FIU defense can’t stop Charlotte as Panthers fall to 1-5 on season and 0-2 in C-USA

Chris Reynolds might as well have worn a chef’s hat on Friday night.

Reynolds, a fifth-year senior and a former walk-on quarterback, carved up the FIU Panthers defense by completing 21-of-27 passes for 203 yards and four touchdowns, leading the visiting Charlotte 49ers to a 45-33 win.

Panthers quarterback Max Bortenschlager completed 19-of-30 passes for a school-record 466 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted once, and that was returned for a TD.

FIU is now 1-5 overall and 0-2 in Conference USA. FIU lost despite Tyrese Chambers tying the school single-game record with 201 receiving yards, first set in 2011 by current NFL star T.Y. Hilton.

The Panthers, who get a bye next week, have lost 12 of their past 13 games and own no wins over FBS teams in a nearly two-year span, since Nov. 30, 2019.

Charlotte (4-1, 2-0) beat FIU for the first time in program history, having entered the game 0-5 against the Panthers.

Earlier this year, Reynolds led Charlotte to its first-ever win over a Power Five team, throwing a last-minute TD pass to beat Duke.

On Friday, Reynolds was the hero again, and his favorite receiver was Victor Tucker, who is from Miami Carol City High. Tucker caught eight passes for 92 yards and one touchdown on Friday.

This was the second time in three weeks that FIU was burned by a former Carol City star. On Sept. 25, ex-Carol City quarterback Daniel Richardson came in off the bench and fired three TD passes in the fourth quarter to help Central Michigan beat FIU, 31-27.

Besides Chambers and Bortenschlager, a bright spot for FIU on Friday was running back D’vonte Price, who went over 2,000 career yards, moving ahead of Anthony Jones for fifth place on the Panthers’ all-time list. Price finished Friday’s game with 18 carries for 89 yards.

Chambers got his 201 yards on just three receptions. He scored twice.

Panthers coach Butch Davis briefly inserted backup quarterback Kaylan Wiggins in the second quarter. Wiggins, though, was used as a runner and not a thrower.

Charlotte, 3-17 in its past 20 road games, entered Friday as a four-point underdog. But FIU’s defense, tied for last in the conference in points allowed entering this week (35.2), failed to stop the 49ers.

In fact, Charlotte led 17-6 at halftime as Reynolds completed 9-of-10 passes for 71 yards in the opening 30 minutes. The 49ers also went 5-for-8 on third down, 1-for-1 on fourth and had no turnovers in a nearly spotless first half.

FIU took the opening kickoff and drove 66 yards on 12 plays before settling for Chase Gabriel’s 26-yard field goal.

But Charlotte changed momentum on Shadrick Byrd’s 60-yard kickoff return. Reynolds then converted twice on third down — once with a 10-yard scramble and once on a 6-yard toss to Tucker. Then, after a pass-interference penalty on Rishard Dames set Charlotte up at FIU’s 2-yard line, Calvin Camp ran it in from there to give the 49ers a 7-3 lead.

FIU fought back with a 67-yard trick play from Bortenschlager to Chambers, which came after a lateral from EJ Wilson. That set up FIU with a first-and-goal at the Charlotte 8. But after a third-down pass from Bortenschlager to Bryce Singleton was thrown behind him and dropped, FIU went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 3.

Price got the ball, but he was stuffed after a 1-yard gain up the middle.

After an exchange of punts, Charlotte increased its lead to 14-3 on an 11-play, 86-yard drive that featured a fourth-and-1 conversion. Then, on third-and-goal from the FIU five, Reynolds spun away from a sack and connected with Taylor Thompson, who was standing alone in the middle of the end zone.

FIU inserted Wiggins at this point, and he ran for 15 yards on a third-and-2 play. But FIU went back to Bortenschlager, who threw two straight incompletions. On the next play, Gabriel kicked a career-long 43-yard field goal.

However, Charlotte got those points back on Jonathan Cruz’s 42-yard field goal with three seconds before halftime.

Charlotte took the second-half kickoff and increased its lead to 24-6 on Reynolds’ 22-yard TD pass to Tucker. Reynolds was 4-for-4 for 55 yards on that drive.

That led to FIU’s most explosive moments of the night as Price ran for 25 yards and Bortenschlager completed a 50-yard TD pass to Kris Mitchell, firing over the top of Charlotte’s defense. That two-play, 75-yard drive cut FIU’s deficit to 24-13.

Charlotte closed the third quarter on top 31-13 following Reynolds’ one-yard TD toss to Jake Clemons.

Chambers’ 59-yard TD catch from Bortenschlager cut FIU’s deficit to 31-20 with 11:10 left in the fourth.

Bortenschlager threw a pick-six with 5:45 left in the game as cornerback Jon Alexander stepped in front of Chambers and ran his interception back 40 yards.

Chambers then scored on a 75-yard bomb on the next play from scrimmage.

Reynolds’ final TD pass was a 4-yarder to Ryan Carriere. Charlotte finished 7-for-14 on third-down conversions and 2-for-2 on fourth down.

This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 10:55 PM.