2017 FIU Panthers football team

The 2017 FIU Panthers football team represented Florida International University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Panthers played their home games at the Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami, Florida as members of the East Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They were led by first-year head coach Butch Davis. The Panthers finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in C-USA play to finish in second place in the East Division. They received an invitation to the Gasparilla Bowl where they lost to Temple.

2017 FIU Panthers football
Gasparilla Bowl, L 3–28 vs. Temple
Conference	Conference USA
Division	East Division
2017 record	8–5 (5–3 C-USA)
Head coach	Butch Davis (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Rich Skrosky (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Brent Guy (1st season)
Home stadium	Riccardo Silva Stadium (Capacity: 20,000)

2017 Conference USA football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Florida Atlantic x$		8	–	0					11	–	3
FIU		5	–	3					8	–	5
Marshall		4	–	4					8	–	5
Western Kentucky		4	–	4					6	–	7
Middle Tennessee		4	–	4					7	–	6
Old Dominion		3	–	5					5	–	7
Charlotte		1	–	7					1	–	11
West Division
North Texas x		7	–	1					9	–	5
UAB		6	–	2					8	–	5
Southern Miss		6	–	2					8	–	5
Louisiana Tech		4	–	4					7	–	6
UTSA		3	–	5					6	–	5
Rice		1	–	7					1	–	11
UTEP		0	–	8					0	–	12
Championship: Florida Atlantic 41, North Texas 17
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Panther finished the 2016 season 4–8, 4–4 in C-USA play to finish in fourth place in the East Division. The highlight of the season was beating rival Florida Atlantic in the Shula Bowl on October 1.[1]

Following the season, the school fired Ron Turner after four years at FIU.[2][3] On November 15, the school hired Butch Davis as head coach.[4][5]

Spring Game

The 2017 Spring Game took place in University Park on April 7, at 7:00 PM.[6]

Date	Time	Spring Game	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
April 7	7:00 p.m.	Offense vs. Defense	Riccardo Silva Stadium • University Park, FL	CUSA.tv	Offense 17–14[7]	-

Offseason

Following the conclusion of the 2016 season, several Panthers were invited to participate in postseason all-star games. Invitations include: Trey Hendrickson (DE) participating in the East–West Shrine Game on January 21, 2017, Imarjaye Albury (DT) participating in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl on January 21, 2017 and Michael Montero (OL) participating in the Tropical Bowl on January 15, 2017.[8]

Departures

Notable departures from the 2016 squad included:

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Dieugot Joseph	#78	OT	6'6"	297	Senior	Orlando, FL	Declared for the 2017 NFL Draft
Jonnu Smith	#87	TE	6'3"	232	Senior	Ocala, FL	Declared for the 2017 NFL Draft

2017 NFL Draft

See also: 2017 NFL Draft

Panthers who were picked in the 2017 NFL Draft:

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Team
3	100	Jonnu Smith	TE	Tennessee Titans
UFA		Dieugot Joseph	OT	Chicago Bears

Schedule

FIU announced its 2017 football schedule on January 26, 2017. The 2017 schedule consisted of six home and away games in the regular season.[9]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	at UCF*	Spectrum Stadium Orlando, FL	CBSSN	L 17–61	38,063
September 8^[a]	7:00 p.m.	vs. Alcorn State*	Legion Field^[a] Birmingham, AL		W 17–10	5,017
September 16	Canceled[10]	at Indiana*	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN
September 23	7:30 p.m.	at Rice	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	Stadium	W 13–7	18,932
September 30	7:00 p.m.	Charlotte	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL	beIN	W 30–29	15,348
October 7	3:00 p.m.	at Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium Murfreesboro, TN	ESPN3	L 17–37	15,527
October 14	7:00 p.m.	Tulane*	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL	CUSA.TV	W 23–10	16,433
October 28	2:30 p.m.	at Marshall	Joan C. Edwards Stadium Huntington, WV	Stadium	W 41–30	19,966
November 4	7:00 p.m.	UTSA	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL	Stadium	W 14–7	18,874
November 11	7:00 p.m.	Old Dominion	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL		L 30–37	17,127
November 18	7:00 p.m.	at Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL (Shula Bowl)	Stadium	L 24–52	24,116
November 24	7:00 p.m.	WKU	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL	beIN	W 41–17	16,199
December 2	12:00 p.m.	UMass*	Riccardo Silva Stadium Miami, FL		W 63–45	14,004
December 21	8:00 p.m.	vs. Temple*	Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL (Gasparilla Bowl)	ESPN	L 3–28	16,363
*Non-conference game Homecoming All times are in Eastern time

