The touchdown makers of FIU's 24-17 win against Louisville, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton and linebacker Winston Fraser, will be named the Sun Belt Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week this morning.
For Hilton, the repeat of an opening week honor came via a school record 201 receiving yards and two touchdowns. A few more times and Hilton will retire the award. Or they'll rename it "The Goodbye."
Fraser had eight tackles, the biggest being a no gain stop on Jeremy Wright on 3rd and 1 from the FIU 7 in the fourth quarter. His most important play, arguably the most important one of the game, was the 71-yard interception return that gave FIU a 7-0 lead after Loiusville's opening drive.
FIU left the Special Teams part of the award for its Sun Belt bretheren.
Both Hilton and Fraser, after the not-unusual pre-interview private chat with head coach Mario Cristobal, humbly complimented their teammates and coaches. Hilton dismissed the idea that the offense relied too much on him, with the understatement
"The plays that I make help us out."
He did say later he didn't think there was a secondary that could cover FIU's receivers one-on-one.
I know football and basketball drive the traffic to this blog, but I hate that I haven't had much on volleyball (two home wins over the weekend) or soccer (tough weekend) in the blog the last few days. We'll try to rectify that soon, even with FIU vs. UCF nigh.
Yeah, that INT was huge. It was a minimum 10 point turnaround because of UL's field position at the time. Without it, takeaway 7 of our points and give them at least 3 more points and this week feels a whole lot different.
Posted by: The Point | September 12, 2011 at 11:38 AM
David,
What happened to Justin? So are you and Rick Sanchez going to have a twitter war?
Posted by: FIUPantherFan | September 12, 2011 at 02:29 PM
^^^Haters gonna hate^^^
Posted by: Quijote | September 12, 2011 at 04:35 PM
wtf did you just call me?
Posted by: kettle | September 12, 2011 at 04:54 PM
David must say u write very well. Been awhile since anyone in this blog could actually write well and interesting. Thanks!
Posted by: FIU on the Rise! | September 12, 2011 at 08:44 PM
It is a shame how low some people will go in an attempt to belittle an excelent player.
1.) I know many people with intelectural disabilities that are smarter than you.
2.) Considering that this program is still young, this is a big accomplishment.
3.) With all of the UM fans that are on this blog posting negative comments you would think they feel threatened.
I don't wish ill to any of the programs in the state. The better all of the teams perform, the better all of the teams can recriut. There are enough prospects for all.
Posted by: Pantherfan | September 12, 2011 at 10:34 PM
There's a reason why there's a bunch of UM fans here. Why would you want to follow their team? They're going to be 0-2 soon.
Posted by: MiamiSouthPaw | September 12, 2011 at 11:26 PM
why would I be a scUM supporter? y'all are the worst two teams in the state, a has been and a never-will.
Posted by: um fans don't even follow um, why would they follow florida international? | September 13, 2011 at 12:25 AM
FIUPantherfan, Justin was a victim of cuts made at The Herald. I'm not happy about it. He did good work in several facets of our news operation.
And as for a Twitter war with Rick Sanchez...no. Just...no.
Posted by: David J. Neal | September 13, 2011 at 01:28 AM
David J. Neal - why is there such a commotion about Rick Sanchez's commentating? I haven't heard any of it, but even if it does suck, who cares?
I don't know anything about Rick Sanchez besides the fact that he said something against the right or the left that got him fired from his old job. I saw an article by Barry Jackson called "Dreadful debut for FIU analyst, ex-CNN anchor Rick Sanchez" and even the title made me think that Mr. Jackson had sat there and listened to the entire broadcast taking notes and nitpicking because Rick Sanchez had offended whatever political party he prefers.
What's up with Rick Sanchez? What did he do and which team is supposed to hate him?
Posted by: Buc Nasty | September 13, 2011 at 03:45 AM
Was Adam Beasley terminated as well?
Posted by: Wondering | September 13, 2011 at 11:26 AM
Wondering -- Adam Beasley was not terminated. He's doing consumer affairs for us, a beat I wouldn't mind taking.
Buc Nasty -- I haven't read what Barry wrote. On this blog, I only asked for opinions on the broadcast because Mr. Sanchez doing the color on FIU football generated much interest (easily the most comments on this blog for any post since June). The question about the Twitter war came about because of a recent blog post Mr. Sanchez made to which he linked off Twitter. I twice questioned on Twitter to whom the blog post was directed. He declined to answer both times. I left it at that.
Posted by: David J. Neal | September 13, 2011 at 02:35 PM
That's a shame... Adam Beasley is 100% pure scUM
Posted by: Wondering | September 13, 2011 at 03:28 PM
Why is Rick Sanchez Twittering about the US News college rankings that have UM at 38 and Florida International not even ranked in the second tier?
Posted by: Doesn't he know who he works for? | September 13, 2011 at 07:47 PM
DJN-
Any word on who Isiah is hiring for his open assistant job?
Posted by: GP 90 | September 13, 2011 at 08:09 PM
FIU is in the fourth tier of the US News college rankings.
Posted by: truth | September 16, 2011 at 10:07 AM