TAMPA, Fla. — Although Florida International University posted 381 total yards of offense, the Panthers only had single-digit points to show for it, and ended up falling to favored South Florida, 19-9, in the season opener last Saturday at Raymond James Stadium.
“There are a lot of great things to take away from this game,” FIU coach Willie Simmons said, quickly lauding his defense which held the Bulls to just 208 yards. “Obviously, not the outcome we wanted, but when you look at how hard we played, never quit, just the grit and toughness. I can’t say enough about the defense … just getting after them for four quarters. We got a chance to be a special football team.”
But Simmons abides by what he refers to as seven F’s in his program, two of which are faith and fundamentals. FIU failed to show them on the field in Tampa.
The Panthers finished the game with eight penalties, six of which were pre-snap infractions. All told, those flags cost FIU 50 yards. Part of the failure to follow the fundamentals was the dropped passes FIU had throughout the game.
On the Panthers’ opening drive, FIU faced a 4th and 5. Quarterback JJ Kohl found Rhode Island transfer receiver Greg Gaines III open down the middle of the field and Gaines dropped the pass, causing a turnover on downs.
“If our guys can’t focus and lock in on the snap count, that means we haven’t repped it enough. If they don’t know how to react when a guy jumps in the neutral zone, that means we haven’t repped it enough,” Simmons said. “It’s up to us to make sure we do these things every day as a coaching staff, to put these guys in the best positions so they cannot mess it up on game day. That’s fundamentals, and today was a poor display of fundamentals.”
The faith aspect came down to Simmons believing that “having faith in just doing the things we’ve been doing for 25 days, and trusting our fundamentals, that’s what cost us tonight.”
On the bright side, Kohl — an Appalachian State transfer making his FIU debut — made it one to remember. Kohl completed a career-high 31 passes on 50 attempts, throwing for 301 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Kohl’s 301 yards is the most by a transfer quarterback in his FIU debut. The lone touchdown pass came with under 10 seconds left in the game, completing a short pass to junior-college transfer James Resar for a 21-yard score.
“I thought JJ played well,” Simmons said. “He threw the ball 50 times, which is probably more than we would like to throw it in the game. Got to do a better job of being consistent and efficient in the run game to help him. All in all, he completed right at 60% of his passes and had two interceptions late when we were trying to force things and get back from behind. I thought he managed the game and got us in the right checks. I thought he stepped up in the pocket well. He just needs to trust those free-access throws.”
Of those 31 completions, eight of them went to Maguire Anderson for 87 yards, giving him a career-high in both receptions and receiving yards. Nine different Panthers contributed in the passing game, as well.
The FIU defense also had what Simmons considered “an A-plus effort” on Saturday night. They held the USF offense to just 208 total yards, the lowest total yards FIU has allowed an opponent since October 2024, when they limited Sam Houston State to 207 total yards.
Safety Deandre Boykins led the effort with nine tackles and one tackle for loss. Ole Miss transfer DeeJay Holmes Jr. collected his first career sack and finished the night with three total tackles and two tackles for loss. As a unit, the Panthers had 6.5 tackles for loss. They limited USF to just 108 rushing yards in the debut of Bulls coach Brian Hartline.
FIU will be in Pitbull Stadium this week for the home opener. On Saturday, the Panthers will welcome the Buffalo Bulls, who defeated FCS Albany by a score of 21-17 in their opener. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and kicks off at 6:00 p.m.