^{^[a]} The game between Alcorn State and FIU was relocated to Legion Field at Birmingham, Alabama due to Hurricane Irma.[11]

^{^[b]} A game with UMass was scheduled after the game between UMass and South Florida was postponed due to Hurricane Irma, and FIU's game with Indiana was canceled.[12]

Schedule Source:[13]

Game summaries

at UCF

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	7	3	7	0	17
Knights	14	26	14	7	61

See also: 2017 UCF Knights football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2016	L, 14–53

Alcorn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Braves	0	7	0	3	10
Panthers	0	7	3	7	17

See also: 2017 Alcorn State Braves football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Rice

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	10	3	0	13
Owls	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2017 Rice Owls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2014	L, 17–31

Charlotte

	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers	12	14	3	0	29
Panthers	7	7	7	9	30

See also: 2017 Charlotte 49ers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	2016	W, 27–26

at Middle Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	3	0	7	7	17
Blue Raiders	3	14	10	10	37

See also: 2017 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–8	2016	L, 35–42

Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Green Wave	0	3	7	0	10
Panthers	7	3	3	10	23

See also: 2017 Tulane Green Wave football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Marshall

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	14	14	7	6	41
Thundering Herd	0	7	7	16	30

See also: 2017 Marshall Thundering Herd football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–4	2016	W, 31–14

UTSA

	1	2	3	4	Total
Roadrunners	0	0	0	7	7
Panthers	0	0	7	7	14

See also: 2017 UTSA Roadrunners football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2014	L, 13–16

Old Dominion

	1	2	3	4	Total
Monarchs	7	17	7	6	37
Panthers	7	7	9	7	30

See also: 2017 Old Dominion Monarchs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2016	L, 28–42

at Florida Atlantic

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	10	7	7	24
Owls	14	7	16	15	52

See also: 2017 Florida Atlantic Owls football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–10	2016	W, 33–31

WKU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	3	7	7	0	17
Panthers	3	10	21	7	41

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–6	2016	L, 21–49

UMass

	1	2	3	4	Total
Minutemen	14	7	10	14	45
Panthers	14	21	7	21	63

See also: 2017 UMass Minutemen football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2016	L, 13–21

Temple–Gasparilla Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	0	7	7	14	28
Panthers	0	0	3	0	3

See also: 2017 Temple Owls football team and 2017 Gasparilla Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

References

1. "FAU 31, FIU 33". FIU Sports. October 1, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
2. "FIU makes big change, fires coach after 0-4 start". miamiherald. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
3. services, Tribune news. "Former Illini, Bears coach Ron Turner fired at Florida International". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
4. "Butch Davis hired as FIU's football coach". miamiherald. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
5. "Butch Davis hired at FIU". Los Angeles Times. 2016-11-14. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
6. "FIU Panthers - Schedule". FIUSports.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
7. "2017 FIU Spring Game - Results". Miami Herald. 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
8. "2016 C-USA Football Notebook" (PDF). Conference USA. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
9. "2017 @FIUFootball Schedule Released" (Press release). Florida International University Department of Athletics. January 26, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
10. "Home Football Game Against FIU Canceled, IU Athletics Working to Schedule Home Game for October 7th". Indiana University Athletics. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
11. "Hurricane Irma 2017: FIU vs. Alcorn State to be played in Birmingham". AL.com. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
12. "UMass Football Announces Changes To 2017, Future Schedules". umassathletics.com. September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
13. "2017 FIU Panthers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 27, 2017.