This Friday night at 7:00 PM Central, the Dogs head back home to the Joe to take on the bumbling Panthers of FIU. But before you watch the game, there’s some stuff you gotta know. That’s where we come in!
How to Watch
This game is airing on CBS Sports Network, which you can get a couple of ways: YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, and PS Vue’s Core Package. Again, you can sign up for free trials of these and cancel after the game. Pro Tip: If you’ve signed up for one or all of these in the past, use a different email address and you should be good to go!
Other People’s Predictions
- ESPN FPI: Tech has a 62.8% chance to win.
- Massey: Tech wins, 26-21
- Vegas (OddsShark): Tech wins by 8.5
- S&P+: Tech wins, 28-21
- BleedTechBlue: Tech wins, 41-27
- NCAA 14 Simulation: Tech wins, 31-10
What to Watch For
Evan: For Tech’s offense, this week’s game is really a matter of strength vs. strength and weakness vs. weakness. The Bulldogs are a team that desperately wants to run the ball, but we all know we’re a passing team. Last week we finally saw glimpses of what this passing attack might look like this year with nine guys catching passes. Adrian Hardy showed his stuff, and we got to see Isaiah Graham get involved, as well.
But FIU’s defense is stacked with DBs like Richard Dames and Dorian Hall, who both broke up at least seven passes and added three INTs each last season. LB extraordinaire Sage Lewis also had seven PBUs last season, which is pretty insane. FIU will need great play like that to bottle up Tech’s bubble screen game, and FIU definitely has the personnel to fight fire with fire. So far this season, FIU’s DBs haven’t exactly lived up to their reputation, but they’ve still got the 68th ranked passing defense by yards per game (for contrast, LSU is ranked 69th).
On the other side of the coin, Tech has not been good running the ball this year. Tech has averaged 3.6 yards per carry, which is 102nd in the nation. Despite that, we’ve tried really really hard to prove that we can totally run the ball, carrying it 103 times in three games.
FIU’s run defense is what you would call a tire fire. They’ve allowed 5.3 yards per carry on 112 carries in three games. That’s 119th in the nation. Yikes!
So Tech’s strength on offense is FIU’s strength on defense. FIU’s weak spot is Tech’s weak spot. I’m very interested to see how stubbornly Skip tries to establish a run game tonight. If it’s not there, will he totally abandon the run and pass into the teeth of the Panther D? We’ll find out!
Hot Taeks
Evan: FIU’s offense is as bad and dumb as whatever this thing is:
Nathan: FIU is a lot better than they look, mostly because Tulane is better this year than people give them credit for.
Daniel S: To my knowledge Florida is not International.
Josh: I don’t own any red Tech gear somehow and will look ridiculous at the game.
Random Tidbit
This week’s random factoid is about an athletic competition that took place at Florida International’s campus and involved a lot of crashing, burning, and soul-crushing failure. No, I’m not talking about the Ron Turner era of FIU football. I’m talking about the 2012 American Ninja Warrior Preliminaries!
That’s right! The popular cultural appropriation Japanese turned American game show where super fit people make us feel great from our couches filmed one of three preliminary competitions from FIU’s campus in Miami. Here’s what the set up looked like in front of the Ryder Business Building:
For those that don’t know, American Ninja Warrior is a show where a bunch of crossfit types play on a really dope and weird playground until they fall into a pit of water (or don’t). At FIU, 8 of the 30 competitors completed the obstacle course, with Tim Shieff doing it the fastest (2:43.55).
FIU student Daniel Lopez performed the obstacle course, but he doesn’t appear to have aired on the show so I can’t figure out how he did. Oh well!
Here’s video of another competitor, former Titans Defensive End Kamerion Wimbley, doing the course. Unfortunately, he didn’t play for FIU, he played for FSU. Darn.
Final Predictions
Evan: I’m going to try to make this simple. Tech has simply been better than FIU has so far this season. Tech’s offense has been better; Tech’s defense has been better. Usually in football, the better team wins. That’s going to happen tonight.
Tech wins, 34-20
Nathan: True, Tech has been the better team this year, but we’re dealing with a sample size of three games. And FIU’s starting QB was injured in 1.5 of them. And we can’t really judge a team for struggling against an FCS opponent. Still though, I think Tech wins, but I’ll be less optimistic than I was on the podcast:
Tech wins, 30-20
Daniel S: Every week this team seems to get better and better. The offense is starting to play well especially when we let J’Mar throw the ball. The defense is beginning to pick up the pace, and the bend but don’t break mentality is working surprisingly well. My only issue is that we have not played an opponent that is around the same talent level as we are. This game will be the first real test of the season for the bulldogs. As much as I want this to be a blowout for us, I don’t see that happening at all. Expect for this to be a close one at home with a one score game.
Tech wins, 31-24
Josh: So if last week’s game was any indication of how Tech actually plays, I’m confident that the Bulldogs get a solid win behind good performances on both sides of the ball. The defense will probably get the stops where they need to, but I don’t expect FIU to continually try for 6 in the red zone like Bowling Green did. Offensively, I think the play calling continues to play more to our strengths of passing the ball instead of trying to force the run. Hopefully, that translates to longer drives and less three-and-outs.
Tech wins, 28-17