FIU Golden Panthers take flight to Motown

It's official: FIU is on its way to the team's first bowl appearance.

The Panthers left for Detroit on a Thursday morning charter flight, with wide receivers coach Frank Ponce firing off this message on Twitter: "SIRENS ARE SOUNDING OFF! HEADED TO THE AIRPORT. GETTING ON "GOLDEN PANTHER ONE" -- DETROIT HERE WE COME."

FIU is expected to arrive in Detroit early afternoon, then attend a 2 p.m. press conference ahead of its first practice on Ford Field.

I'll be joining the team up in Michigan on Saturday, but if I get any photos/stories from the frozen north, I'll happily pass them along.

Comments

[beh]

You'll probably blog some foolishness about Toledo fans outnumbering Panther fans 10-1, but fail to mention that Toledo is about 50 miles away from Detroit.

And then you'll do one of your renowned "copy and pastes" and run it as your article in Monday's Herald on top of FIU's bowl victory story.

Douche.

["Who?"niversity of Miami at Oral Gables]

Go FIU !!!!!

[pnutgallery]

no one cares about this team or this game..a .500 team is a bowl game...what a joke

[Kid Rock]

Nobody except ESPN, who decided to televised it PRIME TIME on SUNDAY. Not only did they decide to televise it, but they decided to televise it on the flagship. Not Espn2, or ESPNU or ESPN3... ESPN.

OWNED.

[Bowl Champs]

pelegrin will be there on sunday one day later and have more stuff on his blog and he won't copy & paste.

[Lemus]

pnutgallery FIU is not the only team that is 500 and playing a bowl game.

[FIUPantherFan]

I've really enjoyed the past couple of articles on the Herald about FIU. There's no backhanded compliments or outright hostility towards the program. You can clearly tell who it WASN'T written by.

[Gooch7]

Justin,

Will there be a Gameday article on Sun Paper? Maybe some thing positive about what FIU has already accomplished and what they are on the verge of doing in ONLY there 9th year of existence. How about something about the big journey those Senior have taken. How about playing in a game that is 5000miles away from Miami and only a 1 hour drive from Toledo.. How about writing about the Player of the Year (TY) and Coach of the Year (Mario), and how they represent the Sunbelt. How about ANYTHING good about FIU that is more then just 3 sentences in page 9D..

Go FIU!!

[fiu-lower case]

Why would the Herald write anything good about fiu lower case, when they suck!! How about they write about how we should close down the school because we don't need a second community college.

All about da U! "Were the big boyz play"

[FIU UPPER CASE]

Where the big boys apparently can't write either. Or did you mean that the big boys "were" playing there? UM's glory days are over buddy. Enjoy your continued downward spiral, that much more accelerated thanks to your all star coaching staff out of the MAC. Maybe he'll know how to recruit outside of Northwestern?

Hope you enjoyed the ride, we did.

[nothingxs]

jesus christ people can we please get off adam beasley's balls and just let him write

like every fiu fan in the world suddenly has it in for adam and the guy is just trying to write

holy hell

[finsfan72]

FIU fans are a JOKe, the whole program is..instead of crying why not go to your own games and support your teams..I went to a volleyball game this year and there were about 45 fans there. I also went to a womans soccer game who had about 20 fans..football is the same..mens basketball..ditto ditto..you keep crying about 9 years and a bowl game?..please FAU did this in 5..they won a D2 championship in 3..the have had player of the year and coach of the year..so lets stop pretending this is new..USFL in their 10th season was ranked #2..FIU is no where near a ranking..great OC and DC this year..head coach is still not up to par...so stop beating your chest..and go support your teams

[FIUer]

Loving all the hate and attention these no-lifes are giving us. For a program that's supposedly irrelevant they sure do spend A LOT of time on our blogs and articles trying to convince us that we're not on te rise. That's very telling as to what these scUMguzzlers really think of us - a threat. Keep trying panty- waists.

[FIUPantherFan]

Taking attendance advice from a finsfan is hillarious, especailly when he doesn't know what he's talking about. Good job knowing the name of a team (USFL? LOL!) and fau was never in D2 and never won a championship. So maybe you should just stick to the NFL, hopefully you are a little less ignorant about that. Go F I U!

[FICC]

I love it - pre-empting the pathetic turnout of FIU fans with excuses days before the game.

P.S. - ESPN decided to put the bowl game on during primetime way before they knew who was going to be playing in it.

OWNED.

[FICC]

And "Who?"niversity of Miami at Oral Gables - your name makes no sense and isn't clever.

[fudge]

FICC like taking DICC from behind.

