Two teams entered Floyd Stadium winless Saturday evening, with one team destined to leave with its first win of a wild 2020 season.
Both teams have massive similarities in offensive playstyle with its quarterbacks carrying most of the load. But Saturday showed that one team had a key factor that the other did not. The ability to close a game.
Western Kentucky (1-2, 1-0 Conference USA) notched its first win of the season with a hard-fought victory over MTSU (0-4, 0-2) 20-17 in this year’s 100 Miles of Hate as the Blue Raiders continue to search for its first win of the season.
MTSU, for the second game in a row, tried to stage a last-minute comeback attempt as Asher O’Hara led a 12-play, 75-yard drive to cut the deficit to three points with just over two minutes left. Yet, much like the loss at UTSA, the Blue Raiders ran out of time.
For O’Hara, he put up his best performance so far this season with two touchdowns and zero turnovers. The redshirt junior helped account for 309 of MTSU’s 319 total offensive yardage.
His counterpart, WKU QB Tyrrell Pigrome would find the endzone twice as well including the game-winning touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter to Joshua Simon.
Both teams were almost dead even in total yards, first downs, and time of possession. But Brayden Narveson’s 53-yard field goal proved to be the one score that MTSU never answered, and gave the edge that pushed the Hilltoppers over the top.
Overall, the 0-4 start to the season is the worst since 2007. That year, MTSU also lost its fourth game in a row to open the season versus Western Kentucky at Floyd Stadium by a score of 20-17.
What’s Next:
The Blue Raiders hit the road again for a meeting with FIU next Saturday. The Panthers have only had one game due to cancellations, a 36-34 loss at Liberty. The Panthers lost star quarterback James Morgan to graduation last season and have tried out three quarterbacks in its season opener to see who will fill the hole left by Morgan.
Last year, MTSU pulled off one of its biggest wins of the season against FIU in a rain-drenched blowout at Floyd Stadium.
