Opinions vary among the FIU baseball team about the 2011 season. There’s a consensus that this year’s model should be considered a top-25 team.

Rice will put “fact” or “false” to the latter opinion this weekend.

You can’t say the Panthers start their season meal with cupcakes and cream. Rice, which hosts FIU’s three-game series this weekend in Houston, ranks No. 7 in the USA Today/ESPN preseason coaches’ poll and next week’s host, Florida State, sits at No. 9.

“That’ll tell us where we’re at at the present time. As you know, the NCAA doesn’t let you play anybody else until you get out there Feb. 17,” FIU coach Turtle Thomas said. “It’ll be a great opportunity to bond together on the road.”

They’ll be doing it without senior infielder Mike Martinez and right-handed pitcher Logan Dodds, suspended for the Rice series after violating unspecified team rules.

Though the Sun Belt coaches picked FIU as the conference co-favorite and the Panthers made the NCAA tournament each of the past two seasons, the USA Today coaches poll showed FIU no consideration. Not even the cheek-peck of a voting point. They didn’t make Baseball America’s preseason poll either but did get named as one of the teams just outside the magazine’s top 25.

“I feel we do get overlooked, but I personally appreciate being the underdog when it comes to playing teams like Florida State because they don’t know what we have,” Martinez said. “We’re not exposed to the media such as teams like Miami and Florida that everyone knows who their secret weapon is or who their new guys are. Nobody knows who we are, and no one takes us that seriously. So when we go up there and we start swinging it like we did last year at Texas A&M … we went 1-2 in the series, but we definitely caught them off guard.”

Thomas calls FIU a “good team” but wonders about his team’s depth.

Outfielder Pablo Bermudez believes this year’s model is “a little more well-rounded. ... We play defense well, we hit well, we pitch well. I don’t think we excel in one category. I don’t think that’s a flaw. Every one of our strengths can pick up a weakness. If we don’t pitch, we know we can hit and play defense. If we don’t play defense, we know we can pitch and hit. That’s one thing maybe we lacked last year.”

As far as pitching, left-handed senior R.J. Fondon moves up to the No. 1 starter role after a 6-6 season with a 3.05 ERA and 55 strikeouts. Mason McVay, a 6-7 left-handed redshirt junior, moves from the bullpen (30 1/3 innings, 3.56 ERA) to the No. 2 starter’s role. Freshman right-hander Jose Lazaro, from Puerto Rico by way of North Broward Prep, starts the season with the No. 3 starting spot.

Last season ended with losses in the first two games of the NCAA regional after FIU lost in the Sun Belt Conference tournament final to Arkansas State. Feelings about it run the range from senior pitcher D.J. Swatscheno (“a failure”) to Thomas (“very successful” based on a fourth consecutive year of increased win totals).

“I felt it was an OK year,” Bermudez said. “We didn’t win the regular season, we didn’t win the conference tournament, we didn’t win a game in the regional, so most people would say it’s a failure. You can’t win 40 games and say it’s a failure as a team.’’