The Troy Ache-man

It's not an easy task, but if the Golden Panthers have any chance of upsetting defending Sun Belt Champion Troy then they need NOT to contain, but STOP quarterback Omar Haugabook.

Haugabook, the Sun Belt's Player of the Year last year and making a strong case for it again this season, is an offensive machine piling up 2,714 yards of total offense last season with 26 TDs. This year, he's on a pace to surpass that total yardage mark with 1,662 yards as of today and he has 13 touchdowns (8 passing).

What makes Haugabook so dangerous is that he can viewed as a quarterback with the combination skills set of a Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. (For those wacky posters, who may be inclined to pound their keyboard after reading the previous statement, I am NOT saying Haugabook is equal to those two NFL Hall of Famers). What I am saying is he's a good passer, but if there is nobody open, he can easily tuck the ball and go through the defense with his legs. He was the leading rusher in last year's Troy/FIU game with 111 yards.

And as we've seen in the past two games (against Kansas and Middle Tennessee) stopping a mobile quarterback for FIU has been as difficult as counting all the grains of salt in the Atlantic Ocean. Haugabook can make the Golden Panthers ache. The Trojans offense is averaging 34 points per game and nearly 500 yards (446) of total offense -- all of this against stiff competition like Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma State.

Once again the pressure is on the FIU offense to get something going and score. Yes, we know all the talent is not there yet for the offense (let MC bring in another class or two of recruits), but they are not going to cancel tommorrow's game because of rain so the Golden Panthers have to find a way to score or this game could get ugly on the scoreboard with Troy's offensive firepower.

Middle Tennessee freshman quarterback Dwight Dasher delivered a great imitation of Haugabook last week. I'm afraid Golden Panthers fans, it may be deja' vu all over again this week.

The GPP thinks: Troy 44, FIU 12

PANTHER PAWSE

Puma: Unfortunately for FIU right now, your question is a valid one: will there be more turnovers than points in Saturday's game? If there is a silver lining to playing Troy is that the Trojans' defense is human having allowed 46, 59, 23 and 31 points this season before holding Louisiana-Monroe to 7 last week. Of course, the 46 and 59 were to Arkansas and Florida. The FIU offense like the rest of this team is being built and it's a process and I know "process" has become a football cliche over the years, but that's where it's at now. Who knows maybe this is the week we see some of the process evolve.

Don't worry there will be an FIU basketball blog along with an FIU baseball blog on the GPP next week when football is on a bye.

NYCFIUFan: There will be ample notice given when the "Win a GPP Blog" winner will write so that those who don't want to read it can turn off their computers....no delete that last part....no, so those who don't want to read it can read the GPP blog archives.

TNGoldenPanther: There are enough great Florida high school players for FIU to get even with the recent lack of success. Plus, MC and staff have shown they can get players from across the U.S. And don't forget some of the selling points of FIU: new stadium and football facilities, a great university located in South Florida/Miami and players have a chance of playing right away. Yes, the 17-game losing streak is not good for business, but the positives here outweigh the negative.

About the new stadium, seeing those metal beams sticking out of the ground where the south side stands will be sort of reminds me of Superman's fortress of solitude. Without the ice.

CJ: Got your score 24-10.

One of my amigos, Larry Milian, of the "Dos Amigos" radio show on 790 AM will have MC on the show tommorrow Saturday between 12 noon and 1 p.m. The show runs from 12 noon to 3 p.m., but MC is expected to be interviewed between 12 and 1 p.m.

Off to FIU baseball practice this afternoon, will let you know what's going on....soon.

Comments

[CJ]

lol awesome comparison of the Fortress of solitude and the cage. hopefully we can turn the cage into an impenitrable fortress.

[FIUrulez]

Troy- 40 FIU -10
I'll be there.

[FIUJM]

Glad to see Dos Amigos show talks FIU football; those guys are very good!! Sometimes, they have TT on the show talking FIU baseball.

Pete, like many FIU fans..I hope you're wrong with your prediction!!

