Rivalry against FIU takes center stage

Florida Atlantic turns the page on a second consecutive Conference USA loss, 21-13 to Louisiana Tech, and prepares to play at rival FIU, which has been the conference’s surprise team thus far. Florida International (6-2, 4-0) is one of two remaining unbeatens within C-USA play, the other being UAB (7-1, 5-0) in the West division.

With the Owls (3-5, 1-3) dropping four of their last five games, there is no realistic hope of a return to the Conference USA Championship Game. For FAU, who ran through the conference last year, a loss in the Shula Bowl would mathematically eliminate them.

A rivalry game could provide the pick-me-up the team needs to finish out the season strong. FAU coach Lane Kiffin, on his weekly Sunday teleconference, noted the proximity between the two schools, being 55 miles away from each other, as a key component to this rivalry. He compared it to a couple of others he’s been a part of.

“Rivalries, especially when they’re close like this, you know, almost the same city, like UCLA-USC — different than maybe rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee — when these kids have played each other so much and there’s so many local kids, I think that adds to it,” he said.

He recalled what it meant to his players to beat the Panthers last season.

“The kids were very excited. I didn’t know about the trophy-in-the-endzone thing,” Kiffin said. “You can tell how excited they were to go get that, and it was meaningful.”

Kiffin also lauded the work FIU coach Butch Davis has done in his second year leading the Panthers.

“He’s done a great job,” Kiffin said. “It started last year and carried over in his second year. He’s really done a great job wherever he’s been. Really good coach, recruits really well and hired a really good staff.”

After redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Robison (ankle) was unable to start against La. Tech, and backup Rafe Peavey played three and a half quarters before Robison came in on the final drive, Kiffin said he expects Robison to be back fully this week.

“Obviously, you saw him play at the end of the game, so with another week out, I think he would play,” Kiffin said.

He added there was no conversation with quarterback De’Andre Johnson about not playing and that the game didn’t really dictate for Johnson’s dualthreat abilities but rather downfield passing once FAU fell behind by eight points.

FIU quarterback James Morgan is completing passes at a 65.2-percent clip and has thrown 17 touchdowns to four interceptions this season in leading the Panthers.

FAU leads the all-time series 11-5. The teams have alternated wins going back to 2012, a stat which wouldn’t bode well for the Owls after winning last year’s installment. FAU won eight of the first nine meetings from 2002 to 2010.