FIU will open its 2026 season against South Florida on Saturday, Sept. 5, with a 7 p.m. kickoff under the lights at Raymond James Stadium. It is a season opener that gives both programs an immediate read on where they stand after a busy offseason.
For Brian Hartline, it will be his first game as South Florida's head coach after moving over from Ohio State, and it comes against an FIU team that is trying to build on a seven-win 2025 and bowl eligibility under Willie Simmons. The matchup matters because it is not just another nonconference game in September; it is the first chance to see how a first-time head coach handles a roster built by a top-rated Group of Six portal class.
FIU enters its 25th season as a collegiate football program with some proof that last fall was more than a flash. The Panthers finished 2025 with seven wins, went undefeated in November to reach bowl eligibility for the first time since 2019, beat Florida Atlantic in the Shula Bowl for the first time since 2016, and won on the road at Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee for the first time in over a decade. That run gave Willie Simmons a 0-2 record against South Florida, and it also raised the bar for what FIU expects to carry into 2026.
South Florida's side of the ledger is less settled. Alex Golesh left after a 9-4 season in 2025, and Hartline now takes over a program that added the top portal class in all of the Group of Six. That kind of turnover can reshape a roster quickly, but it can also leave a first-year coach learning in real time how the pieces fit once the lights come on.
The last meeting between the teams was a 17-8 South Florida win on Sept. 20, 2008, and FIU trails the series 2-0. + will carry the game live, with an audio stream available on fiusports.com/listenlive and live stats on fiusports.com/FBStats. The opener does not settle either season, but it does offer the first hard evidence of whether FIU's momentum and South Florida's new look survive the first Saturday in September.
