After a valiant showing against the No. 2 team in the country Saturday, FIU heads home to play back-to-back home games.
Week 3 on the schedule is among the biggest games of the season as the Panthers welcome the Florida Atlantic Owls to Pitbull Stadium in Shula Bowl XXII on Saturday night.
SHULA BOWL WITH MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS
This version of the Shula Bowl will mean plenty for both teams. There are two new coaches at the helm, Willie Simmons for the Panthers and Zach Kittley for the Owls.
FAU, like FIU, is 1-1, The Boca Raton team is fresh off a 56-14 win over Florida A&M Saturday. Their first game of the season was against Maryland, a Big Ten opponent; Starting quarterback Caden Veltkamp threw four interceptions and FAU fell by 39-7.
The Owls have one final non-conference game late in the season against UConn, but they go right into conference play against the top teams in No. 18 South Florida, Navy, Tulane and East Carolina. If they want to make a bowl game, this game against FIU is a must-win.
As for FIU, the Panthers need to have a sense of urgency to win against the Owls. Although you can call this a rivalry, it hasn’t felt like one, as the Panthers’ last win over FAU came back in 2016. The closest game was last year’s matchup, which the Owls won 38-20 in Boca Raton.
In his introductory press conference, Simmons noted the importance of defeating “that little school right up the road right there in Boca every single year.”
PASSING ATTACK NEEDS TO GET IT GOING
Through the first two games of the season, despite facing completely different opponents, FIU has struggled to get the passing attack going, failing to score a touchdown through the air. In his first two games of the season, junior quarterback Keyone Jenkins has completed 33 passes for 314 yards and has one interception, which came in the Penn State game Saturday, a 34-0 loss.
Jenkins’ offensive line is giving him plenty of help. He has only been sacked once (vs. Penn State) thus far in 2025. If FIU wants to light up the scoreboard against the Owls, they need to get the passing attack going.
Following Saturday’s game, Simmons spoke about how good the offensive line has been, noting, “that was the challenge all week. Come in and find a way to neutralize those guys… I thought our offensive line did a good job of accepting the challenge.”
PANTHERS DEFENSE CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
FIU’s defense held the Nittany Lions to 10 points through the first half of play. Part of that is due to two turnovers on downs and two sacks.
“I told the guys before the game that this matchup would really show who we are,” Simmons said. “I thought in the first half, we showed everybody that when we are doing the right things, we can play with any team in America. We had the number two team in the country on the ropes, even with some missed opportunities.”
Count Penn State coach James Franklin said among those who are impressed with the Panthers.
“I do think that’s a better football team,” Franklin said after the shutout. “I think they are going to have a good year in [Conference USA]. Standing out there on that field, they’ve got some good looking players. And I thought they were coached well, and I thought they were efficient with what they did. You’ve got to give them a ton of credit.”
