Golden Panthers hold nation's longest losing streak

By: Robert Beckmann

Posted: 10/24/07

They say that numbers never lie. If so, you couldn't be worse off than the Florida International Golden Panthers.

At 0-7, FIU will play Arkansas Saturday in search of its first win of the season. However, that's not the worst part.

The Golden Panthers will also be entering Reynolds Razorback Stadium on a 19-game losing streak, the longest in college football. Their last victory came Dec. 5, 2005, against Middle Tennessee.

"We've done our best to prepare, but not enough to win," coach Mario Cristobal said. "We've lost, but we've done some growing as a football team."

Cristobal was hired in December 2006, and is currently in his first year as a head coach. He is only the second head coach in the history of FIU football, a program founded in 2002.

A former Miami and Rutgers assistant, Cristobal undertook the project of building Golden Panther football into a winning tradition. Only now is he realizing the difficulty of the task at hand. ESPN ranked FIU as the worst team in college football for eight consecutive weeks this season.

"Our guys have gone through everything possible and battled day in and day out," Cristobal said. "That's really what hurts."

The first order of business after Cristobal's hire was replacing the old pro style offense with a new spread format. By spreading things out, Cristobal hoped to open the field, giving his team more opportunities to make plays.

Though it lacked the polish of the pro style, the spread would allow for extra yards, Cristobal said.

"We are a whatever-it-takes kind of team," Cristobal said. "If we can't move the ball with the pro set, then we might as well open things up and get guys out of the way."

Freshman Wayne Younger, the everything-man for the Golden Panthers, has taken the snaps as starting quarterback. He leads the team in both passing and rushing.

Football is a team game, however, and Younger has shown he cannot win by himself. He also has shown that, although talented, he is less than perfect.

On the season, Younger has 954 yards and a 45.6 percent completion rate passing. He has also thrown four touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

This Saturday, he will try to break a streak of six straight games of having at least one interception. Younger, who has rushed for 245 yards on 78 carries, has been instructed to simply run the ball instead of forcing anymore passes.

"Unfortunately, when things break down, he has to get creative," Cristobal said. "We talked a lot about having to negotiate a throw, having to make something out of nothing."

One marked improvement for the Golden Panthers has been taking early leads against opponents. In their last two games, FIU scored first for the only times this season. They held one touchdown leads at the end of the first quarters against Louisiana-Monroe and Troy.

However, the Golden Panthers lost those leads and trailed at halftime in both games.

"It's good to see our guys come out of the locker room and take it right to the opponent," Cristobal said. "It's good to get there, but now it's time to sustain it."

With chances for a winning record already dashed, the Golden Panthers will have nothing to lose when they face-off with the Hogs. Though the defeats have hurt, a victory over the Razorbacks would be equally uplifting, and Cristobal would not have it any other way.

"That's why football is such a great game," said Cristobal. "The highs are high and the lows are low."