiebreaker. And in the WAC, due to Louisiana Tech having a non-conference game, the Bulldogs now find themselves in a tie for first at 4-1 with Fresno State, who blew out New Mexico State to catch up to La. Tech. New Mexico State, at 3-2, and Nevada, at 2-2, still have chances of getting back on top in the race.

[SmoothPancakes]

As for our bowl hopes, even if we win out and go 6-6, things could be looking bleak. Right now, looking through the first set of bowl projections, there are so many teams that are at least 5-5 or better, that there is not even a single 4-5 or 5-6 team showing up in the bowl projections. If most of those teams right on the line, at 5-4 or 5-5, win, we might just be sitting home for the bowl season even if we do manage a 6-6 record.

As for the Sun Belt as a whole, Troy is projected to face UTEP in the New Orleans Bowl and Arkansas State would take on Miami University in the Godaddy.com Bowl. Those are the only Sun Belts teams currently projected to go to a bowl game.

[SmoothPancakes]

Yes! Going through my recruiting for week 13, I just pulled a switcheroo on UAB. Last week, this Outside Linebacker I'm going after had me second on his list, trailing UAB by 100 points, and he was a soft commit for UAB. I hit him with a full 60 minutes of recruiting, recruiting against UAB every chance that I could when I had the rating advantage, and was able to knock them down enough that this week, I'm now his #1 school, UAB is -1 behind me, and he is now a soft commit to FIU.

I also poured 60 minutes into a Athlete that had soft committed to Florida Atlantic. Despite losing to FAU, I was able to close the gap from -140 to -1 and keep him from hard committing to FAU.

[strattjw]

I've been playing a side dynasty as FIU and I have to say I love their uniform colors.

[SmoothPancakes]

I've been playing a side dynasty as FIU and I have to say I love their uniform colors.

Agreed. FIU has some nice uniforms that makes playing with, and losing with, them a lot more fun.

[morsdraconis]

Well, you doing this and seeing the amount of fun (and frustration ) you've been having with it has been enough to get me motivated enough to do more of my SAU dynasty. Working on getting the college landscape to look correct right now (aka, simming to season 2015 so there are no real players left just like there would be in my dynasty so that I can more "authentic" reports for the games).

Just know, I'm probably going to, at least, steal some of your game reporting layout (gotta change some stuff that just annoys me to not have a certain way).

[SmoothPancakes]

Game Eleven





Game Notes

--- Well, this was the biggest game we had played all year. We came into this game needing a win or else. We win, or any hopes we have of a bowl game are gone. We also had a large number of recruits visiting campus this week, so we also needed a win to help our efforts in snagging some of those players. As well, a victory today, hands Louisiana-Monroe their 7th loss of the season, and knocks another team out of the running for a bowl game invite. We lost the coin toss, the Warhawks elected to kick.

We proceeded to make the most of our offensive drive, using some key rushing, some timely passing, and a little help from the defense courtesy of a 15 yard facemask penalty, eventually finding the end zone on a 9 yard rush from Darriet Perry. Our defense meanwhile nearly screwed the pooch for us, allowing multiple big runs, allowing passes of 13, 11, and 31 yards, and letting ULM get all the way down to our goal line. However, a 2 yard loss on 2nd and goal, and an incomplete pass on 3rd, and our defense held enough to not give up a touchdown, and force the Warhawks to instead settle for a 20 yard field goal. Lucky for us, their kicker proceeded to bounce it off the right upright, and they ended the drive with no points, despite being mere inches away from a touchdown at one point.

Unfortunately, our ensuing offensive drive would fail to go anywhere, and both defenses proceeded to buckle down, as both teams punted on each possession for the rest of the quarter. Start of the second quarter found our offense back on the field on our 20 yard line. Finally managing to get our offense moving once again, we kept the momentum going all the way down the field for our second touchdown of the game. The ULM offense nearly had their offensive drive stopped for only a one yard gain, however, a pass interference penalty called on our defense on 3rd and 9 kept their drive alive, and allowed them to push the ball almost another 30 yards out to our 47 yard line, before a sack on 3rd and 1 would bring their drive finally to an end. Unfortunately, our offensive drive would not fare much better. Our defense would quickly stop them, however, an audible to a pass on 1st and 10 would spell doom as the defense came away with an interception, returning the ball clear down to our 29 yard line. This time, the Warhawks would get at least a field goal in the end.

