Thursday, March 27, 2003

FIU Football announces 2003 playing schedule

• 2003 FIU Football schedule

lorida International University today announced its 2003 football schedule, an ambitious 12-game slate that includes a pair of Division I-A schools and four nationally-ranked I-AA programs, and features six home contests, two of which will be televised statewide by Sunshine Network.

The Golden Panthers, who finished 5-6 in their inaugural campaign, kick off their second season of intercollegiate competition on the road with games at Indiana State (Sept. 6) and I-AA power Maine (Sept. 13) before the home opener on Saturday, Sept. 20 versus state-rival and nationally-ranked Bethune-Cookman.

FIU hosts Stephen F. Austin on Thursday, Oct. 9 and Jacksonville on Thursday, Oct. 30, in Miami, with both televised live on Sunshine Network.

The home schedule also includes Holy Cross for FIU’s Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 25, and Carson-Newman College (Sept. 27), a Division II program that went undefeated last regular season, losing for the first time in the quarterfinals of the NCAA National Championship tournament.

The remainder of the 2003 road schedule poses challenges, week-in-and-week-out. FIU travels to Georgia Southern (Oct. 4), who last year reached the I-AA championship semifinals, and Gardner-Webb (Nov. 15), who finished ranked among the top-25 of I-AA.

The Golden Panthers also face two I-A programs at Troy State (Oct. 18) and at Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 8) of the Sun Belt Conference.

The schedule concludes on Saturday, Nov. 22 at home against Florida Atlantic at FIU Stadium.

"Overall, I am pleased with our schedule,” said FIU athletic director Rick Mello. “We have an excellent home schedule in that three of the six games are against Florida institutions and we are pleased that two games will be televised from an exposure and recruiting standpoint.

"There is no question that our schedule is significantly more challenging than last season with a very young team. However, we felt it was important to measure our progress against some of the elite I-AA and two 1-A programs, one of which being a Sun Belt Conference institution," Mello said.

Head football coach Don Strock agreed with Mello, and believes the schedule is a necessary progression toward the program’s ultimate goals. “Without question, this is a much tougher schedule from the one we played last year,” he said. “But if this program is headed toward I-A, then we have to take these steps.

“I told our players when they first came aboard that we were going to be playing a major schedule before they left here. Maybe it’s a little faster than they thought. We’re playing some pretty good football teams. It will be a good look and really tell us where we are and how far we still have to go.”

The combined 2002 record of the 12 opponents on this year’s FIU schedule was 81-61 (.570).

Season tickets are now on sale through the FIU Athletic Ticket Office. Call (866) FIU-GAME (348-4263) for more information.