Roughly 65 minutes before kickoff, Butch Davis gathered his entire team and staff at the southwest corner of FIU Stadium before they split up into individual position groups. He audibly uttered two words — let’s go. The energy was apparent from the moment the 2021 FIU Panthers (1-0, 0-0) took the field, eager to show that last year was nothing more than a fluke. While that remains to be seen, they emphatically ended a 649-day winless streak by defeating FCS Long Island 48-10.
FIU opened the scoring with a three-play, 69-yard drive — all coming from the legs of running back D’Vonte Price.