Our next offensive drive started with great position, thanks to a 35 yard kickoff return by T.Y. Hilton. With only 1:10 left to play in the 1st half, we needed that great field position at our 37 yard line. It wouldn’t matter because the CPU are a bunch of cheapass cheaters, and any pass attempt never had a chance at being caught.

To start the 2nd half, I thought we were screwed as our defense just plain sucked, though they finally managed to hold off ULM on a 4th down conversion attempt on our 35 yard line to force the turnover on downs. We would get as far as the Warhawks 15 yard line before we were stopped and had to kick a field goal. Our defense continued to do their job, setting us up with another short field situation, one in which we were not about to be denied another touchdown. Or, maybe we would be, as the ULM defense would twice deny us the end zone three straight times from inside the 2 yard line, forcing a turnover on downs. However, our offense would not need to step on the field for us to find another touchdown. Our defense this time took care of the job, as the Louisiana-Monroe punter fumbled the football in the end zone, which was promptly recovered by our right end, Aaron Davis for a touchdown.

The Warhawks would try to respond, getting as far as our 43 yard line, until a holding penalty on 4th and 6 forced their offense into a 4th and 16 situation, which would end in a dropped pass and a turnover on downs, giving our offense the ball back on the ULM 47 yard line. Unfortunately, the ULM defense shut us down, and both teams fell into another pattern of trading punts, bring us to the end of the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter started much the same way, as both teams traded another pair of punts, before our offense finally got the ball back with 5:30 left to play in the game. Knowing we had a large enough lead, our offense went into clock killing mode, keeping the ball exclusively on the ground for the entire drive, moving the ball over a 16 play, 4 minute drive, ending in a 1 yard touchdown rush by Perry, to give us a 25 point lead with just 1:18 left to play. The Warhawks tried to at least make the game close, driving out as far as midfield, but a fumble, recovered by our middle linebacker, Winston Frasier, gave us the ball back on our 36 yard line, with 35 seconds left to play. A single QB kneel and that would end the game, getting us back into the win column and keeping our bowl hopes alive.

With the win, we improve to 5-6 on the season, 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. Louisiana-Monroe drops to 4-7 on the year (ending their bowl hopes) and 3-4 in the Sun Belt. Up next for the Golden Panthers, we bring our 2011 season to a conclusion as we welcome Mid Tennessee State to town. The Blue Raiders come into the game with a 1-9 record, 1-5 in the Sun Belt.

Breaking down the Blue Raiders season, they opened up the year with a 38-7 loss at Purdue, got shut out at home by Georgia Tech 41-0, lost to Temple 35-31, fell to Troy 21-10, and were defeated at Tennessee 24-17. They finally picked up their only win of the season, defeating Western Kentucky at home 28-21 in week 6. From there, they lost at Florida Atlantic 24-19, lost at Louisiana-Lafayette 34-14, lost their best chance for a second win, as they dropped a 23-17 overtime decision on the road at Louisiana-Monroe, before being beat by Arkansas State this week, 34-13. The last two games on the Mid Tennessee State schedule, at Florida International, and then a home game vs. North Texas to close a disappointing season.

Final Score
31, 6



Stat(s) of the Game:
- FIU Offense - A bit sluggish, but got the job done.
- FIU Defense - Scared the hell out of me on multiple drives, but ultimately did not break nor give up a touchdown.
- FIU Running Back Darriet Perry - 3 rushing touchdowns.


