FIU is one victory short of bowl eligibility after OT thriller against Liberty
It’s the new FIU.
The Panthers, led by quarterback Joe Pesansky, allowed a soul-crushing 48-yard field goal on the last play of regulation … but rallied to defeat the visiting Liberty Flames, 34-27, in overtime on Saturday night.
FIU is now 2-0 when starting Pesansky, the ex-Holy Cross QB who is filling in for Keyone Jenkins (groin injury). Things change week to week in football, but, as long as he’s winning, Pesansky will be difficult to displace atop the depth chart.
As for the team, the Panthers (5-5 overall, 3-3 Conference USA) are one win away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2019.
All the Panthers need to do is win one of their final two regular-season games: at home against Jacksonville State (7-3, 6-0) or, more likely, on the road at Sam Houston (2-8, 1-5).
Here are five takeaways regarding FIU athletics, including a note on men’s soccer:
1: THE HERO: Pesansky might be the most popular young man on FIU’s campus right now.
On Saturday, he completed 24 of 34 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns. He did not take a sack, and he was not intercepted.
In overtime, Pesansky threw a 7-yard TD pass to Maguire Anderson — and that became the game-winner after a stop on defense.
That TD was even more remarkable considering that — on the first play of OT — Pesansky had to chase down an errant shotgun snap. He did so and ran around right end. Pesansky didn’t gain a yard on the play, but, by getting back to the line of scrimmage, he kept FIU from losing plenty.
Five plays later, he connected with Anderson in the middle of the end zone.
2: THE MILESTONE: Panthers running back Kejon Owens became just the second FIU running back in the Division I era to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for KJ and our offensive line,” FIU coach Willie Simmons said.
With two regular-season games left, Owens — a former Miami Central star — has a good shot of breaking the school rushing record of 1,149 yards, set by Kendrick Rhodes in 2011.
On Saturday, Owens rushed 18 times for 84 yards, one touchdown and a 4.7 average.
3: THE ADVERSITY: FIU had a golden opportunity to end the game in regulation. On fourth-and-inches from Liberty’s 40-yard line, FIU went for it, handing the ball off to Owens.
However, Owens got stuffed for no gain. Liberty took over on downs and mounted a miraculous drive.
After two incompletions, Liberty quarterback Ethan Vasko connected with Donte Lee Jr. on a 29-yard pass play with just four seconds left. The Flames were out of timeouts, but since the clock, by rule, stops momentarily on first downs to allow for the chains to move, Liberty was able to get its field-goal team on the field in time for Jay Billingsley’s 48-yard field goal.
“I have to talk to [Liberty’s] coaches to see how they kicked a field goal in just four seconds,” Simmons said. “I’ve never seen that before in my 20-year coaching career, but they did it.”
Simmons marveled at how his team handled having to go to overtime on a game that seemed to won in regulation.
“I think [FIU] teams in the past may have folded,” Simmons said. “But we tell our kids to play the next play.
“Our kids are resilient.”
4: THE DEFENSE: On the final possession of the game, FIU defensive end Keegan Davis came up with a third-down sack for a loss of 1 yard and then a hurry on fourth-and-6 at the Panthers’ 8 that resulted in Mister Clark’s interception.
Davis finished with two sacks, and true freshman safety Jessiah McGrew had a team-high 10 unassisted tackles and one interception.
On Clark’s interception, FIU was playing zone defense, but Simmons put it a different way.
“We were playing, ‘Don’t-Let-Them-Score Defense’,” Simmons joked.
As for FIU’s two young safeties — McGrew and Shamir Sterling, who also had 10 total tackles — Simmons said that they are so good that the Panthers will have to guard against another university enticing them to leave.
“Our AD [athletic director Scott Carr] better raise money [to keep them],” Simmons said.
5: THE END: FIU’s men’s soccer team came up one win short of qualifying for the NCAA tournament as they lost to rival Florida Atlantic, 3-2, on Saturday night in the American Conference tournament final in Charlotte, North Carolina.
FIU’s season ends at 7-9-3.