Mario Cristobal has become a household name in college football.
On Sunday night, his Miami team was at home in a nationally televised game against Notre Dame. Before returning home to Miami, he was the head coach at Oregon.
But before all of that, Cristobal coached his very first college game back in 2007 when he brought Florida International to Beaver Stadium for a season-opening game against Penn State.
That game, the lone time that the Lions have played the Panthers, is the focus of today’s Lion Tales.
On September 1, 2007, Penn State would do something for the first time: play a noon kickoff on Big Ten Network. That’s right. It was the first weekend for the new network with the Penn State/FIU game being relegated for most to an alternate channel. You might well remember that was the day that Appalachian State stunned No. 5 Michigan.
My own memories of that Wolverine loss is hearing about it as I exited Beaver Stadium in the waning moments of the FIU game.
So, back to that one. FIU was a fledgling program, having just started playing Division I-A football in 2005, two years before the visit to Beaver Stadium.
Cristobal was in Year 1, one that ultimately netted just one win – a victory over North Texas in the season’s final week.
Meanwhile, the Lions were ranked No. 17 and were coming off an impressive Outback Bowl win against Tennessee.
Most were already looking ahead to a Week 2 match-up with Notre Dame, which would be the first ever full stadium White Out. Still, a sunny day greeted the legions of Penn State fans who came out to watch the opener.
It was never a contest. In what would prove to be FIU’s most lopsided loss of the season, the Lions dominated in all phases on its way to a 59-0 win.
Tom Bradley’s defense forced five turnovers and had seven sacks with Sean Lee leading the way with seven tackles, a sack, and a force fumble. FIU finished with just 114 yards of total offense with negative rushing yardage.
Meanwhile, the offense went for a season-high in points. Anthony Morelli passed for 295 yards and three touchdowns to a who’s who of name some guys. Terrell Golden, Matt Hahn, and Mickey Shuler were the guys who caught scoring passes.
Meanwhile, Austin Scott had two touchdown runs, while Rodney Kinlaw, Dan Lawlor, and Evan Royster (first of his career) each scored on the ground.
Penn State would go on to win its next two games, moving to 3-0 and rising to No. 10 in the country before back-to-back road losses to Michigan and Illinois short circuited what looked like a promising season. The Lions would rally to win the Alamo Bowl and set up a Big Ten title in 2008.
Meanwhile, Cristobal would have a little success in pushing FIU to a .500-level team before he was fired a couple years later. A few seasons with Nick Saban at Alabama helped to reshape Cristobal’s career and he’s spent the past decade as the leader of two big-name programs.