Scoring Summary

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final Score
	0	6	0	0	6
	7	7	10	7	31

Team	Result	Play	Score
First Quarter
	Touchdown	D. Perry, 9 yard run (J. Griffin kick)	7-0
Second Quarter
	Touchdown	D. Perry, 4 yard run (J. Griffin kick)	14-0
	Field Goal	R. Jabour, 26 yard field goal	14-3
	Field Goal	R. Jabour, 41 yard field goal	14-6
Third Quarter
	Field Goal	J. Griffin, 31 yard field goal	17-6
	Touchdown	A. Bell, fumble recovery in end zone (J. Griffin kick)	24-6
Fourth Quarter
	Touchdown	D. Perry, 1 yard run (J. Griffin kick)	31-6

Game Stats

UL Monroe	Stat	Florida International
6	Score	31
13	First Downs	17
251	Total Offense	293
22 - 76 - 0	Rushes - Yards - TD	36 - 126 - 3
12 - 33 - 0	Comp - Att - TD	10 - 24 - 0
175	Passing Yards	167
2	Times Sacked	1
3 - 13 (23%)	3rd Down Conversion	7 - 12 (58%)
0 - 2 (0%)	4th Down Conversion	1 - 2 (50%)
0 - 0 (0%)	2-Point Conversion	0 - 0 (0%)
3 - 0 - 1 (33%)	Red Zone - TD - FG	5 - 3 - 1 (80%)
2	Turnovers	1
2	Fumbles Losts	0
0	Intercepted	1
0	Punt Return Yards	29
132	Kick Return Yards	59
383	Total Yards	381
9 - 43.3	Punts - Average	7 - 46.0
2 - 25	Penalties	3 - 28
15:37	Time of Possession	20:23

Florida International Contract Goals Update

Fail Impact	Goal	Progress	Pass Impact
	500+ rushing yards in each season	1/3 Passed
	Win 8 games in one season	5
	2000+ total offensive yards in each season	1/3 Passed
	7+ passing TD in one season
	10+ points per game in each season	25 PPG
	2400+ total offensive yards in one season
	Win 4 games in one season
	2000+ total offensive yards in one season

Job Security Status

63%

[SmoothPancakes]

My thoughts on the game, so-so. Our offense did pretty good, scoring three touchdowns, though we had a lot of short field possessions thanks to mistakes by the Warhawks, as well as some great punt returns. Our defense nearly gave me a heart attack multiple times, including the drive where ULM got clear down to our goal line, inches away from a touchdown. Somehow, our defense held on and limited them to only a mere field goal. It's a win, and a win when a bunch of recruits were visiting, so I will definitely take it. But I wasn't completely, entirely happy with how the offense and defense performed in the game.

[SmoothPancakes]

And just like that, there were two. Troy defeated Florida Atlantic 24-16 while Western Kentucky scored an upset on North Texas, 42-17. With those results, Troy continues on as the top team in the conference with a 5-1 record. Arkansas State is now the only team who can challenge them, sitting in second place at 5-2. Troy has a game next week vs. Western Kentucky, and then the showdown for the conference title in the last week of the season, as Arkansas State travels to Troy. North Texas (4-3), Florida Atlantic (4-3), Louisiana-Monroe (3-4), Florida International (3-4), Western Kentucky (3-4), Louisiana-Lafayette (3-5), and Mid Tennessee State (1-5) have all been eliminated from conference title contention.

This week’s national games of note, it was an easy week for #1 Bama, smacking around an FCS team. Same thing for #18 Auburn, giving them both cupcakes headed into next week’s Iron Bowl. #4 LSU lost for the second time this season, falling in an upset to Ole Miss, 20-17. #5 Nebraska is looking to go perfect in their first ever Big Ten season, as they improved to 7-0 in conference after a 27-13 win over Michigan. The battle of Conference USA went to Houston, who edged out #6 SMU 42-38 thanks to two touchdowns in the final 4 minutes of the game. #17 USC continued their collapse, losing for the third straight week, this time to #3 Oregon, 41-14. #19 NC State lost their rivalry game to Clemson 20-14, #21 Georgia Tech lost for the second week in a row, getting upset by Duke 38-24, while #22 Miami (FL) needed overtime to defeat #23 USF, 47-41.

The number of undefeated teams this week drops once again, down to 3, as (somehow still unranked) Houston defeated #6 SMU, dropping the Mustangs to 10-1 on the year. Left among the undefeated teams, #1 Alabama at 11-0, Boise State (currently #2) at 10-0, and Houston at 11-0. Based on this week's results, the National Championship right now would be between Alabama and Boise State if the season ended, Oregon would be on the outside looking in at #3.

