KSU Football player celebrates. Fifth-Third Stadium, October 9th, 2025. Photo Credit: Jackson Louneoubonh
Sentinel sports writer Lance Warren sat down with Jake Gibson, host of the Paws Up Podcast and writer for Lemon City Live to discuss the Owls’ matchup with Florida International set for this Tuesday.
Lance Warren: Florida International got a big win over Western Kentucky last week. What are the feelings around the team coming out of that game?
Jake Gibson: It was a result that barely anyone expected to happen, especially coming off the past two losses to Delaware and UConn in which FIU was blown out and not ready to play both games. It was a complete 180 against Western Kentucky. They were ready to go from the get-go. Their offense was firing on all cylinders and exposed one of the biggest weaknesses of Western Kentucky, which was their rush defense with over 200 yards in that game alone against them on the ground. On defense the FIU secondary could do no wrong and made one of the best offenses in Conference USA look really bad with only scored six points and did not score once in the second half. There were a couple of negatives here and there, a bunch of holding calls that started to rack up on FIU. Obviously, Keyone Jenkins, our quarterback went down with a couple minutes to go on the first half, but he did come back to play almost a complete game in the second half. I mean, you really can’t point too many fingers in a win like that. FIU had not won on the road in their last ten games, let alone against a conference opponent, so it’s just a really great win and potentially can be like a season-altering win for the FIU Panthers because if they can take down Western Kentucky, who knows what they can do down the stretch if they play that consistently.
LW: Zooming out from last week’s game, how have the Panthers looked as a whole this season?
JG: It’s been really back and forth. There were games to start the season where they looked really good. Obviously, our brand-new head coach, Willie Simmons got off to a hot start against Bethune-Cookman, an FCS team, which is actually great for FIU because they usually struggle against FCS teams. They lost to Monmouth last year. They turned around, went to Happy Valley, and actually played well against Penn State on the road. Limited them to ten points in the first half, and then they turned around and beat our rivals, another Owls, the Florida Atlantic Owls at home, which obviously really made the FIU faithful really believe in Willie Simmons as the guy because once you beat your rivals in FIU for the first time since I believe 2016, it was a great feeling so I think FIU was like riding high the first three games of the season. Then, they took a nosedive against Delaware and UConn and obviously, Delaware has proven that they are a great team in Conference USA and then UConn as well has proven that they are a really good non-conference team probably worthy of being a power conference opponent. So, it makes sense for FIU to lose those two games but the way they did it, especially the Delaware game at home at Pitbull Stadium, they did not look ready to go, and the offense was not clicking in those games, and the defense certainly gave up almost 100 points in both those combined games. So, it’s been it’s been really up and down so far but like I mentioned, this game against Western Kentucky has turned a lot of heads and I think it’s giving FIU a lot of motivation and the realization that if they can play that good for 60 minutes against any team towards the latter end of the schedule they could potentially run the table.
LW: Who are some key players for FIU and what type of play style are the Panthers looking to run on both sides of the ball?
JG: Our quarterback, Keyone Jenkins has had a sort of rocky start to the season. I think the overall passing game for FIU has been a mixed bag of sorts. It took them a long time to figure out who their true wide receiver one is because they lost their two biggest wide receivers last season through the portal, Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson. So, they’ve been kind of searching around for who could become the wide receiver one and it’s turned out to be Alex Perry who they also picked up through the transfer portal and has consistently had great games. This FIU offense was a pass heavy offense last season but has shifted to a run first offense because of our new coach and offensive coordinator. No one who fits that run first style better than Kejon Owens, our running back who’s turning into one of the best backs in Conference USA up there with Cam Cook of Jacksonville State. What he’s been able to do so far for this FIU offense, he’s put the team on his back at times even when the passing game has struggled to go against Delaware and UConn Owens still put up consistent results. He leads the team in rushing by a wide margin, most rushing touchdowns as well by another wide margin. So, the trio of Keyone Jenkins, Kejon Owens, and Alex Perry on the offense is definitely something that should be noted. On defense, you have reliable linebackers in Johnny Chaney Jr. and Josiah Taylor, but a player that I think is having a breakout season on defense is our is one of our defensive backs, Mister Clark. Clark is having a breakout season, already has a pair of interceptions and is a big-time playmaker with passes deflected and in the game against Western Kentucky. He had an interception in the red zone and then on another pick, tipped the ball, which was eventually caught by another defensive back, Jessiah McGrew. So, definitely watch out for Clark. He’s probably going to be all around the field against this Kennesaw State offense and for FIU’s sake, he’ll hopefully have another great game as he did against Western Kentucky. Play style wise, on offense, they’re going to want to try to run the ball. I think that’s going to be the biggest storyline in this game. It’s going to be FIU’s rushing offense which is one of the best in Conference USA versus Kennesaw State’s rush defense which is one of the best in Conference USA as well. I think that’s going to be the big turning point. Whoever wins that battle will probably end up winning the game. On defense, they’re going to definitely try to suffocate whoever the starting quarterback for Kennesaw State will be which I’m guessing will be Amari Odom. Try to make him uncomfortable for some risky throws that the secondary can capitalize on just like they did against two of the better overall quarterbacks in the group of six, being Caden Veltkamp with Florida Atlantic and Maverick McIvor and Western Kentucky.
LW: What matchup advantages and disadvantages do you think each time has on each other?
JG: I think Kennesaw State is a team that rarely turns the ball over on offense. That’s going to be a big challenge for this FIU defense to force those mistakes. This FIU offense is no stranger to capitalizing off of turnovers. Now, Kennesaw State themselves does not create too many turnovers either. So, I’m really hoping to see Keyone Jenkins maybe air it out a little bit more than usual. Just get some longer passes up here and there to some of his top receivers like Alex Perry and even some of the other reliable playmakers he has like Maguire Anderson, Jojo Stone and maybe some shots to tight ends as well like Jackson Verdugo, for example. I think Keyone Jenkins might throw for more passing yards than usual but if that starts to crack and Kennesaw State’s secondary holds them down, then they’ll go to that running game which again, if they can win that matchup against a really good rush defense that Kennesaw State has, that’ll be definitely interesting to see there.
LW: Lastly, what are your expectations for the game and what’s your score prediction?
JG: I think FIU is going to win. It’s going to be close for the first three quarters, and the Panthers will start to pull away in the end. I don’t know if Kennesaw State has taken on a rush offense as explosive as FIU just yet, so I think they’re ultimately going to win that matchup. Defensively for Kennesaw State, I just don’t know how much they’re going to have there and on the other side of the ball. FIU is entering this game with insane amount of momentum on the road, and I think they understand now, especially after the loss to Delaware not to underestimate opponents at home. It’s going to be a nationally televised game at Pitbull Stadium, they’re going to be rocking the vice uniforms and feeling good. But I guess it is worth mentioning that this is their third time wearing vice uniforms and they haven’t won a game yet wearing them since 2023, but I think they’ll turn it around. I had FIU winning 35-17. I think FIU pulls away in the fourth and we can finally sleep happy after wearing our vice uniforms on a Tuesday night of all times.