[I_Better_Than_U]

U scared. U stink. I dominate U.

[FIWho?]

U dominate western Kentucky and FAU.

You're not in UM's league.

[sebastian is dead]

LOL - please.... what league are U in, exactly?

Crap facilities
Stadium 40 miles OFF campus
Coaching staff from the MAC
Consistent mediocrity

You're living in the past. At least your student athletics are learning something instead of your thug U days.

[alt7787]

I don't know what some of you guys' problem with Beasley is. Let the guy write. To hear people complaining and calling for FIU to do something about the articles in the Herald is juvenile. Everytime we read something we dont like, we cry about it? I'll admit that sometimes the articles in the paper seem to take shots at FIU, but you have to realize that we didn't exactly dominate the college football world. At 6-6, we're still mostly irrelevant. I'm so so so proud of our team, but the fans have to take it upon themselves to act classier. A 6-6 record does not warrant people making demands from others.

On that note, Adam thank you for covering FIU. While it isn't the most glamorous beat in town, you still do it with professionalism.

Bring on Toledo!!!

[FIWho?]

Hahahaha - UM has the best stadium in the ACC and they have 50 busses standing by to take the students over every week.

And you're making fun of UM's coach for coaching the MAC??? Your coach coaches in the Sunbelt conference! Present tense, he's still there!

FIU isn't even mediocre yet, you still can't beat a team outside your pathetic conference! UM may be down right now but even at their worst they're better than FIU will ever be.

Go ahead, brag about your weight room and all the "progress" you've made in 10 short years, until you have a team that isn't godawful at the game of football you're all just whistlin Dixie.

[FIUer]

Wait. Is someone actually bragging about having 50 buses ready to ship students 35 miles to see a college game? Come on. That is beyond ignorant. And I've been at almost every ACC stadium and HANDS DOWN the experience and atmosphere at those stadiums (regardless of size) is light years beyond Joe Robbie during UM games. I know it sucks to be a UM fan right now, but try not to sound like a total moron.

[FICC]

Miami fans only go to big games, has nothing to do with where the stadium is.

And the atmosphere for a big UM game is every bit as good as a game at Doak or Lane Stadium, and I've been to games at all three.

Not that there's any reason to defend UM's state of the art, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, and National Championship hosting stadium to a bunch of fans that has never even been able to get 20,000 people in their stadium.

What's the point of an on campus stadium when 90% of your students still live at home with their parents?

[broward king]

U dominate western Kentucky and FAU.

You're not in UM's league.

Posted by: FIWho? | December 24, 2010 at 02:06 PM

Sir, FIU has not dominated, dominates or will dominate FAU. Maybe WKU but not the owls from Boca Raton. I just wanted to make that clear. You are probably an UM fan.

[fiu chumps]

fiu licki licki these...Toledo will woop yall

Adam is the man! All about the U!!

The LITTLE Caesears Bowl is a perfect fit for a LITTLE school like fiu.

[PantherPower]

The way these scUM fans spell it's obvious they are the typical UM fan.....high school drop out who's never stepped foot on any college campus.

Face it, the I is on the rise while your beloved goon squad is fading into irrelevancy.

U mad!

[Hurricane Golden]

PantherPower what are u a power ranger? FIWho is irrelevant & will continue to be...

Merry Christmas! NOt! Losers don't deserve one! Toledo 55- FIU 10

Sunbelt-chumpsRus

Hate, Hate, Hate Hate, Hate

[sebastian is dead]

You can't spell scum without UM

[alt7787]

PantherPower, please dont call FIU "The I". It sounds terrible. Cheap imitation.

I still think we should change our mascot/team name. Whoever came up with that idea was lazy and gave no thought to the fact that there are already a bunch of "goldens" and "panthers" in the FBS. Not to mention that we have a local hockey team that also goes by "panthers".

Suggestions please.

[PANTERA Nation]

FIU PANTERA

[The Swami]

Whereas I am happy for the kids on the team that have been through, the bottom line is that as long as Cristobal is the head coach FIU is never going to be elite even in the Sun Belt. Am I a Cane fan? He'll no. I loathe the convicts....yeah, I said it - - though I know Randy Shannon turned that part around. Both teams are horrible and are an embarrassment to what was once an area of football power. They even manage to muck up the good players.....Wesley Carroll, former SEC freshman of the year, and all the talent that went to UM to play for Shannon. Both sides need to sit Dow, shut up, and watch how the rest of the college football world does it.

["Who?"niversity of Miami at Oral Gables]

Go FIU ! Win your bowl game !