As for conference races nationally, in the ACC, in the Atlantic Division, #9 Florida State is your Atlantic Division winner. Coastal Division, #22 Miami (FL) is the division winner, sitting at 6-1. Virginia Tech is 5-2, but Miami holds the head to head tiebreaker. The Big 12 is still anyone's guess. #7 Oklahoma State and #20 Texas A&M are still tied up at 7-1, #12 Oklahoma remains right behind at 6-1. The next two weeks will decide it all, as Oklahoma and Oklahoma State meet, while Texas A&M takes on Texas (6-4, 3-4). The Big East is still impossible to pick. #24 Pittsburgh and #23 USF remain tied on top at 4-1, Cincinnati still has a chance at 3-2.

The Big Ten, in the Leaders Division, #16 Wisconsin remains on top at 6-1, with a game still to play at Penn State, while #13 Ohio State takes over sole possession of 2nd place with a 5-2 records thanks to their win over Penn State this week. The Legends Division is all set, #5 Nebraska will be playing in the first ever Big Ten Championship Game, in their first year in the conference, as they wrap up the Legends division with a 7-0 record. Michigan State, at 5-2, is unable to catch them. C-USA, in the East Division, Southern Miss is your division winner with a current 7-1 record. The closest teams stand at 4-4. In the West Division, Houston takes over the top spot with an 8-0 record thanks to their win over SMU that drops the Mustangs to 7-1. SMU still technically is in it, as both have one conference game left, however Houston holds the head to head advantage.

In the MAC, the East Division just became a serious cluster. Miami University’s loss to Western Michigan, coupled with Ohio’s win over Bowling Green, send the East Division into a three way tie as Miami, Ohio, and Temple all sit at 6-1 with just one game each to play. Miami University and Ohio play each other next week, Temple plays Kent State. Miami University, if they defeat Ohio, has the inside track courtesy of a win over Temple. Temple has the inside side track if Miami University loses, thanks to their win a couple weeks ago over Ohio. Ohio meanwhile, has the worst track to the Championship game, needing to defeat the Redhawks, and hope Kent State knocks off Temple. The West Division will be represented in the MAC title game by Central Michigan, sitting on top at 6-2, thanks to their win over Toledo this week. While Northern Illinois is still technically in it at 5-2, and has an easy game vs. Eastern Michigan next week, Central Michigan holds the head to head advantage over Northern Illinois.

The Mountain West, #2 Boise State remains on top at 5-0. #14 TCU is in second place at 5-1, San Diego State, despite a 4-2 record, is eliminated due to both Boise State and TCU holding the head to head advantage over the Aztecs. In the PAC-12, the North Division, the #3 Oregon Ducks are your division winners at 8-0, as #8 Stanford cannot catch them with a 7-2 record. In the South Division, #17 USC’s three game collapse means Arizona is your new leader at 6-3. However, the Trojans, at 5-3, hold the head to head advantage over the Wildcats, needing only to defeat UCLA next week. In the SEC, in the East Division, South Carolina is your division champs with a 5-3 record. In the West Division, #1 Alabama is your division winner at 7-0. #4 LSU and #11 Mississippi State, both 5-2, cannot catch the Tide. And in the WAC, Louisiana Tech drops the ball to Nevada, allowing Fresno State to take over the top spot at 5-1. Louisiana Tech, at 4-2, and Nevada and New Mexico State, both at 3-2, still have outside chances of claiming the conference title.

[SmoothPancakes]

Well, you doing this and seeing the amount of fun (and frustration ) you've been having with it has been enough to get me motivated enough to do more of my SAU dynasty. Working on getting the college landscape to look correct right now (aka, simming to season 2015 so there are no real players left just like there would be in my dynasty so that I can more "authentic" reports for the games).

Just know, I'm probably going to, at least, steal some of your game reporting layout (gotta change some stuff that just annoys me to not have a certain way).

Great to hear man. Can't wait to see you get it fired back up, I'm looking forward to reading it.

And feel free to take whatever you need/want. Anyone who wants to use any of my layouts are more than welcome to. And let me know what kinds of things you're looking at changing. I'm always open to feedback about how I have my dynasty laid out and what things people might like to see changed to make it better.

