Sun Belt champs! Football beats Arkansas State, 31-24

FIU football clinched the Sun Belt Conference championship with a 31-24 victory over the Arkansas State Red Wolves, Nov. 27 at FIU Stadium.

The come-from-behind victory was sparked by an 11-play game-winning drive capped off by a touchdown from a familiar face. With the Panthers down by one and less than three minutes to go, T.Y. Hilton took a short pass from Wesley Carroll, broke several tackles, and took it all the way to the endzone for the game-winning touchdown.

With the win, the Panthers (6-5; 6-1 SBC) not only become bowl-eligible, but they assure themselves at least a share of the 2010 Sun Belt Conference championship.

Hilton finished the contest with a game and season-high 11 receptions and 140 receiving yards. Carroll completed 21-of-27 passes for 266 yards and the one score. On the ground, Darian Mallary led all rushers with 83 yards, and Darriet Perry added 43 and a pair of scores.

Defensively, the Panthers were led by Jonathan Cyprien and Joshua Forney, who each had six tackles. Two of Forney’s went for a loss, including one sack.

On the opening drive of the game, sophomore kicker Jack Griffin got FIU on the board first with a 35-yard field goal at the 8:51 mark of the first quarter.

The Red Wolves knotted the score with 6:17 to go in the first quarter on a field goal of their own, theirs coming from 32-yards out. The drive was aided by a defensive holding penalty on what looked to be a drive-ending sack by Tourek Williams.

Aided by another penalty, this time a roughing the passer call, the Red Wolves took a 10-3 lead with 11:38 to go in the first half on a 12-yard touchdown throw by Ryan Aplin.

FIU tied the score with 7:11 to go in the first half when Perry found the endzone for the 11th time this year. Perry’s touchdown came from five yards out and capped off a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown.

Perry found the endzone again with just 43 seconds to go in the first half as he put the Panthers ahead 17-10 with a one-yard rush. The score was Perry’s 12th on the ground this year, which is tied for the FIU single-season record.

Arkansas State took advantage of yet another penalty, this time a facemask call that negated a fumble recovery by the Panthers, to go down and tie the score with five seconds remaining in the first half. The score came on a 35-yard strike from Aplin to Allen Muse.

After forcing an ASU punt to begin the second half, FIU put together a 13-play, 7:35 drive but couldn’t find the end zone as they settled for a 23-yard field goal by Griffin to re-take the lead with 5:50 to play in the third quarter.

The Red Wolves came right back with a scoring drive of their own, taking a 24-20 lead with 14:48 to go. The score came on a trick play as ASU receiver Dwayne Frampton took a handoff and then threw a pass to quarterback Phillip Butterfield for a four-yard touchdown.

Griffin brought the Panthers to within one point of the Red Wolves at 24-23 with his third field goal of the game, this one from 30-yards out. The kick came at the end of a six-play drive highlighted by a 36-yard pass from Carroll to Hilton.

Arkansas State was poised to add to its lead when they set up for a 45-yard field goal with 10:14 to go in the game. However, the FIU defensive line got a strong push, and Andrew Mattox got a hand on the ball to block the attempt and keep the score 24-23.

On FIU’s second play of the ensuing drive, Arkansas State’s M.D. Jennings intercepted a pass from Carroll and took it down to the FIU 22-yard line to put themselves in position for another score. However, the FIU defense held strong and forced another field goal attempt, which sailed wide left to keep the Panthers within one.

On FIU’s next drive, the Panthers were pinned deep in their own territory after a holding penalty made it 1st-and-20 to begin the drive. However, back-to-back penalties gave FIU a first down and the Panthers made sure the Red Wolves would pay for their mistakes. On fourth-and-seven from mid-field, Carroll found Hilton over the middle to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Hilton took a short slant over the middle and turned it into a 42-yard, highlight-reel touchdown to put FIU ahead 29-24 with 1:42 left in the contest. On the ensuing two-point conversion attempt, Wayne Times took a reverse and beat an ASU defender, just barely reaching the ball over the goal line to make the score 31-24.

With a lead in hand, the FIU defense went to work to try and seal the victory. They did just that when on fourth down, Jarvis Wilson batted down a pass attempt to force a turnover-on-downs and kick-off the celebration.

Next week the Panthers will close out the regular season at home against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. At stake for FIU is a chance to not only clinch the program’s first-ever winning-season, but an opportunity to guarantee themselves the outright Sun Belt championship.

— FIUSports.com