Coming to you live and yawning (see previous blog post) from the GC, where the band's blasting through a Pep rally and non-football schedules are being passed out...
Football practices are closed to the public -- sort of. In a college version of classes in the trailers that make South Florida public schools look like Arkansas tornado targets, a shortage of classrom space has classes meeting in some FIU Stadium suites. During practice. I'm surprised students don't have to sign non-disclosure agreements preventing them from telling or Tweeting what they see.
After Darrian Dyson's first practice in a week and a half, FIU coach Mario Cristobal said about his usage Saturday, "You can get out of tooball shape in a hurry. While waiting for a final ruling, he was really relegated to being just a student. He was not allowed to be around the building or training with us. There's some catching up to do. Certainly, he's a talented young man we have great expectations for. He's going to have a role pretty quickly. How much he has on Saturday will be determined between today's film study and tomorrow's practice."
Linebacker Winston Fraser admitted FIU needed to make sure not to take Akron lightly. Last year, Fraser said he felt they came out flat against Akron last year and, even after the 27-17 win, felt flat because they thought they should've won by more. I recall during the second quarter, one Ohio-area reporter said to another semi-loudly in the press box that the only reason the game was close was because FIU hadn't decided to make it a blowout.
Such was the talent gap last year. It isn't as great this year. Hey, Youngstown State spanked Pitt at Pitt, so Saturday's no lock for FIU.
There will be a fireworks presentation after Saturday's game.
MEN'S SOCCER
US National Team coach and former German soccer great Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to the 3-0 men's soccer team Tuesday. Klinsmann's crew used FIU Soccer Field for practice Tuesday and Wednesday.
Good thing freshman Robin Spiegel's been handling the goal so well for FIU. Junior goalkeeper Eric Reyes will miss this weekend's games against Wisconsin and Illinois-Chicago while playing for Puerto Rico at Caribbean Cup in Haiti. Puerto Rico plays Bermuda Friday, St. Martin on Sunday and Haiti on Tuesday. Reyes was part of Puerto Rico's team in a World Cup qualifier against Canada last year.