[SmoothPancakes]

Things are suddenly taking a promising turn for my bowl hopes. Simming through the various national games this week, thanks to UAB, Florida Atlantic has fallen to 4-7. Troy beat Western Kentucky, ending the Hilltoppers year to 5-7. Duke came through, dropping North Carolina to 5-7. Miami ended Boston College's season at 5-7. Georgia Tech brought Georgia's season to a close at 5-7. Virginia Tech won the rivalry game, dropping Virginia to 5-7. USF beat Louisville to drop the Cardinals to 5-7. Pittsburgh beat West Virginia, putting the Mountaineers on the cliff at 5-6, and Marshall knocked off ECU, dropping the Pirates to 5-7.

8 teams knocked out of bowl contention, and West Virginia on the edge of falling out. That just gave a massive boost to my bowl hopes.

Edit - This is still going to be close. 68 bowl slots, and at my count right now, 73 teams bowl eligible or almost bowl eligible (counting the 5-6 teams). If I beat MTSU to get to 6-6, I may still end up sitting home.

[JerzeyReign]

Yes! Going through my recruiting for week 13, I just pulled a switcheroo on UAB. Last week, this Outside Linebacker I'm going after had me second on his list, trailing UAB by 100 points, and he was a soft commit for UAB. I hit him with a full 60 minutes of recruiting, recruiting against UAB every chance that I could when I had the rating advantage, and was able to knock them down enough that this week, I'm now his #1 school, UAB is -1 behind me, and he is now a soft commit to FIU.

I also poured 60 minutes into a Athlete that had soft committed to Florida Atlantic. Despite losing to FAU, I was able to close the gap from -140 to -1 and keep him from hard committing to FAU.

Isn't it great to talk about a like a top recruit? Even though I let the CPU recruit for me I get excited when I see us closing in on that 'high priority' .

By the way, nice way to close the gap despite the loss.

[SmoothPancakes]

Isn't it great to talk about a like a top recruit? Even though I let the CPU recruit for me I get excited when I see us closing in on that 'high priority' .

By the way, nice way to close the gap despite the loss.

Yeah, I'm coveting any players who have me among their top schools. Unfortunately, that gap only lasted one week, as that Athlete signed with FAU the following week. But at least I was able to swoop in and steal that OLB. Went from a soft commit to UAB, to a soft commit to FIU, to a hard commit to FIU in three weeks. I love it.

[SmoothPancakes]

Game Twelve





Game Notes

--- Well, this was it. Our final game of the season. One last home game against 1-9 Mid Tennessee State. One last game to get back to .500, get to 6-6 on the year, and hope we are worthy of a bowl invite. One final game to thank our seniors for a year full of memories.

MTSU won the coin toss and elected to kick. We would waste little time moving down the field against a clearly overmatched Blue Raiders defense, driving 82 yards over 12 plays during a nearly 4 minute drive. The Blue Raiders tried to answer, but were unable to convert their third down attempt, and were forced to punt. Our second drive ended the same way as the first, moving down the field at will on a weaker MTSU defense. No matter what scheme they tried, they were unable to stop us. Our offense, while able to score, ultimately took a massive blow as our starting, and senior, running back, Darriet Perry, was injured on the second play of the drive. A few plays later, we received word that he had broken his elbow and just like that, his football career was over. This put a serious dent into our running back corps as Perry’s backup, Darrian Mallary, has been injured for a portion of the season with a broken tailbone, and was still only questionable going into today’s game. We were going to have to go the rest of the game today with our third string running back, Jeremiah Harden.

Mid Tennessee State finally found some offense on their next drive, as they passed their way down the field, ending the 1st quarter and continuing on into the second, making it all the way down to our 10 yard line before they were forced into 4th and goal and had to settle for a 27 yard field goal. While Harden was able to hold his own for the most part while running the ball, it wasn’t going to be enough to win us this game. Senior quarterback Wesley Carroll was going to have to lead us through the air if we were going to be victorious. Our offense was able to drive out to midfield, until a holding penalty on 3rd and inches negated what would have been a first down rush by Harden. We failed to convert on 3rd and 10 and had to punt. Our defense wasn’t about to let up though, forcing three straight incomplete passes to get the ball back to our offense. Our offensive line also showed they were unable to block a paper bag, as sacks of 9 and 11 yards forced us into a 3rd and long situation. That 3rd down would be the only down we needed, as Carroll was able to hit Junior Mertile for a 29 yard touchdown pass. Too bad Sir Shanks-a-lot had to screw it up and miss the PAT.

