Panthers fall to Marshall at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl

A blocked punt by Marshall in the fourth quarter set up what proved to be the game-winning field goal as the FIU Panthers fell, 20-10, Tuesday night in the 2011 Beef  ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg.

FIU wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (4) carries the ball in the first quarter. Photo courtesy Samuel Lewis.

“We won eight games this year. [FIU head] coach [Mario] Cristobal has done a great job with our team on and off the field,” senior T.Y. Hilton said. “There are a lot of great players, and we have made great strides and come a long way over the last four years.”

One mark of the program’s strides: fan turnout. Thousands of FIU students, faculty, staff alumni and families traveled to St. Petersburg by car, bus and plane to take part in the bowl game festivities. Fans were loud and proud in the end zone throughout the ESPN televised game.

“It was awesome,” said Cristobal about the FIU fans in attendance. “It got really loud in the fourth quarter. I apologize for not finishing the exciting trip for our fans with a win. It was a good experience in that they got to travel to a bowl game for the second-consecutive season. We are growing, pushing and will start to work on next season.”

With the game tied at 10, Marshall’s Zack Dunston blocked a punt that gave the Thundering Herd the football on the FIU 23-yard line. FIU’s defense kept the Thundering Herd out of the endzone, but a 39-yard field goal gave Marshall a lead it would not give up.

For FIU, Hilton was named the team’s MVP as he caught eight balls for 88 yards to go along with three carries for 23 yards and a touchdown. Senior quarterback Wesley Carroll completed 19-of-29 passes for 150 yards. On defense, Jordan Hunt had his best game as a Panther, racking up a career-best 13 tackles, including two for loss and one sack. Sam Miller added 11 tackles, and Richard Leonard had one interception.

After trading punts to start the game, Marshall got on the board first at the 6:42 mark of the first quarter on a 37-yard field goal by Tyler Warner.

After an FIU punt, Marshall took over but the Herd’s drive ended quickly when Leonard came up with an interception on the first play of the drive and returned it to the Marshall 47.

On the ensuing drive, FIU picked up a third-and-six on a slant to Hilton that put FIU at the Marshall two-yard line. On the next play, Hilton found the endzone on his first rushing touchdown of the season to put FIU up 7-3 with 1:31 to go in the first quarter.

With 5:41 to go in the first half, the Panthers pushed their lead to 10-3 on a 46-yard field goal by Jack Griffin. The score was made possible by a pass breakup on fourth down that caused a turnover-on-downs by Marshall near mid-field.

Marshall tied up the score at 10 with just 23 seconds to play in the first half when Rakeem Cato found Aaron Dobson for 31-yard touchdown.

Both defenses proved to be extremely stout in the third quarter as neither team put up points and the game went into the fourth tied at 10.

With under eight minutes to play, FIU lined up for a punt deep inside their own territory, but the kick was blocked by Marshall and returned to the FIU three-yard line. However, an illegal forward pass on the return and a personal foul after the play backed Marshall up to the 23-yard line. FIU’s defense held strong and forced a Marshall field goal attempt with 5:16 to go that gave the Thundering Herd a 13-10 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Marshall added another touchdown late to make the final score 20-10. With the loss, FIU ends its season at 8-5. Marshall moves to 7-6 on the season.