After a successful game against the Nevada Wolf Pack, Penn State football welcomes FIU from Miami, Florida, to Beaver Stadium for the second straight week of out-of-conference games. The Nittany Lions are 41.5-point favorites, per FanDuel, a number that has dropped over the past few days.

The Panthers play in the relatively competitive Conference USA (CUSA), which includes the likes of UTEP, Western Kentucky, and Liberty. They were picked to finish seventh in the conference in the preseason polls.

In week one of the college football season, FIU took down the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 42-9, an FCS school from the SWAC.

The takeaway from that game was that the quarterback play from the Panthers is genuinely good. Keyone Jenkins is the signal caller of FIU and was picked as the CUSA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. In the game against the Wildcats, Jenkins threw for 187 yards on 30 attempts before being subbed out.

Penn State has only faced the Panthers once since FIU started its football program in 2002. The matchup was in 2007 and resulted in a 59-0 Nittany Lion victory. Jordan Noorwood and Evan Royster both played in that game.

The Team

In 2024, FIU finished the year 4-8 and 3-5 in conference play. The team’s most impressive win was against Central Michigan from the MAC. Losses to Monmouth, Sam Houston, and Kennesaw State tarnish the resume, though.

In Pitbull Stadium, the Panthers’ home field, FIU was actually decent, winning four of its six home games. Unfortunately for Panther fans, the team lost all six games away from home.

The best team FIU faced was the Big Ten and eventual College Football Playoff side Indiana. The Panthers started slow, allowing 14 points in the first quarter, but held their own the rest of the way, losing 31-7.

The FIU head coach Willie Simmons was hired this offseason following a four-win season in 2024, and is believed, at least inside the program and amongst fans, to be the perfect hire for the Panthers. From 2015-2023, Simmons was the head coach of Prairie View A&M and then Florida A&M. He did not have a single losing season in those years.

FIU has only had four winning seasons in its program history, the first two under current Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, and the others with Butch Davis.

The offensive coordinator for the Panthers, Nick Coleman, was also just hired this offseason after spending the last two years under Trent Dilfer as the quarterbacks coach for UAB. Coleman does have two prior coordinator stints with Itawamba Community College and Faulkner University.

On the other side of the ball, Jovan Dewitt returns for his fourth season leading the FIU defense. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native has spent time as the special teams coordinator at UNC, Nebraska, Army, and UCF. His last defensive coordinator gig was with Northern Iowa.

The Offense

The strong point for FIU this season should be its offense. After a relatively successful season in 2024, averaging 26.33 points, the Panthers kept the momentum going to open the 2025 season, putting up 42 points.

A large part of this success is the return of Jenkins, who is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the country. They didn’t give him the nickname “lights out” for no reason. In 2024, he threw for 2,557 yards and 22 touchdowns with only eight picks. He can also get things done with his feet if needed, rushing five times against Bethune-Cookman.

The question mark for the Panthers will be who he is throwing the ball to. After losing its two best pass catchers in Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson, both transferred to Georgia Tech, FIU has not found its true receiver depth chart heading into week two.

In the first game of the season, 13 different players caught a pass, none of which more than three times or for over 50 yards. FIU’s top returning receiver, Juju Lewis, is expected to miss time with a knee injury as well.

Another strength, though, will be the running back room for the Panthers. Most of the productivity on the ground returns for the 2025 season, with a likely running back by committee. On Saturday, expect to see touches from Kejon Owens, Anthony Carrie, and Devonte Lyons, all of whom had over 7 touches against the Wildcats.

The offensive line is also strong for the CUSA, but it should allow for Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant to have another successful game.

The Defense

The FIU defense was very inconsistent a year ago, allowing 45 points to Monmouth but tightening down against teams like Central Michigan and even Indiana. The Panthers ended the season with a points against average of 25.75.

This season, the defense must replace many of its top producers. Percy Courtney Jr. is one of the only linebackers who saw time last season returning, and he did well in week one with 3 tackles and a sack.

The leader of the defense, though, is no doubt Johnny Chaney. The Colorado transfer played for Simmons while he was at Florida A&M, and decided to reunite with the coach in 2025. In the first game of the year, the middle linebacker led the team with six tackles.

The defensive backs for FIU are, without a doubt, the team’s strength and should test Drew Allar and the receivers more effectively than Nevada could. Brian Blades II, Victor Evans III, and Jai-Ayviauynn Celestine make up the cornerback room, while the safeties rotate and boast depth.

The issue for the Panthers, and why the cornerbacks are often overlooked, is the lack of a pass rush. In all of last season, FIU only recorded 18 sacks, barely beating out the 2024 sack leader, Mike Green, with 17. In the first game of the season, the Panthers had two sacks.

In general, FIU is good against the pass but struggles heavily against the run. Expect James Franklin to dial up some plays directly at the Panthers’ defensive tackles, who struggle to get around blockers.

Special Teams

FIU can make plays on special teams with a set-in-stone returner for both kickoffs and punts in C’Quan Jnopierre. The Panther played last year as just the kick returner, but will start as the punt returner as well. In the first game of the season, Jnopierre averaged 25.8 yards per return on four attempts while averaging just one yard on punts.

The kicking team is also has some talent, with punter Trey Wilhoit averaging 51.0 yards in the season opener, good enough for eighth best in the country to this point. The downside is that FIU has not found a kicker. Arkansas State transfer Noah Grant went 0/1 against Bethune-Cookman on field goals. This is his first year starting in college after bouncing around for the past three years.