The North Texas Mean Green and FIU Panthers meet Saturday in week 10 C-USA college football action from Apogee Stadium. FIU played Louisiana Tech over the weekend. In that one the Panthers managed an overtime win. As for North Texas, they’re coming off a matchup versus Western Kentucky. The Green ended up taking a blowout victory in that game. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Florida International went 2-2 over their first four games, taking out New Mexico State and Bryant while otherwise falling to Texas State and Western Kentucky. The Panthers would then lose to UConn and UTSA before a win over Charlotte.
In the Louisiana Tech game, the Panthers were outscored 10-3 in the fourth quarter and needed two overtime periods to take a 42-34 win. QB Grayson James threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns. Lexington Joseph added 12 carries for 37 yards and two scores.
Over on the North Texas side, they hit a .500 run over their first eight games this season. The Mean Green beat UTEP, Texas Southern, Florida Atlantic and Louisiana Tech. The losses came courtesy of SMU, UNLV, Memphis and UTSA.
Matched up against Western Kentucky, North Texas had a 20-13 lead going into the final quarter. The Green scored 20 unanswered points from there in a 40-13 win. QB Austin Aune threw for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Ayo Adeyi had 10 carries, 72 yards and one TD.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with North Texas, but not touching this one. The Green took a while to really get going in the Western Kentucky game, but they ended up with 536 total yards, 25 first downs and zero turnovers in a nice effort.
As for FIU, they get credit for sticking out the gutsy overtime win versus Louisiana Tech, but it wasn’t pretty. The Panthers were out-gained 440-378 and had eight penalties along the way. North Texas should be a tougher challenge.