North Texas has a healthy respect for 1-9 FIU as Saturday’s home finale looms

North Texas coach Seth Littrell is nothing if not polite.

Asked about the FIU Panthers this week, Littrell said: “They’re a dangerous team.”

That “dangerous” Panthers have lost 16 consecutive games against FBS teams and 16 of 17 overall. This season, the Panthers are 1-9 overall and 0-5 in Conference USA.

Entering Saturday night’s 7 p.m. game against visiting North Texas (4-6, 3-3), the Panthers have lost nine games in a row overall.

North Texas’ nickname is the Mean Green, but that’s for game day. For now, they are being awful nice to the Panthers, who are set for their 2021 home finale

“[FIU’s Butch Davis] is a dang good coach,” Littrell said, “and those [Panthers players] will want to go out the right way and give us their best.”

Davis, whose five-year contract with FIU expires after this season, has indicated he will coach the rest of this year but not return for 2022.

With Pete Garcia recently resigning as FIU’s athletic director, the Panthers will soon have a new look at AD and football coach.

Candidates for the coaching job include:

▪ Frank Ponce: He is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Appalachian State, which came close to beating Miami this year before losing 25-23. Ponce, 50, has also been Louisville’s quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator.

His connections to South Florida run deep. He is a Miami native who coached T.Y. Hilton and the other FIU wide receivers from 2007 to 2012. As a player, he was a quarterback at Miami High and then for two years as the starter at Arizona Western, a junior college.

▪ James Coley: He is the tight ends coach at Texas A&M. Previously, he had served as offensive coordinator at FIU (2007); Florida State (2010-2012); Miami (2013-2015); and Georgia (2019).

A Miami native, Coley, 48, has coached at all three levels, including as a Miami Dolphins assistant. He was also a quarterback coach at Miami High and an offensive coordinator at Miami Norland.

▪ Tim Harris Jr.: He is UCF’s co-offensive coordinator. He was FIU’s running backs coach from 2015 to 2020. He was set to become FIU’s offensive coordinator in 2021 before UCF hired him from the Panthers this past February.

As an athlete, Harris was an All-American track star for the Miami Hurricanes. In his one year as a high school head coach, he led Miami’s Booker T. Washington to a 14-0 record and the 2014 state title.

▪ Eddie Gran: He is the special assistant to the head coach at the University of Kentucky. Prior to this, Gran — a 56-year-old California native — has a long history on offense. In fact, he was the offensive coordinator at Florida State (2010-2012); Cincinnati (2013-2015) and Kentucky (2016-2020).

His connection to South Florida is that he was a graduate assistant for the Miami Hurricanes (1990-1991).

THIS AND THAT

▪ North Texas has won three consecutive games. The Mean Green will have to win its two remaining regular-season games — at FIU and home against Texas-San Antonio — to become bowl eligible.

▪ During this win streak, North Texas had two close calls. The Green beat Rice in overtime, 30-24, on Oct .30. Two weeks later, North Texas beat Texas-El Paso, 20-17, on Ethan Mooney’s 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left.

▪ FIU freshman Giada Bianchi was named on Thursday as a first-team All-C-USA women’s volleyball player.