Sun Belt Sports Fans

Florida International 31, Arkansas State 24

It won’t be splashed across the front page of newspapers or given prime play on blogs.

It won’t be seen as an electric sports moment that will stand the test of time.

It won’t make people stop and take notice, or shift the content of conversations in college football these days.

Oh, but it should. Florida International University, a program that has been a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision for only seven seasons and a member of the Sun Belt Conference for only six; a team that has never had a non-losing season in conference play; a team that has never been able to dream about the postseason, can finally let loose in complete and unbridled joy. The David to Troy’s Goliath has officially unseated the Trojans as the champions of the Sun Belt Conference. FIU has won its sixth game in 2010 and will not have a losing season for the first time since it entered the Belt in 2005. All this was made possible by a magic gridiron moment in the latter stages of Saturday’s home game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves at FIU Stadium in Miami.

Trailing by one point with just under two minutes left in regulation, the Golden Panthers had to wonder if they would be able to take the final step on the path to the first conference championship in the entire history of their program.  As a football team moves up the ladder and learns to become more competitive, winning a first championship is always the toughest part. Teams that aren’t used to winning must pass through that crucible and conquer it before they know they’re made of sterner stuff. Florida International had worked its way toward the precipice of championship glory, but in this late-season tilt – the next-to-last game of 2010 and the final home game for FIU, the Panthers and coach Mario Cristobal, down 24-23 to the visitors from Jonesboro, Arkansas, needed to find one more big play if they wanted to reach the Sun Belt’s finish line. Troy polished off Western Kentucky on Saturday, meaning that if FIU failed against ASU, the final weekend of the Sun Belt season – with a game against a talented Middle Tennessee team – would have had to decide this lower-rung conference in the realm of the FBS. If the Panthers didn’t come up with something special, a Dec. 4 duel against the Blue Raiders would have given Cristobal’s kids much cause to doubt themselves. The Belt’s title belt needed to be claimed on Thanksgiving weekend in front of a home crowd. The issue needed to be resolved without allowing it to linger as a burden. This team, which had come so far, needed to prove that it could sweat out championship pressure, a form of tension it had never before experienced. With the ball at the Arkansas State 42, the Panthers stared down their entire season and hoped that they would be good enough to win their first-ever conference crown.

Yes, they were good enough indeed. The Panthers certainly proved to be Golden in the clutch.

Quarterback Wesley Carroll, who hit 21 of 27 passes on the day, found his favorite target and FIU’s best offensive player, dazzling wideout T.Y. Hilton. The prime-time playmaker, who had already caught 10 balls for 98 yards heading into the final two minutes of regulation, gathered in a Carroll aerial and outraced four Arkansas State defenders to the end zone. In one moment, FIU found the dagger it so distinctly needed. The Panthers, trailing for most of the second half, pulled in front and did not have to endure a pressure-packed field goal from a long distance. They scored a touchdown to put the matter to rest with 1:42 to go. When Arkansas State failed on its final drive and the clock then hit triple-zero, the race had been completed. The long struggle toward respectability finally met its ultimate reward. In one of the very best feel-good stories of the college football season, Florida International – built from nothing less than a decade ago – now stood on top of the Sun Belt Conference.

Shout it from the rooftops. Proclaim it loudly. Give it a banner headline. Celebrate the 2010 Florida International Golden Panthers, the team that will live in history as the first team to lift FIU to pigskin prominence and championship glory.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer