FIU Panthers QB James Morgan accomplished this feat for first time in his college career

As much as he has enjoyed passing and handing off to teammates for touchdowns, FIU quarterback James Morgan finally experienced the thrills of crossing the goal line.

Morgan had never scored a rushing touchdown in his three-year collegiate career until his four-yard touchdown run Saturday night. The red-shirt junior’s short scamper midway through the fourth quarter provided the Panthers the necessary cushion to defeat Rice 36-17 at Riccardo Silva Stadium.

“Once in a blue moon — I’ll take it,” Morgan said. “It is a great feeling. One of my teammates said I looked like Tom Brady. I said, ‘oh really?’ and he said, ‘yes, ‘he’s very slow.’”

In addition to his touchdown run, Morgan continued to personify the performances common of his early stages guiding the FIU offense.

Morgan threw touchdown passes of 33 and 29 yards to Austin Maloney and Shemar Thornton, respectively. The red-shirt junior, who played his first two seasons at Bowling Green, completed 20-of-29 passes for 229 yards.

Through his first seven games at FIU, Morgan has thrown 16 touchdown passes for 1,597 yards.

“It feels good to have success,” Morgan said. “The mentality you have to have is you’re never satisfied. I really have enjoyed this experience so far, treated it as an opportunity and a blessing.”

Saturday’s victory kept the Panthers (5-2, 3-0) atop Conference USA’s East Division.

“I’m happy for the players and any time you win the game that’s good,” FIU coach Butch Davis said.

For the Panthers, the proverbial trap game seemed evident in the lead-in to Rice, which was winless in the conference before Saturday.

The Owls (1-7, 0-4) struck first with an opening-game drive that consumed half of the first quarter and ended on Evan Marshall’s seven-yard touchdown run.

But the Panthers responded with 16 unanswered points. Maurice Alexander’s 51-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter gave FIU the lead for good.

“They showed up and they played as hard as they could possibly play,” Davis said of Rice. “One of the things they were going to try to do is milk the clock and minimize the opportunities.”

Another week as division leader will enhance the importance of FIU’s games. In addition, the Panthers will now deal with a crucial stretch as three of their next four games will be on the road.

“You hope that every game you play there is history behind each of these games,” Davis said. “You hope that your kids learn.

“It’s never about the opponent. We want to play the best that we can and if you do that, then it doesn’t really matter if you’re first place, last place but the next game.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2018 at 3:37 PM.