An extra bye week was not enough as MTSU failed to crack the defense of 14th ranked Iowa at Kinnick Stadium Saturday falling 48-3.
The Hawkeyes scored on each of its first four possessions, continuing a worrying trend for the MTSU defense after allowing Duke to score on all of its possessions until late into the fourth quarter in its last game.
Iowa QB Nate Stanley had a solid afternoon with two touchdown throws to pair alongside his 276 passing yards. Toren Young and Mekhi Sargent piled up 222 rushing yards as a tandem for the Hawkeyes as well.
On offense for the Blue Raiders, the team converted its first third down in the middle of the third quarter and Asher O’Hara, while accurate on his attempts, was unable to jump start a lackluster offense with only 110 yards on 15 completions.
The MTSU rushing attack continued to struggle with O’Hara leading the way on the ground with 33 yards ahead of Jayy McDonald with 17 yards.
One of the stars of the month on offense, Jarrin Pierce led the pack at wide receiver with six catches for 43 yards.
Overall Iowa finished the game with 644 total yards to offense to MTSU’s 216.
What’s next:
MTSU has now finished its non-conference cash grab tour of duty and will head into the frying pan of Conference USA play with a home game against Marshall on October 5th at 2:30 p.m. CT. The Blue Raiders stole an important road win at Marshall last year en route to a C-USA Championship berth and this matchup may prove just as crucial to MTSU’s season.
The Thundering Herd are 2-1 on the season with its lone loss at Boise State 14-7. But Marshall has lost a big source of its offense with the dismissal of running back Tyler King earlier this month. King had led the Herd in rushing in each of the last two seasons.
To contact Sports Editor Elijah Campbell, email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
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