Then the craziest f’ing thing ever happened. Our kickoff was returned by MTSU’s kickoff returner 102 yards for a touchdown. Well, apparently our kickoff returner had a problem with being shown up like that, as T.Y. Hilton then went and took his kickoff return 102 yards to the house. Back to back 102 yard kickoff returns, and we went from a 20-3 game, up to 26-10 in less than a minute. Unfortunately for the fans in attendance, there would not be a third straight kickoff returned for a TD. Instead we stopped them after only a 23 yard return and our defense only allowed 3 yards before forcing a punt. On our offensive drive, things got even crazier, as we made it down to the MTSU 48 yard line before Carroll threw an interception. Then on the interception return, the Blue Raider defender made it out as far as his own 42 yard line, before one of our receivers started to tackle him, proceeding to force a fumble in the process, on which one of our players jump on, giving us the ball right back. What else was going to happen in this game?

We would managed to make it down to the MTSU 26 yard line, unfortunately a dropped pass on 3rd and 3 would end our drive, and we’d settle for a 43 yard field goal with 32 seconds left in the half. Start of the 3rd quarter, and Mid Tennessee State showed they were not going down without a fight, driving the ball on our defense at will, en route to a 76 yard touchdown drive. We responded with an 80 yard drive of our own, unfortunately the MTSU defense held tough and stopped us on 3rd and goal from the 1 yard line. Despite being inches from the end zone, Coach Cristobal didn’t want to take the chance, choosing instead to kick the field goal. The Blue Raiders once again refused to go down without a fight, driving 75 yards down the field on a drive that traversed the 3rd and 4th quarters, and converting on 4th and 10 with a 12 yard touchdown pass. Thankfully our defense stopped their 2-point conversion attempt, and they remained down by 10. Unfortunately, our offense began collapsing, finding it difficult to even gain a single first down. Our defense thank God at least did their job and shut down MTSU. It took our third offensive drive after that last MTSU touchdown to finally gain another first down. Somehow, our offense finally managed to connect on a pass on third down and found the end zone again.

The Blue Raider offense began driving down the field in response, unfortunately for them, Terrance Taylor was ready to intercept a pass, giving us the ball back on the MTSU 29 yard line with 2:42 left in the game. The Blue Raiders defense pretty much just gave up, as Harden was able to waltz into the end zone untouched just 5 plays later with 47 seconds still on the clock. The Mid Tennessee State offense would try and put together a drive just to save some face, unfortunately, they would only get three plays off before the clock ran out.

With the win, the Golden Panthers improve to 6-6 on the year, 4-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. With the loss, Mid Tennessee State drops to 1-10 for the season, 1-6 in the Sun Belt. That’s all she wrote for our regular season. Now just waiting and seeing how things play out nationally this week and next week, hoping that we somehow sneak into a bowl game to send our senior class out in style.

Final Score
47, 23



Stat(s) of the Game:
- FIU – Put together a two game winning streak to end the year 6-6 and send our seniors out with a win at home.
- FIU Offense – Despite the loss of Darriet Perry to injury, our offense found success through the air to give us the win.
- FIU Defense – While they gave up a couple touchdown drives, they shut down the MTSU offense for the most part, helping out our offense.


Scoring Summary

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final Score
	0	10	7	6	23
	14	16	3	14	47

