G5 Football Daily

TAKEAWAYS: FIU Win Midweek, 2OT Battle

In what turned out to be a double-overtime thriller, the FIU Panthers defeated the 0-6 Sam Houston State Bearkats to not only snap a three game losing streak,

Kevin Barral

FIU Athletics
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In what turned out to be a double-overtime thriller, the FIU Panthers defeated the 0-6 Sam Houston State Bearkats to not only snap a three game losing streak, but also snap an eight-game conference losing streak. FIU moves up to 4-4 on the season while the Bearkats are still winless at 0-7.

Just run the ball

If there is one thing that worked for FIU throughout the entirety of the game, it was the run game. Both running backs Kejon Owens and Shomari Lawrence scored touchdowns of their own and combined for a total of 107 yards on the ground.

Owens' touchdown drive was the longest drive of the Panthers' season at 8:03. The longest drive of the season leading up to that one was against the New Mexico State Aggies that lasted 6:32.

Another day, another interception

In the first quarter of action, quarterback Keegan Shoemaker threw an interception to linebacker Reggie Peterson, who tipped it and was able to keep control of the ball. He would go to run for 61 yards before being shoved out of bounds at the Sam Houston nine yard line.

It would be FIU's sixth interception of the season.

Peterson ended the night as the leading tackler, with ten total tackles. Along with Peterson, Donovan Manuel was right behind him with seven total tackles and late in the second overtime, he made a key tackle on the Bearkats' third down.

Bearkats offense steps up

In the loss to the New Mexico State Aggies, quarterback Keegan Shoemaker threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns. Against FIU, he was even better. Throwing for 306 yards, two touchdowns and completing 31 of 47 passes, the Bearkats quarterback had a strong performance.

Shoemaker's first touchdown was thrown to tight end and former swimmer Elijah Sohn. It was a 10-yard pass which put them on the board. The second one was to tie the game up at 17-apiece. This time, the touchdown was tossed to his main target, Noah Smith for a 20-yard touchdown reception.

Wide receiver Noah Smith finished the night with nine receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown, with the second one coming in the first play of overtime. A 25-yard run into the Bearkats end zone.

Late game overtime thriller

With 1:59 left in the game and on a third and seven, the Panthers decided to throw the ball. That ended up being a mistake. Jenkins lost control of the ball and it was recovered by the Bearkats.

With a 1:19 and the Panthers trailing 20-17, it was all up to Jenkins and the Panthers offense to at least tie the game. After it seemed that all was over, on a fourth-and-18, Jenkins ran for 23 yards to give the Panthers a first down and a new sign of life.

A completion to Jalen Bracey for another first down followed by an Eric Rivers five yard reception and a Dean Patterson 12-yard reception set up kicker Chase Gabriel to tie it at 20 apiece, which he did.

In overtime, the Bearkats were able to score on the first play, but the Panthers were able to tie it up on a fourth and goal tush push into the end zone. The Panthers scored on the first play of double overtime in a Jenkins to Mitchell connection. 

They didn't convert the two-point conversion, but that was just enough as the Bearkats weren't able to score. Panthers won, 33-27 in double overtime.

The Panthers' overtime win marks the first since last season's double overtime victory against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Their all-time record in overtime is now at 8-6.

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Kevin Barral
KEVIN BARRAL

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