North Texas (1-5, 1-2) will host Sun Belt Conference member Florida International University (1-4, 1-0) for Homecoming this Saturday at Fouts Field with kick off slated for 6:30 P.M.

The two teams have met five times with North Texas winning the first two games but FIU has won the last three straight including last year’s 34-28 FIU Homecoming win in Miami.  

Head Coach Mario Cristobal is feeling some heat because of the lack of wins so this year he has both a new offensive coordinator, Scott Satterfield and defensive coordinator, Geoff Collins and both are making some progress on both sides of the ball.

FIU is coming off a 28-21 victory over Western Kentucky University. The Golden Panthers used Sophomore Running Back Darian Mallary as their key offensive weapon. He ran for 97 yards on nine carries to help contribute to WKU’s total 240 rushing yards which was their best running game since November 12, 2007.

While considered a passing team, FIU has a very capable running team. In last week’s victory over WKU, all four touchdowns were from the ground game. Their main running back Syracuse transfer Jeremiah Harden missed the game because of an unspecified injury. Then comes Mallary and the third running back is Kedrick Perry who is tied at 10^th place on FIU all-time list for touchdowns.

North Texas fans will not see last year’s running back, Kendrick Berry, who was the Golden Panthers hero from last year’s game in Miami. Berry’s two touchdowns sparked the comeback by FIU to defeat North Texas. He was stabbed to death by a former teammate during the spring.

Mississippi State transfer Wesley Carroll is under center for FIU after beating out the rest of the competition. While at Mississippi State he set a school record for consecutive passes without an interception. So he is pretty much on target when he is throwing the ball.

Carroll’s main target will be Greg Ellingson who is averaging 65 yards a game. But watch out for the preseason Paul Hornung Watch List nominee wideout/punt returner T.Y. Hilton. In 2008 he set the school record of 28.8 yards per kickoff return, has the record of total 3,513 all purpose yard and holds the four of the top-five single game all purpose yards.

The question before the season was the offensive line.  Two players, center C Brad Serini and OT Caylin Hauptmann are the returning starters. So the line is filled with a lot of inexperienced players.

There was also concern about the defensive line. Last year they allowed 232.8 yards per game on the ground and the defensive line deserved much of the blame. This year they have gotten better giving up 171.4 yards per game against some pretty good teams. What is more impressive is in the last four games no one has scored on them in the first quarter. Only Rutgers, in the first game of the season, put points on the board in the first quarter via a field goal.

The secondary is lead by preseason all-conference cornerback Anthony Gaitor. At safety is Jonathan Cyprien who in last game had a career high 13 tackles. While that is impressive, it points out opponents are getting deep into the secondary. 

The special teams is good on punt and kick-offs but have been hurt on punts.

FIU is scoring 21.4 points a game which is 90^th in the nation. They are allowing 30.6 points per game putting them at 93rd.  On the season they have nine rushing touchdowns and four through the air.

They rush for 145.4 yards a game or 70^th in the nation and pass for 201.4 points a game coming at 76^th. They average 4 yards a carry and net ten yards per catch.

They give u p 171.4 rushing yards and 180.4 passing yards a game.

Special teams finds they punt for an average 36.7 yards a punt with a 7.6 punts for return so they net of 29.1 punts.

They get penalized a lot with 85.2 yards per game.  

They give up 2.2 sacks a game and only record .6 sacks a game.

FIU opened the 2010 season against some tough opponents. They hosted Rutgers losing 14-19 then went on the road for three road games. They lost at Texas A&M 20-27, at Maryland 28-42, at Pittsburg 17-44 before beating WKU at home 28-21.

Even though North Texas is running almost on empty with injured players, FIU is almost in the same boat. So, for North Texas this is a winnable game. 

To win, North Texas has to use the running game effectively because FIU has some pretty good defensive players who can get after the quarterback in passing situations. Trying to use the passing game against FIU could find Chase Baine most of the time running for his life.

While FIU is strong in the first quarter, they fade throughout the game. So the running game becomes more effective as the game goes on because it wears the defense down.  This will help with the limited playbook and the limitations at quarterback position of North Texas.

FIU has a great blitzer in Toronto Smith who has 3.5 sacks this season. In addition, last week FIU had a new left-defensive end, freshman Isame Faciane who recorded one sack and an assist on another. FIU will be going after Baine. Draws and screens should be effective against the pressure.

North Texas should get the advantage in the punting game. Most punts from FIU will be short and probably not returnable but the yardage gain in a punting exchange will be in favor of North Texas.

If North Texas is not careful, FIU will be bringing kickoffs back to the fourty yard line or further, they are that good on kick-offs.

Even though FIU has a strong receiving corps, once they are inside the twenty yard line they resort to the run.

North Texas can not afford any mistakes in this game if they intend to win.