Bo’s Bits Vol. 1: FIU & UTSA are Young Programs with 21st Century Results

By Bo Carter, NFF National Correspondent

Take two programs that did not even start their varsity football programs until the early 21st Century. Mix in a combined 13 bowl appearances since 2010 and a plethora of big-name football head coaches.

Voila! This is the setting for the 16th Annual SERVPRO First Responder Bowl Thursday, Dec. 26,  at 7 p.m. (CST) at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the SMU campus before a national television audience on ESPN.

Yes, both FIU Panthers (7-5 overall) and UTSA Roadrunners (6-6) are seeking to end their campaigns on a winning note after finishing their ’25 regular seasons in momentum-building fashion. 

This is a repeat trip to Dallas for the Roadrunners who fell in a 31-24 thriller to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the 2020 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. FIU, which reached postseason status in the ninth year of its initial 2002 program, has played bowls now in Detroit, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Nassau (the Bahamas), Montgomery, Ala., and now Dallas. UTSA’s previous treks have been to Albuquerque, Frisco (Texas), Orlando, Myrtle Beach and back to Ford Stadium again. 

These previous Conference USA members for a decade met four times from 2014-22 while competing in separate divisions of CUSA. The series is tied 2-2 after a 30-14 Roadrunners triumph in 2022 when they last tangled.

After UTSA opted to join the American Conference prior to the ’23 outing, the school has competed in three consecutive bowl tussles to extend their overall university record to six straight bowl berths – all under former Texas high school coaching legend and Roadrunners head coach since 2018 Jeff Traylor, who helped UTSA capture the 2022 Conference USA crown with an overall record of 11-3 after taking the ’21 Roadrunners on a school-record 12-2 run.

FIU catapulted itself into the bowl picture again this season behind former Florida A&M head coach Willie Simmons who posted a 66-24 mark at the Tallahassee university from 2018-23. It is the Panthers’ first postseason appearance since the 2019 Camellia Bowl and a 34-26 setback to former Sun Belt Conference rival Arkansas State.

Despite playing varsity college football for just a combined 39 years (UTSA started its program in NCAA I-AA “FCS” in 2011), a number of current or former successful college coaches have directed these programs.

Traylor is just the third head coach in Roadrunners’ annals behind former BCS National Champion (2001) football boss Larry Coker of Miami (Fla.), and Frank Wilson, who served out the final half of the ’25 LSU season as interim head coach and helped the Tigers arrive at the Kinder’s Houston Bowl. The six-time bowl molder is 52-26 at the helm after holding down college assistant coaching apprenticeships at Texas, SMU and Arkansas.

Meanwhile, Simmons is succeeding the likes of current Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal as well as Miami and North Carolina mentor Butch Davis who took the Panthers to their first five bowl tests from 2010-19.

Making this matchup even more intriguing is the “pride factor” of both college and high school football in the Sunshine State and the Lone Star State. Most of FIU’s student-athletes are native Floridians while UTSA relies on a solid base of Texas youngsters to keep its programs viable.

Tickets for the 16th annual contest remain on sale for the bowl through Ticketmaster, the firstresponderbowl.com website and at SMU’s Ford Stadium.

-www.firstresponderbowl.com-