Team	Result	Play	Score
	First Quarter
	Touchdown	D. Perry, 1 yard run (J. Griffin kick)	7-0
	Touchdown	D. LaPorte, 9 yard pass from W. Carroll (J. Griffin kick)	14-0
	Second Quarter
	Field Goal	A. Gendreau, 27 yard field goal	14-3
	Touchdown	J. Mertile, 29 yard pass from W. Carroll (missed kick)	20-3
	Touchdown	D. Kyles, returned kickoff 102 yards (A. Gendreau kick)	20-10
	Touchdown	T. Hilton, returned kickoff 102 yards (J. Griffin kick)	27-10
	Field Goal	J. Griffin, 42 yard field goal	30-10
	Third Quarter
	Touchdown	S. McDonald, 1 yard run (A. Gendreau kick)	30-17
	Field Goal	J. Griffin, 17 yard field goal	33-17
	Fourth Quarter
	Touchdown	T. Mason, 12 yard pass from L. Kilgore (2-point conversion failed)	33-23
	Touchdown	W. Times, 26 yards pass from W. Carroll (J. Griffin kick)	40-23
	Touchdown	J. Harden, 7 yard run (J. Griffin kick)	47-23

Game Stats

Mid Tennessee State	Stat	Florida International
23	Score	47
16	First Downs	17
296	Total Offense	436
21 - 73 - 1	Rushes - Yards - TD	35 - 108 - 2
25 - 47 - 1	Comp - Att - TD	17 - 31 - 3
223	Passing Yards	328
1	Times Sacked	3
10 - 17 (58%)	3rd Down Conversion	10 - 16 (62%)
1 - 2 (50%)	4th Down Conversion	1 - 1 (100%)
0 - 1 (0%)	2-Point Conversion	0 - 0 (0%)
3 - 2 - 1 (100%)	Red Zone - TD - FG	6 - 3 - 1 (66%)
2	Turnovers	1
1	Fumbles Losts	0
1	Intercepted	0
6	Punt Return Yards	21
240	Kick Return Yards	119
542	Total Yards	576
4 – 46.5	Punts - Average	3 - 42.7
1 - 5	Penalties	3 - 20
14:16	Time of Possession	21:44

Florida International Contract Goals Update

Fail Impact	Goal	Progress	Pass Impact
	500+ rushing yards in each season	1/3 Passed
	Win 8 games in one season	6
	2000+ total offensive yards in each season	1/3 Passed
	7+ passing TD in one season
	10+ points per game in each season	25 PPG
	2400+ total offensive yards in one season
	Win 4 games in one season
	2000+ total offensive yards in one season

Job Security Status

63%

[SmoothPancakes]

Well, this game had everything. A MTSU defense that sucked for the first half. Back to back 102 yard kickoff returns in the second quarter. An interception by the MTSU defense, that ended in a fumble, that gave our offense the ball right back. A sudden surge in the MTSU offense that got them right back into the game. Our offense absolutely collapsing and dying in the middle of the second half.

And then a touchdown with 47 seconds left to play because the MTSU defense just let my running back waltz into the end zone untouched. At the time I sort of felt bad scoring like that as we had the game in the bag (it was 1st down) and I had essentially just ran up the score. Then after the game, thinking back at all of the ups and downs of the season, screw it, I'm glad I scored that last touchdown. Gave me a chance to blow of a little bit of frustrations built up over the course of a season.

Now starts the waiting game to see if I get into a bowl game. It feels like Selection Sunday for March Madness right now. Checking numbers of bowl eligible teams, seeing who plays who, which teams will get that 6th win, which teams will lose their 7th game, etc. It's going to be interesting.

[JerzeyReign]

Nice way to close the year. With 35 bowl games, 6-6 should get you into one of 'em... hopefully

[SmoothPancakes]

And this is it. Troy won their game against Western Kentucky. That just leaves the showdown next week between Arkansas State, sitting at 5-2 in the conference, and Troy, sitting at 6-1, to decide the Sun Belt champion. North Texas (4-3), Florida Atlantic (4-3), Florida International (4-4), Louisiana-Monroe (3-4), Western Kentucky (3-5), Louisiana-Lafayette (3-5), and Mid Tennessee State (1-6) have all been eliminated from conference title contention.

This week’s national games of note, #1 Alabama wrapped up a perfect regular season, beating #16 Auburn in the Iron Bowl, 32-22. #2 Boise State stayed perfect with a 49-10 win over Wyoming. #3 Oregon barely held on, needing two late 4th quarter touchdowns to win the Civil War, beating Oregon State 35-28. #4 Nebraska holds off 7-4 Iowa, 28-21. #6 Stanford got upset by 3-8 Notre Dame, 27-20. #7 Florida State beat 6-5 Florida, 56-28. #12 Ohio State beat #25 Michigan 34-14, and #22 Pittsburgh held off 5-5 West Virginia 30-23.

