The FIU Panthers will be playing in their 3rd straight bowl game. Here are the details

The FIU Panthers football team’s bid for a winning season may depend on its defense stopping a high-powered Arkansas State Red Wolves offense.

FIU (6-6) got the news on Sunday that it had been selected to play Arkansas State in the Camellia Bowl at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 21 in Montgomery, Alabama.

This will be the third straight year that FIU has made a bowl game, the first time in program history that has been accomplished.

“We’re thrilled for the chance to cap our season on a high note,” FIU coach Butch Davis said in a statement.

The Red Wolves and FIU were once rivals in the Sun Belt Conference. But FIU moved to Conference USA in 2013 while Arkansas still represents the Sun Belt. Arkansas State leads FIU 6-2 in the series.

This season, Arkansas State (7-5) lost 55-0 to national power Georgia on Sept. 4. But setting that game aside, Arkansas State averaged 36.7 points per contest. No team besides Georgia held Arkansas State to less than 20 points. And the Red Wolves scored 30 or more in 10 of their 11 non-Georgia games.

Blake Anderson is in his sixth season as Arkansas State’s coach. But he brought in a new offensive coordinator this season, Keith Heckendorf, and that decision has worked. The move was prompted after Arkansas State scored just 7 and 13 points in its final two games last season.

“Arkansas State is led by a coach (Anderson) that I have tremendous respect for,” Davis said. “They have a great program.”

Indeed, the Red Wolves have made it to nine straight bowl games, and they have three players who will be at the top of the FIU scouting report: redshirt freshman quarterback Layne Hatcher and senior wide receivers Omar Bayless and Kirk Merritt.

Hatcher has completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 2,553 yards and 23 touchdowns in just nine games. He has been intercepted nine times.

Bayless has caught 84 passes for 1,473 yards and 16 touchdowns. Merritt has 64 receptions for 763 yards and 11 TDs. In addition, junior wide receiver Jonathan Adams has caught 58 passes for 788 yards and four TDs, and sophomore running back Marcel Murray has rushed for 782 yards, six touchdowns and a 5.1 average.

The Red Wolves, who won four of their final five games to earn this year’s bowl bid, are led on defense by junior defensive end William Bradley-King, who has 8.5 sacks this season and 14.5 over the past two years. He also has a team-high 13.5 tackles for losses this season.

On special teams, the Red Wolves have blocked four kicks, including two by Bayless, who is 6-foot-3. Sophomore Blake Grupe has made 17-of-20 on field goals and 49-of-50 on extra points.

▪ The Camellia Bowl has been played since 2014. Arkansas State lost the 2017 Camellia Bowl to Middle Tennessee. FIU has never played in this bowl.

This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 4:33 PM.