FIU ran the ball well all day. The Panthers outgained Missouri State 495-312, and 277 of those yards came on the ground against the Bears' 87. That's the real story of the game. The preview spent most of its time on the quarterbacks, Henry Belin IV and JJ Kohl, but this was decided by FIU's running game. Missouri State had to throw for about 225 yards to stay close because it got almost nothing from its runners.
The strange part is that FIU had all those yards and only 23 points to show for them. Neither offense did much on third down: Missouri State converted 6 of 16 and FIU 5 of 15. A team that gains nearly 500 yards should not need a kick at the gun to beat a 3-6 opponent, and FIU kept settling for less than it should have.
Missouri State got back into it through its defense, the same unit that held Sam Houston scoreless in the second half. With 6:42 left and FIU up by double digits earlier in the half, Jashawn Cooper turned a strip-sack into a 51-yard fumble return that tied the game 17-17. The scoring after that was traded back and forth, and the Bears put up 14 in the fourth quarter. But they gave FIU one last possession, and the Panthers got Czeremcha into range.
That ending is what FIU needed. Before this game, the Panthers had lost 3-point games to Jacksonville State and Middle Tennessee and then got blown out at Liberty. This time they finished a close one. The win snaps a 3-game losing streak and gets FIU to 4-5. Missouri State falls to 3-6 and is still winless away from Springfield. Its first game in Florida was a 1-for-1 lesson in how rough the road has been this year.
The conditions were fine: 82 degrees and clear at kickoff with a 5 mph wind, so there's no weather excuse for either side. FIU's defense, the strength the preview leaned on, allowed 20 points, but 1 of Missouri State's touchdowns came from its own defense. Without that, the Bears' offense put up 13 on 312 yards. At this point in a 3-6 season, Missouri State's problem is its running game, not its effort.