The number of undefeated teams this week remains at 3. Left among the undefeated teams, #1 Alabama at 12-0, #2 Boise State at 11-0, and #18 Houston at 12-0. Based on this week's results, the National Championship right now would be between Alabama and Boise State if the season ended, Oregon would still be on the outside looking in at #3.

As for conference races nationally, in the ACC, in the Atlantic Division, #7 Florida State is your Atlantic Division winner at 7-1. Coastal Division, #19 Miami (FL) is the division winner at 7-1. It’ll be the Battle of Florida for the ACC Championship. The Big 12 is still anyone's guess. #17 Texas A&M won their game against Texas to improve to 8-1 and take over the top spot. #10 Oklahoma and #5 Oklahoma State, both 7-1, duke it out next week. This is where things get interesting. If Oklahoma wins, Texas A&M has the head to head advantage over Oklahoma. If Oklahoma State wins, Oklahoma State has the head to head advantages over Texas A&M.

The Big East is going to need the last week to decide, as #22 Pittsburgh and USF remain tied at 5-1. Pittsburgh has the head to head advantage over USF. Pitt plays 6-5 Syracuse, USF plays 5-6 West Virginia. The Big Ten, in the Leaders Division, #15 Wisconsin is your division champ at 7-1, as their win over Penn State was enough to hold off 6-2 Ohio State. The Legends Division goes to #4 Nebraska, who in their first year in the Big Ten, goes 8-0 in conference play. So the inaugural Big Ten Championship game will be between 10-2 Wisconsin and 11-1 Nebraska. C-USA, in the East Division, Southern Miss is your division winner with an 8-1 record. In the West Division, Houston takes the division crown with a perfect 9-0 mark, thanks to their season ending win over Tulsa.

In the MAC, in the East Division, the Miami University Redhawks are your division champs at 7-1, defeating Ohio 24-7, and winning the head to head tiebreaker over 7-1 Temple thanks to a 28-17 win back in week 12. The West Division will be represented in the MAC title game by Central Michigan, sitting on top at 6-2, thanks to their win over Toledo. Northern Illinois also finished 6-2, but the Chippewas hold the head to head advantage via a 38-24 week 5 win over the Huskies. The Mountain West will go to #2 Boise State, who sits at 6-0 on the year. #14 TCU is right behind at 5-1, but the Broncos hold the head to head advantage. In the PAC-12, the North Division, the #3 Oregon Ducks are your division winners at 9-0. In the South Division, there is a surprise division champion, as Arizona comes out of nowhere to claim the division with a 6-3 record, reeling off 4 straight wins to claim the title. #21 USC would have had the division title, had 4 straight losses, including a 28-20 loss to rival ULCA this week, knocked them down to mediocre 5-4 record.

In the SEC, in the East Division, South Carolina is your division champs with a 5-3 record. In the West Division, #1 Alabama is your division winner at 7-0. It will be South Carolina and the Crimson Tide battling in the SEC Championship game. And in the WAC, Fresno State claims the WAC championship with a 6-1 record thanks to their 24-16 win over San Jose State.

[SmoothPancakes]

Nice way to close the year. With 35 bowl games, 6-6 should get you into one of 'em... hopefully

Yeah, hopefully is the key word. At my last count, there are 73 teams with records of 5-6 or better. So a couple need to lose to guarantee me a bowl game. If not, I'm not so sure of my chances, since my schedule wasn't exactly the strongest or greatest of the teams still on the bubble.

[JerzeyReign]

And then a touchdown with 47 seconds left to play because the MTSU defense just let my running back waltz into the end zone untouched. At the time I sort of felt bad scoring like that as we had the game in the bag (it was 1st down) and I had essentially just ran up the score. Then after the game, thinking back at all of the ups and downs of the season, screw it, I'm glad I scored that last touchdown.

Scoring that pointless is touchdown is SIM in college football. I had a play earlier in the year I felt bad about then I put myself in the shoes of that 18-19 year old kid with nothing but green in front of him. Just go, baby!!