Featured photo by Brian Branch
Story by Jenna Roberts
Middle Tennessee football (1-3) lost a 31-23 thriller to the Colorado State Rams (2-1) on homecoming night at Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium.
The Rams opened the scoring with a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Blue Raiders responded with a 49-yard touchdown toss from Nicholas Vattiato to Holden Willis to give MTSU a 7-3 lead.
Colorado State took a big risk early, faking a field goal attempt and turning it into six points after Giles Pooler tossed a touchdown to CSU tight end Dallin Holker.
Momentum started to build for MTSU when Deonte Stanley intercepted a pass from Bradley Fowler-Nicolosi, the first interception of the year for the MTSU defense. This led to a 31-yard Zeke Rankin field goal to even things at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The majority of the second quarter was a punting contest as both teams exchanged punts for six consecutive drives. Holden Willis flew through the air to haul in a 46-yard catch to give the Blue Raiders exceptional field position at the CSU 4-yard line. The Middle Tennessee offense ran a quarterback sneak for Vattiato’s first career rushing touchdown and a 17-10 halftime lead for MTSU.
That’s all football is about, momentum,” MTSU linebacker Sam Brumfield said. “When you can get an interception or turnover, that can make a huge impact for a team.”
Colorado State tied things up with an 80-yard drive that led to a 7-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter. The Blue Raider defense was able to keep the Rams out of the endzone until CSU scored on its first drive in the fourth quarter to take a 24-17 lead. Then, a lateral single-reverse trick play by the MTSU offense backfires with a fumble recovered by CSU for a touchdown to increase the lead to 31-17.
With 11:19 left in the game, the MTSU offense marched down the field and ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Metcalf to lessen the lead.
MTSU had one last drive to try and win the game with two minutes remaining, but two final shots at the end zone fell incomplete and CSU held on for the victory.
A couple of mistakes made by Middle Tennessee were all Colorado State needed to gain the momentum it needed to win the game.
“Disappointing, frustrating. We did a lot of good things and did a lot of things not good enough to enable you to win a game against a team like that,” MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill said. “It’s very frustrating. Proud of our effort, those suckers competed their tails off until the very end. We just weren’t good enough tonight to close it out.”
Jenna Roberts is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