[FIU Fanatic]

My prediction...FIU 13 Troy 41

[Messod Bendayan]

Nice to hear Larry on the FIU beat, Pete. If you can, please tell him to give me a call... I haven't talked to him in ages.

Anyway... we're getting killed this week... no time to analyze... 34-7 Troy.

[FIUDad]

I must say, I am disgusted by all of the fans on this blog. I am disgusted by the garbage that come from the UM fans, I am disgusted at the disloyalty of the FIU fanbase, and they are an embarassment to college football fans, I am disgusted by the elder FIU fans on this blog (you know who you are) who feel the need to partake in such childish banter and then questions others for partaking aswell. But I guess what I am most disgusted by is the FIU football team and the pitiful product being put out on the field week after week. Before the season got started, we all were on this blog saying TDAOS - I have not seen that catch phrase used in weeks. Where did it go? Before the season we were all on this blog talking about how UM was a team on the way down and FIU was on the rise, an awoken sleeping monster, I ask you FIU bretheren, how stupid do we look now? I am just as guilty as the rest of you, I honestly thought that with PG and MC in charge, this thing would turn around, at least a little bit. It hasn't, in fact, it seems to have gotten much much worse. Look, I hate the Um fans on this blog as much as the rest of the FIUers, but in all honesty, we deserve all the BS they can dish out because before the season we ran our mouths like idiots.

[CrazyCane]

FINALLY - an FIU fan who "gets it." FIUDad, you sir are the ONLY FIU fan that I respect. You are the only one man enough to step forward and say we such, we thought we were going to be better, we ran our dumb mouths like we were a "sleeping giant" ready to awake or whatever, and we were wrong. FIUDad, congratulations sir for being the ony FIU fan on this entire blog with any sense - Are you sure you are not a UM alumni?

[CJ]

crazycane ... the mouse fall of the wheel man. any REAL fiu fan can see FIU dad has never been in it for the long haul. after the first game he has been screaming gloom and doom. and raggin on a program that is in its infancy and just recently got someone willing to create and awake the sleeping giant. are we a sleeping giant. we have the potential. we have not shown it this year but that was expcected and crazy the fact that you "only respect" fiu dad shows your dim wittedness. everyone knew it wasnt goin to happen over night i think all except FIUdad. he was expecting us to be 5-0 apparently. are you sure your not crazy cane. in disguise? next thing you know he will be on the UM site w/ crazy bashing how UM is not putting up enough points like some of the OTHER fair weather fans in miami. fret not LOYAL FIU fans. soon enough fiu dad will jump back on the bandwagon once we start winning. but he will jump off at the slightest bump. remember sometimes the road with the most bumps and curves is the best ride of all.

[Frustrated]

Fortress of Solitude comparisons with the new FIU stadium? That may just be the most appropriate nickname, if MC and PG are allowed to continue to drive the FIU football program into the ground.

[yippee]

FIU 10
TROY 38

Troy is a passing team. All they do it pass and our defense is not good at pass blocking, at all.

I'm just hoping that there isn't another shut out and /or blow out, but all I can do is hope.

see yall tomorrow.

[CJ]

so guys what lot is the tailgate happening? im goin to be there

[Fomenter]

A little late on my prediction, but here it is:

Troy 45
FIU 13

Troy has shown they are susceptible to giving up points but even that won't be enough for FIU to do too much offensively and I see some points coming in garbage time.

Off topic, but some of the vitriol thrown around on this board is nuts. A lot of people seem to have this deep rooted hate for each other but I'm sure if they were next to each other in person we'd see the complete opposite.

[YouGotGold]

FIUDad, you are back and guess what?
WE DID NOT MISS YOU...seriously
If you are gonna open your mouth to talk crap, don't open it at all

Pete, I gotta give you kuddos for that one. You might be the only one who could have come up with the Superman comparison

Props to the volleyball girls...Can Yarimar throw a football? I mean, you DO need a strong arm to play volleyball. Maybe she could spike it to an open receiver or something

I STILL BELIEVE
FIU 17 x Troy 14

[paradox]

Must agree - big props to the volleyball team. Too bad not more people have seen what they can do.
Wondering how the baseball players are holding up to the extended practices. Isn't there supposed to be some limit on how many hours a week they can practice under supervision of coaches during fall season? I've seen them there well past 7 PM most nights.
Also wondering how the potential "sanctions" that will come down in February will affect the program as a whole. Anyone know what any of the violations were?

