FIU Football: Panthers hope to rebound and return to bowl game in 2021

After numerous COVID issues derailed their 2020 season, FIU Football is hoping to rebound and get back to the postseason

Many programs dealt with COVID-19 in some sort of way, but some programs were hit harder by the pandemic and one of those programs happened to be FIU. The Panthers could never seem to get on track and that resulted in an 0-5 season after going to two straight bowl games under head coach Butch Davis. With COVID behind them, there is hope that last season can just be a blip on the radar and the Panthers can return to the postseason and continue to ascend as a program.

FIU has not been a D-I football program for very long and the Panthers are not just finding their most sustained success since they moved up to the highest level. Current Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal gave the program their first taste of success when he took them to two bowl games and had NFL talent like T.Y Hilton on the roster.

After their shocking decision to fire Cristobal, FIU made their worst coaching hire as a program when they hired Ron Turner to replace him. Turner did not work out at all and after firing him, the program turned to Butch Davis, the former Miami coach, who put together some of the most talented teams in college football history while there.

It did not take Davis long to get things going in South Florida, making a bowl game in his first three seasons and winning one of them. That run of success is why there is optimism that last season was just a COVID issue with the program and not a sign of things going on a downswing. FIU football does not return as many starters as some programs do, but I expect a bounce-back season for the Panthers.