The 2008 FIU Golden Panthers football team represented

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami. Cristobal previously was the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 2007 to 20 ...

and played their homes games at the on-campus

FIU Stadium Riccardo Silva Stadium is a college football and soccer stadium on the campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Westchester, Florida. It is home stadium of the FIU Panthers football team and the Miami FC soccer team from the USL Cha ...

Regular season

The 2008 season started off with a loss at 13th-ranked

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, 40–10. Following that,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

routed FIU, 42–0. FIU then faced its highest-ranked opponent in school history, 12th-ranked

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, for the inaugural game of the new

. Trailing 17-0 with 2:30 left in the game FIU attained a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

, and subsequently scored a touchdown. FIU lost, 17–9, but played acted as a spoiler for South Florida, with the latter falling three spots in the rankings. The game against Toledo became their first-ever out-of-conference FBS win. Against, Toledo, FIU forced four turnovers and recorded its first road win since 2005.

Schedule

Coaching staff

Game summaries

Kansas

Overall: (0-1), Conference: (0-2)

Iowa

Overall: (0-2), Conference: (0-0)

South Florida

Overall: (0-3), Conference: (0-0)

Toledo

Overall: (1-3), Conference: (0-0)

North Texas

Overall: (2-3), Conference: (1-0)

Middle Tennessee

Overall: (3-3), Conference: (2-0)

Troy

Overall: (3-4), Conference: (2-1)

Louisiana-Lafayette

Overall: (3-5), Conference: (2-2)

Arkansas State

Overall: (4-5), Conference: (3-2)

Louisiana-Monroe

Florida Atlantic

Shula Bowl The Shula Bowl is the name given to the Florida Atlantic–Florida International football rivalry. It is an annual college football rivalry game between the only two public universities in the Miami metropolitan area: Florida Atlantic Univer ...

Western Kentucky

References

FIU FIU Panthers football seasons

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