Featured Photo by Myles Valrie
Story by Brett Walker
MTSU football (1-4, 0-1) lost its fourth straight game on Saturday night, falling 24-7 to the Memphis Tigers (4-1, 0-1).
Saturday’s contest wrapped up the non-conference play for the Blue Raiders this season. With a remaining schedule exclusively filled with Conference USA opponents, everything short-term is still on the table for MTSU, including a conference championship appearance and a bowl game.
While success this season is still within reach, the long-term goal for Middle Tennessee became clear over the weekend. When looking over to the opposing sideline, MTSU football got a glimpse of what could be for the program.
Over the past few seasons, Memphis football built a strong reputation as one of the premiere teams in the Group of Five. The Tigers have the longest active bowl streak in the American Athletic Conference, having reached a bowl game in each of the last 10 seasons.
Tigers head coach Ryan Silverfield took over the program in 2019, after the departure of Mike Norvell. Silverfield has since elevated and maintained the strong program that Norvell left, earning the respect of MTSU head coach Derek Mason.
“What [Silverfield has] done is continue to establish [Memphis] in this day of NIL, man, they’re still making it work,” Mason said.
MTSU’s blueprint for success may not be identical to that of the Memphis Tigers, but it will be very similar. Middle Tennessee followed part of that blueprint on Saturday night by finding a way to play solid defense on the road for the first time, Mason said in his post-game presser.
The defense held a Tigers offense that totaled 659 yards the previous week to 413 yards on Saturday. Overall, the Blue Raiders made progress Saturday as the defense finished tackles more than previous weeks, Mason said in his opening statement.
After the game, junior defensive end Brandon Buckner felt that MTSU’s defensive improvement was a combination of mixing up coverages and everyone doing their job.
“As a unit I feel like we were giving various looks, making the quarterback confused, everybody was doing their one-eleventh and you know, was just having fun,” Buckner said. “The first half was great; you know just disguising, dropping, rushing, just showing multiple different things. I think that helped a lot.”
While the defense stepped up in a big way on Saturday, the offense struggled to get out of its own way at times. As the Blue Raiders traveled to Memphis, several season-long miscues made the trip with them. Once again, MTSU handcuffed itself with two critical turnovers.
Most detrimental to the Blue Raiders chances were MTSU’s two lost fumbles on the night. Late in the first quarter, quarterback Nick Vattiato hit Omari Kelly for a huge gain. The completion was all for naught, however, as Kelly reached for the pylon and fumbled the ball through the back of the endzone.
The fumble cost MTSU at least six points in a game where scoring was scarce. When the Vattiato to Kelly connection clicks, the Blue Raiders must find ways to capitalize on it, Kelly said.
The passing game succeeded for MTSU as Vattiato finished the game 21-31 for 283 yards. Kelly led the way in receiving with six catches for 174 yards. Despite the success in the air, Middle Tennessee struggled to run the ball against the Tiger front, mustering 56 net yards from the combined efforts of Jaiden Credle and Terry Wilkins.
There isn’t any sugar coating a 17-point loss, but there are positive takeaways from it, and the main one from Saturday is that going into a bye week. MTSU football is showing improvement, even if it is a little at a time.
As Middle Tennessee goes into a bye week, its head coach is looking forward to seeing what can be accomplished as the team heals up, Mason said.
“It has to get better; we have to get better and when we do, we’re going to climb,” Mason said.
Brett Walker is the sports editor for MTSU Sidelines
To contact the Sports and Assistant Sports Editor, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com
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