Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 127. Florida International
T.Y. Hilton University
Established as a university in 1965, Florida International didn’t field a football team until 2002, when they started playing in the FCS. They’d move up to FBS two years later, and while everything hasn’t been peaches and cream, they’ve had some mild success in the early and late 2010s and produced a few notable NFL players.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-----------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-----------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 56 | Florida International | 2018 | -3.142 | 9-4 |
| 70 | Florida International | 2011 | -5.766 | 8-5 |
| 65 | Florida International | 2010 | -8.912 | 7-6 |
| 69 | Florida International | 2017 | -10.440 | 8-5 |
| 93 | Florida International | 2019 | -23.771 | 6-7 |
| 91 | Florida International | 2008 | -26.255 | 5-7 |
| 90 | Florida International | 2005 | -27.968 | 5-6 |
| 93 | Florida International | 2015 | -29.472 | 5-7 |
| 98 | Florida International | 2014 | -31.986 | 4-8 |
| 104 | Florida International | 2012 | -38.365 | 3-9 |
| 118 | Florida International | 2020 | -38.922 | 0-5 |
| 111 | Florida International | 2016 | -38.938 | 4-8 |
| 105 | Florida International | 2009 | -39.276 | 3-9 |
| 122 | Florida International | 2022 | -47.522 | 4-8 |
| 119 | Florida International | 2007 | -63.679 | 1-11 |
| 122 | Florida International | 2013 | -68.262 | 1-11 |
| 119 | Florida International | 2006 | -70.604 | 0-12 |
| 130 | Florida International | 2021 | -72.719 | 1-11 |
+------+-----------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -7171.85327 (127th)75-139 record
1 conference title
2-3 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
10 NFL players drafted
Compared to the teams we’ve seen so far, FIU’s resume is very respectable. In 19 years they have a conference title, five bowl appearances, and 10 players drafted to the NFL including T.Y. Hilton, Jonnu Smith, and Jonathan Cyprien. For the highs, though, there have been as many, if not more, lows. The 2021 team is ranked as my 16th worst season since 1983, the 2006 team finished 0-12, and there are two more 1-11 teams to go with it.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2019 (6-7 overall, 3-5 Conference USA)
The last good year in the Butch Davis era before covid hit, QB James “Captain” Morgan led FIU to a 30-24 upset over Miami (FL) in the marquee moment of the year. Morgan would throw for 2 TD passes as FIU took a 23-3 lead in the 4th quarter before Miami scored late to make it look close. FIU would bounce around .500 for most of the year, also notching a 48-23 win over a 7-6 Charlotte team. Morgan would throw 14 TD to just 5 INT on the year and Stantley Thomas-Oliver was 2nd team all-conference as the two would be drafted in the 4th and 7th rounds, respectively, after the season.
4. 2017 (8-5 overall, 5-3 Conference USA)
Butch’s first season as head coach. FIU would start 6-2 with a 4-1 conference record before dropping three of their last five. A balanced rushing attack led them to a 2nd placed finish in the C-USA East, with 470+ rushing yard performances from Alex Gardner, Shawndarrius Phillips, and Napoleon Maxwell. Pretty solid all-name team. WR Thomas Owens would end the season first team all-conference and finish his three year career as the second leading receiver in FIU history. QB Alex McGough was a 7th round draft pick after the season by the Seattle Seahawks, to the surprise of me and many others.
3. 2010 (7-6 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt)
Nice way to usher in the new decade. FIU ended a prior decade of losing with a Sun Belt title and their first ever bowl appearance and win. I’m actually shocked at how brutal their non-conference schedule was. Take notes, SEC. They opened the season by losing to Rutgers, Texas A&M, Maryland, and Pitt in back-to-back-to-back-to-back weeks, breaking their home attendance record with a crowd of 19,872 for the Rutgers game. They went on a tear the rest of the way, going 6-2 in-conference and beating fellow 6-2 Sun Belt team Troy to get the tiebreaker for the title. T.Y. Hilton was obviously the star of the team, winning Sun Belt POTY, and Mario Cristobal won Coach of the Year. 8 players made first and second team all-Sun Belt and the season was capped on a walk-off FG to win against Toledo in the Little Caesars Bowl.
2. 2011 (8-5 overall, 5-3 Sun Belt)
FIU, so hot right now. The Panthers were picked to repeat as Sun Belt champions and they would break attendance records twice against UCF and Duke. They would only finish third in the conference, but were arguably better than last year’s team. They beat a Louisville team who would go on to finish 7-6 and defending C-USA champions UCF. Despite a 3-0 start, they’d fall to 5-4 with three one-possession losses and quickly fell out of the title race. Still, they wiped through the rest of the conference to finish 8-4 before being handed a 20-10 loss to Marshall in the bowl. T.Y. Hilton would have another great year and left as a 3rd round pick by the Colts, where he would make 4 Pro Bowls and lead the NFL in receiving yards in 2016. Other key contributors on this team included future NFL players Jonathan Cyprien and Tourek Williams.
1. 2018 (9-4 overall, 6-2 Conference USA)
Butch Davis really had these guys rolling for a couple years. Who knows where this program would be if not for covid. The 2018 team had some huge blowouts: 63-24 over UMass, 38-17 over Western Kentucky, 45-7 over UTSA. They did it in a murderer’s row of a conference, too—six teams in the C-USA finished 8-5 or better in 2018. FIU was the only C-USA team to beat Middle Tennessee in the regular season thanks to a 27/36 311 yard 2 TD 0 INT performance from James Morgan. Morgan had a fine season, winning C-USA Newcomer of the Year and throwing for a 26-7 TD-INT ratio. Their rushing attack ranked 2nd in C-USA and the defense ranked 2nd in interceptions.
5th Quarter
FIU fans…is 2010 #1? It was a fun team, but I don’t know if it was better than 2011 or 2018. Also, why did this team fall off so starkly after 2019?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
