MIAMI
When those preseason magazines previewing the year in college football hit newsstands, many Florida International players rushed to grab a copy.
Most publications agreed: FIU was ranked 119th in the country out of 119 teams on the list.
“Saying we’re the bottom of the food chain? Now that’s motivation,” linebacker Scott Bryant said.
External expectations simply couldn’t be lower for the Golden Panthers, who are coming off a winless 2006 season, have a new coach in Mario Cristobal and only boast a handful of players with more than one year of college experience. Around the FIU camp, though, they’re talking about hopes of a winning season and contending in the Sun Belt Conference.
Sound crazy? Not to Cristobal, who was part of a rebuilding effort as an assistant at Rutgers and was a standout player and successful, well-thought-of position coach at Miami before taking FIU’s offer to move a few miles west of Coral Gables and become the second-youngest head coach in the country.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Cristobal said. “We’re focused on the process. That’s where all our energy will be focused on the process.”