[E-Man]

It's silver lining time!

As was mentioned earlier, the MTSU game was a preview of sorts for this weeks game. More specifically, Dasher may have served as a scout team QB in preparation for this game. Bear with me for a few seconds. Given the much talked about youth of his team, it may be beneficial that they a coming off a game with the type of QB they just faced. Let's not forget that the defense did substantially better in the second half last week, even before Dasher was pulled from the game. MC may have, whether by design or by accident, hit upon a formula to limit the Troy offense.

The offense is another story. Or quite probably, the end of the story. They have got to show more imagination than the 6 straight slants in a row, followed up by 4 straight after throwing in one of those pesky run plays. BUT (this obviously a very big but), if we score a touchdown first, we win. Honestly, notwithstanding the "lack of talent," the offense simply has to find a personality of sorts that works for this team. If or when they find this groove things will happened they way FIU fans would love to have them happen. Hey, one can always dream, can't one?

Blessed is he who has not seen and yet believes.

[Andy D]

Yo CJ, left you a message in the last blog..

Good luck against Troy this weekend guys, I will be pulling for you! :)

[sunblazer69]

Hey PP, I'm back from a self-imposed exile from the blog, not that I have stopped reading it. However tonight, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it". I just read the NCAA findings in FIU and it's not pretty. Seems that during the prior regime of Rick "don't mess with my wings" Mello, FIU athletics had no idea of the rules and regulations of the NCAA. 40 athletes that weren't supposed to participate did with the consent of the coaches. The Football program being the biggest culprit.

Fellow bloggers and FIUers, there's one person mostly responsible for this (we can also blame MM for not firing him long time ago). Rick Mello, who for years got a six figures contract from FIU (state money, meaning it was our hard earned tax dollars), kept rewarding these inept coaches with long time contracts. Mr. Mello, believe it or not is assistant to the commissioner in the SunBelt conference. I think Mr. Mello should hear from all of us that he betrayed and stole from.

His E-mail address is

Mello@sunbeltsports.org

[SouthPaw]

Troy 34 FIU 9. Things are never as bad as they seem when they're bad, and never as good as they seem when they're good.

I've accepted that we're building this year. It's not that surprising, when you consider how young our offense is and how many experienced players from last year's defense didn't return as expected this year. Look at some of the talent we lost on defense:

LB Wendy Napoleon, So.
DB Kent Henderson, So.
DB Jeremiah Weatherspoon, Jr.
DB Marshall McDuffie, Sr.
DB Shelton Penrow, Jr.
DL Jonas Murrell, Jr.

These guys all would have made big contributions this year. The good news is our young guys are getting invaluable playing time with live bullets.

The sleeping giant has just temporarily nodded back off into a light sleep. Just don't poke him too hard while he's sleeping or he'll be very angry when he wakes up.

[FIU0406]

Troy 41
FIU 9

LETS GO FIU!

[UltimateFIUFan]

FIUDad, as I've done before, I am calling you out! In response to several of your prior post, I stated in a milder response post that you needed to think long-term. Your last post made NO SENSE! Maybe that why CrazyCane "respects" you. Your post mirrors his drivel!

I have NEVER stated TDAOS before this current post and I never stated that we were "moving on up". I work with facts and they include:

1) FIU has a new coach with "playing" success while @ UM.
2) FIU's new coach was part of a rebuilding team in Rutgers.
3) FIU's new coach became said coach late in the recruiting process due his bowl involvement with his prior employer.
4) FIU has a new AD with administrative success while @ UM.
5) Prior football coaching staff was lazy and @ the end didn't care about the program.
6) Nothing was left from last year's 0-12 team to build on.
7) Our new coach has 5 games under his belt and you want him gone!

