Football practice opens for 2011 season


Rain didn’t stop FIU’s champion football team from taking to the field Aug. 3 for the start of 2011 football practice.

The season kicks off at Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 1, vs. the North Texas Mean Green at 7 p.m.

The team is coming off a 7-6 season that saw them capture the program’s first-ever conference championship as well as the team’s first bowl berth and victory. FIU made national headlines last season with its 34-32 win over Toledo in the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

FIU has been picked to repeat as champion in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Panthers also earned seven Preseason All-Sun Belt selections, including Heisman hopeful T.Y. Hilton being selected as the Co-Preseason Offensive Player of the Year along with North Texas running back Lance Dunbar.

Blue Ribbon Football Yearbook also picked FIU to win the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Championship, along with Hilton as the Offensive Player of the Year.

FIU sportswriter Pete Pelegrin ’96 blogs regularly about what’s happening in football practice. Follow the latest at The Prowl.

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