A game that should have been won by Middle Tennessee
went to FCS McNeese State. What happen to the team that wanted to bounce back
after a disappointing season last year, are we headed for the same season?
A
furious fourth quarter comeback by Middle Tennessee fell short as the McNeese
State Cowboys escaped Floyd Stadium with a 27-21 victory Thursday evening.
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| Middle Tennessee Anthony Amos |
The
Blue Raiders (0-1) outscored the Cowboys (1-0) 15-to-3 in the final quarter. In
the fourth quarter, Middle Tennessee completed a 97-yard drive to make it a
24-14 contest. With less than five minutes remaining, MT used an 85-yard kick
return by Reggie Whatley to put the Blue Raider offense in prime
scoring position. Just one play later, Logan Kilgore connected to Kyle
Griswould for 15 yards to put the Raiders within six.
On
the next offensive possession, McNeese State used the clock to its advantage
before punting back to MT. An attempted lateral play did not work for the Blue
Raiders, as Middle Tennessee fell short in the season opener.
Middle
Tennessee jumped out to a six-point lead early in the second quarter. However,
McNeese State answered with 24 consecutive points. The Pokes used a strong
offensive performance, totaling 450 yards. McNeese State used seven tailbacks
to combine for 298 rushing yards. Marcus Wiltz led the rushing attack with 20
carries and 105 yards. Cody Stroud completed 10 passes for 139 yards and a
touchdown.
Kilgore
completed 27 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt junior
finished just a completion short of his career-best 28 set last season against
Florida Atlantic and Troy. Anthony Amos grabbed eight passes for a
team-best 70 yards and a touchdown. Griswould added five catches for 63 yards
and a touchdown grab in the loss. The MT offense completed the game with 383
offensive yards.
Defensively,
three Blue Raiders reached double-digit
tackles. Jajuan
Harley,Christian Henry and Kevin Byard all totaled 11 tackles.
Harley added a team-best five solo tackles. Right end Omar McLendon picked
up two tackles-for-loss totaling eight yards. Shubert Bastien managed
a sack and a TFL with a total of four tackles.
McNeese
State controlled the time of possession, totaling 36:05 minutes compared to
just 23:55 for the Raiders. Middle Tennessee set a school record in total kick
return yards during a game. Thursday's total of 241 yards broke a previous best
of 220 set against Louisville on Oct. 6, 2006.
The
Blue Raiders look to regroup when they open Sun Belt Conference play against
Florida Atlantic at Floyd Stadium next Saturday, Sept. 8. Kickoff is set for
6:00 p.m.
Head
Coach had this to say about his team….”On tonight's game...It was disappointing
tonight. We tackled very well, and they also out-leveraged us. There were two
critical plays in the first quarter when we drove all the way down and had to
settle for field goals. Then we drove down in the second quarter and threw the interception.
Then we forced them to punt in the third quarter and the punt hits our guy, and
they get it on the plus side of the field.”
“On
the defensive play...Our corners didn't do a very good job in the run game when
they got outside of us. But we didn't tackle very well at all and it's
disappointing we didn't do a better job with that.”
The
Blue Raider’s really going to have to step their game up in the coming week to
prove they are serious.