FIUDad, stay out of the sun and relax in the A/C. As a matter of fact, put the A/C on high so that you can chill. Don't group all of us FIUers together because we all come in different shades of BLUE & GOLD.

Finally, when you post and I truly hope you continue (CJ, we all have to express ourselves, even if you and I may not agree with his post), re-read before posting. If it sounds like something CrazyCane may "respect" then you know that particular post is worthless garbage and try again!

See you all @ the OB!

GO FIU!!

[yippee]

SouthPaw,

LB Wendy Napoleon, So.- career ending neck injury,
DB Kent Henderson, So.- released from team very recently.
DB Jeremiah Weatherspoon, Jr.-?
DB Marshall McDuffie, Sr.- released due to the Miami Brawl last year
DB Shelton Penrow, Jr. - ?
DL Jonas Murrell, Jr. - quit last year

that's what I can tell you about those players.

[FIUmom]

First.....Wetherspoon is academically ineligible.

Second....sunblazer69, Yes, the athletic department was very inept in its handling of NCAA requirements. Kids were getting put into classes that had prerequisits without those requirements being met. Kis were getting put into classes that had accompanying labs without being put into those labs. Kids were getting put on the field/court with GPA's in the toilet. Kids were being brought in on scholarship without having taken the required courses in high school and then sent home after a semester or more. It was an across the board debacle. Several persons lost their jobs because of it. But I believe the right people are in place now.

Thirdly....FIUdad, Don't let your loyalties fade. Yes, these are dark days. Yes, the team has looked very bad for the past two weeks. Yes, we were all very pumped prior to the start of the season. As each week passed more and more people lost their faith. However, there are still some of us who believe that things will turn around. I am one of those. I do not now nor will I ever regret showing my support in every way. I will continue to defend FIU to those who choose to come here and rub our faces in it. I do not consider myself nor any other FIU fan here an idiot for supporting the team. Don't waiver on these guys. It is easy to be a fair-weather fan and support a winning team. It is only a real fan who continues to support a team when they are down. Which kind of a fan are you?

[FIUJM]

FIUDad is not an FIU fan. Personally, I think he's a Don Strock fan(will always be). It's like he has a crush on him. From what I gather from FIU fans is that we should be 'patient', nobody said at the beginning of the year we were even Top 50 football school. All I have to say to is "chill", let MC get his players in, and let this young team develop.

Sunblazer69, thanks for the great information you brought to this blog. I always thought of Mello as being laidback. If your information is true; MM definitely has some fault.

[scUMsanitizer]

CANDY CANE - If FIUDad was a scUM alum he would be on US1 right now cleaning my car's windshield.

[FIUPantherFan]

Troy 41 - FIU 13

[FIUmom]

OOPS! I forgot to make my prediction.
Pete, I'm sorry it's late (it has been a long week).
TROY-21
FIU-28

[MancuniasRedArmy]

I tried to post using my blackberry last week and i thought it did. Looking back, it didn't. Darnit. Ah well my prediction was MTSU 17-10 FIU. Man I wish it'd been anywhere near that ballpark.

This week: Troy 45-FIU 9

[NYCFIUFan]

I know this is not a UM blog but with all of the UCG fans (CrazyCane, U27/7, MIA/NY Josh, Fomenter...yes I think you are a UM fan), I am watching the UM-UNC game and loving it!!!! 27-0 so far and it isn't even 1/2 time. How many of you geniuses picked UM over UNC? Please tell me. Since you call us FIU fans idiots for picking our team.

Oh, by the way, this UNC team that is making UM look like a I-AA team got their butts whipped by USF, and yes they played this season, actually 2 weeks ago. So do you still think UM is ahead of USF?

Well at least UM players know how to dance, which they did during a time out, right before UNC scored on a reverse. IN YOUR FACE! Just because you wear a UM uniform does not mean it is 1988, remember, things change, things change.

GO FIU!!!

[FIUJM]

27-0 Halftime scored should keep scUM fans away this week!! On top of it, it's against a 1-4 team. But I wouldn't be surprised if some Canes fans come up with excuses.

Go FIU!!

