FIUGoldenPanthers.com

Should be there as well, with some friends and long time Panther fans.

Too bad there aren't another 15,000 or so like us diehards.

I have a question FIUPhil and all the pessimist so called fans, have any of y'all actually played football and well at a level higher than Pop Warner? I'm just curious because everyone seems to know more than our coaches and appear to be a better judge of talent than anyone on the FIU football staff? The point I wanted to make as a fan and the parent of a high profile player not the QB, that we have an abundance of talent and sometimes it takes awhile to all jell together but I seriously believe we're going to be ok this year too. Tomorrow will be my first game this season and I feel like our bye week will so up big so please don't put past failures on this years team, it's not fair.

PBCPanther1, I'm sure I'm one of the guys you are talking to. I played basketball in high school, not football, at a 6A high school in Tampa. The football coaches tried to get me to play football, but I wanted to focus on basketball.

I think your point that someone doesn't know anything about football unless they played it above a Pop Warner level is ridiculous. I've watched football for more years than most on this board have been alive, including your son. I'm not saying I know more about football than the FIU coaches, though. But they shouldn't be immune to criticism. They are human. They make mistakes.

It was immediately obvious to me when I watched Maurice Alexander play quarterback that he wasn't a D-1 QB. Nothing against Maurice, he's an unbelievable athlete. His athletic talent covered up his QB flaws in high school. But in D-1 college, they can't. I knew this long before Coach Davis. Only after an embarrassing loss to Temple in a bowl game did Coach Davis realize Maurice wasn't the answer at QB. Thank goodness he had enough sense to move him to WR.

I see coach Davis making the same mistake with Kaylan Wiggins. It's plainly obvious he isn't a D-1 QB. But I expect Coach Davis to have him as Morgan's back up all year and not give the two guys who are the real potential starters next year (Lynum and Norton) any snaps this year. FIUPhil, I greatly respect your opinion. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this too. I think anyone that knows anything about football can see that Wiggins, although a very good athlete and runner, doesn't have the throwing accuracy or pocket presence of a D-1 QB. You can't teach those things. You either have them at this stage or you don't.

Yes, we have a lot of talent. Is our very best talent on the field at all times? Absolutely not. If you have several walk-ons in the two deep getting significant playing time after three full recruiting cycles, there is no way you can tell me something isn't seriously wrong with our talent evaluation or talent development. And there's no way you can tell me we are playing our best talent.

South Paw, I agree all with all your valid points but I am not sure what Coach Davis's timetable is for the younger players but at this point, it's the best game player or most talented guy who plays in my opinion. I love good kids with strong work ethics and phenomenal practice players but we have recruited studs that should be on the field now.

Trust me the coaches are playing who they think gives them the best chance to win at this point. Right or wrong there's too much money involved to do otherwise. 4 star 3 star does not mean anything when your 1-3. Fall camp they had their starters, maybe they were wrong on some guys, hopefully they get it right now. But you must win to keep your job.

To: PCBPanther1,
Let me set the record straight for you:
1. If you have ever been on this board, you would realize that I am one of the most optimistic fans and supporters of our football team and Coach Davis and have been a season ticket holder since 2002. By the way, I go to ALL the home games. How about you?
2. I played high school football, albeit a long time ago, and was a 3 star recruit and had offers to play at two division 1 schools and one division II school. You?
3. I never posted anything about past performances influencing current circumstances because I don't believe that is true. We have under performed all year however.
4. Try spell check and proofreading your posts.
To Southpaw,
Thank you for your support and positivism. I agree with you 100% on your assessment of K. Wiggins. He would be a decent D2 QB. His most obvious weakness is that he does not go through his read progression and therefore tends to panic and run too early on most plays. He's not nearly as bad as the infamous Wayne Younger but he is clearly not a number 1. In fact, his game is very similar to M. Alexander's game. I think he would be better suited to help us at another position using his obvious athletic talent.
Just wanted my thoughts to be heard too. FIUPhil

Seriously FIUPhil? Dude I am sorry if I didn't proof read my opinion prior to posting but was at work in between meetings and wanted to give my perspective. However, as far a my comment on former playing experience is to prove the point that today's brand of football is so much faster then years ago and I know for a fact that we have an abundance of talent on our team. I just that we need to transition in Butches recruits more on both sides of the ball and go more up tempo on O and show more blitz packages on D.

PBCPanther1,
Understood! You are correct in pointing out that we have a lot of talent. Hopefully, Butch and the boys can demonstrate that tonight! FIUPhil

And one more thing. You are absolutely right that we need to develop a blitz package on defense to keep these teams honest.

You don't have to be a chicken to rate an omelet. This team has under-performed significantly and there is no sign--yet--of newbies poised to raise the level of play. They did drub a woefully shorthanded team on Saturday night, as expected; now let's see how we do against a couple of mediocre teams from the conference at home. Going into the season, these were assumed to be pushover wins. Maybe they will prove to be. If not, we connoisseurs of the genre will weigh in appropriately, you can count on it.