[FIUJM]

Hopefully those Canes fans are humbled losing to UNC(2-4) team!!

GO FIU, play hard tonight!!

[FIUmom]

Where is crazycane now?!?!?!?!
To the TarHeels?!?!?!?!?!

[FIUJM]

Crazycane will find an excuse.

They'll lose next week to GT also, so we might not hear from him for a while.

[FIUmom]

Georgia Tech will beat them again for sure.

[FIU Fanatic]

Maryland just beat Georgia Tech, and Kansas beat Kansas St.

UM lost to UNC
Penn State is beating Iowa 3-0 in 1st quarter.

Arkansas plays Chatanooga tonight

Middle Tennessee plays Virginia later tonight.

[NYCFIUFan]

Hopefully with the Canes loss we don't have to read their crap on this blog! Having said that, the UM fans on the other blog are spewing how "embarrassed" they are for being UM fans. I saw the game, and their team played hard and showed heart (I am man enough to admit it even though I hate the UCG). Unfortunately, in typical Cane fashion they don't see it b/c they have no interest in UM with the exception of football, hell if it was up to them they would recruit anyone and to hell with academics or standards. Please let us not get that way here at FIU. Lets hold ourselves to a higher standard.

[FIUJM]

Wow...USF 7 FAU 7.

I'm just glad Canes got humbled!!!!

[NYCFIUFan]

I am watching the scores, and FAU is tied to USF at the half (7-7). They appear sooooo ahead of us. Why is this?? I guess Strock really did not get it done; it is like the first few years were a waste. Look at Levitt and Howard at USF and FAU respectively and we are the duds of college football. I really hope that MC can turn this around. Howard said that FAU is ahead of USF at the 7 year mark then USF was at their7 year mark. We are going into our 7 year mark next year and we are behind, way behind and I am pissed. I know Pete, it takes time, but it is REALLY frustrating seeing schools in your own area so ahead of us and it did not have to be this way if FIU did a better job of evaluating personnel!!

I am set to watch the game from the Big Apple, I am looking for more heart and effort, show some pride.

GO FIU!!!

[Quijote]

scUM is fortunate they showed their A game against Texas A&M, that win might just save them from a losing season. I don't expect scUM to win much more this year, it seems they are the worst team in their conference. ACC must be hating their decision. Now before crazycane and other scUM losers point out that we may may the worst in our conference too, you come to expect that from a football team in only their third season in DIV 1A football. You don't expect this from scUM, although we all saw this arriving long ago. Maybe, just maybe, if FIU turns things around starting tonight, we can finish with a better record than scUM....I saw this because honestly, lol, looking at their schedule maybe scUM can get one more win this season against North Carolina State. We'll see how we do against Troy tonight, and I'm not expecting much but after tonight we will have finished our most difficult part of our schedule and we may get some wins against a much weaker second half schedule.

FAU impressing against USF, just like we did last year

[YouGotGold]

FIU up 7-0
I'm so mad I wasn't able to go to the game...
Loving the gameplan though...RUN RUN RUN

[NYCFIUFan]

I am listening to the game (since the internet site is not working). Our defense has turned on the switch and we are winning the battle of field position.....GO FIU!!!

[MancuniasRedArmy]

I'm a 'Canes fan that goes to FIU. Sad day that the 'Canes lost, they'd have been top 25 bnut that team showed a lot of heart today. Rush defense looks good tonight. C'mon GP!

[MancuniasRedArmy]

Also You can get the gamecast of the game online at http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/gamecast?gameId=272792229&groupId=37

[NYCFIUFan]

MancuniasRedArmy, leave the dark side of the force, you go to a school that has a football program. Canes losing made my day.

Go FIU, and thx for the info.

[NYCFIUFan]

damn!!! We are down 17-7 off a special teams TD. THAT HURTS!!!! We can't score if our life dependent on it, and we get down by a special teams TD.

DAMN!!

[NYCFIUFan]

Down 34-10, looks like another loss.

Pete, I am sure Wayne Younger is a good kid, but he looks like he is over his head. We need a change, a spark on offense.

[NYCFIUFan]

Ok, it is official we lost...again. Pete I have a few questions which I hope you can enlighten me:

1) Why the hell was Wayne in the game that long? A) He did not play that well so why not give Colt or McCall a shot and B) If MC believes he is the guy, why leave him in there that long and risk getting injured?

2) When we were down 34-10 early in the 4th, why was the offensive play calling so damn conservative? It appears to me we waived the white flag.

3) I saw the UM and the Maryland game and I thought we were going to actually win a few games this year, but much like last year, now that we are in our SunBelt schedule it looks like we have gotten WORSE and we look lackluster, at both sides of the ball. I know we are young but we have not progressed. Are the kids still buying into MC's system? Does he still have the respect of the players?

4) Is our line up that much weaker then everyone else in the SunBelt? For example FAU, are our kids not the same caliber then they are, since they look like they are going to compete for the Sun Belt and we are looking at another 0-12 season??

[FIUJM]

It's ashame how Strock/Mello didn't do anything in their tenure with FIU. We're all seeing the difference between Strock and Schellenberger(I tried spelling it right). Hopefully, we're benefiting in the long term with MC playing with young team.

As for QB position. Colt Anderson is the future QB of this team, MC should consider giving him some snaps if the game is out of reach. Pete, hopefully you can get answer from MC about playing Colt.

Finally, special teams is killing me. You can't allow a TD and give momentum to a team like Troy. It was decent first half until that return. And prevent defense before the half was horrible!! We gave them 3 easy points. Bright spot is that at least it wasn't 47-0 at halftime.

GO FIU!! Practice hard and go study film. You have two weeks to get ready for Louisiana-Monroe.

[quijote]

lol why is everyone so crazy over colt anderson?!?! i have yet to see anything impressive come from him. I understand he was recruited from Nebraska and was an all american high school QB, but the same can be said of Kyle Wright at scUM and he clearly hasn't executed as advertised. I think Younger showed some solid improvement last night and what makes him more attractive right now than any other QB is his scrambling ability. It seems at QB, throwing can be taught but scrambling can't. If a QB can't scramble initially, he never will. The passing game will come with practice and better line protection. We are starting to see Younger execute better on his passes, something that was totally nonexistent against PSU...

[UltimateFIUFan]

FIUJM & NYCFIUFan, excellent points on FIU’s lack of development. Did you notice that both of you brought up the example of USF (Leavitt) & FAU (Schnellenberger) programs. Well as you can see both of them ARE COMMITTED to their respective programs and universities. Strock and his staff never bought in to the FIU community, had atrocious work ethic, however they were GOOD golfers especially @ the 19th hole.

That is what MC has inherited, a BROKEN shell of a program where MC is digging out the rotten foundation and pouring in his cement; the right way! Consider this season, FIU's 1st ever football season because the prior 5 seasons were a mirage by a phantom staff. We were lucky to get players like Turnbull, Bouie, Barnes & Bostic. Those four and very few other truly cared. The players in those prior teams might of cared when they got to FIU, however the disease of apathy and laziness found in their coaches is contagious and unfortunately for us FIU fans, they were stricken with it!

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE! GIVE MC SOME TIME, HE WILL GET IT DONE!

GO FIU!!!

[FIUJM]

UltimateFIUFan, you forgot to mention Sam Smith and Chandler Williams!! You're absolutely right about Strock, I feel during his practices, pep talks during games, that players probably had their own pillows when the coach spoke. He couldn't get through to his guys and probably didn't care about being a winner fast.

Quijote, I have seen improvements in Younger and he might be the long term QB but I would like to see some other QB's get experience. Colt has the best arm of all the QB's. Personally, I like Darold Hughes but he's definitely not ready. I have a friend in Louisiana and he says every kid that comes out of school that Hughes went to is a winner. Very good HS football program!

On a final note...I can't wait for that first game next year in the new stadium. I'm sure it will be rocking in the Cage against USF!! MC is doing thing the right way, let him get his players in and we'll see the progress.

Does anybody know why Leavine and Dominguez got suspended for game?