Feature Photo by Paige Mast
Story by Jacob Burgess
It was bleak, messy and dirty. The Liberty Flames (6-2, 4-2 C-USA) relit themselves against Middle Tennessee (3-7, 2-4 C-USA) winning 37-17.
Liberty and Middle Tennessee struggled in the first quarter. The Flames struggled with holding on to the ball, giving up the ball twice on backyard laterals from quarterback Kaidon Salter that resulted in fumbles.
The first fumble saw Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter throw a screen pass backwards that was dropped. The second time Salter kept the ball on a quarterback draw play and went for a backwards pitch with the ball being dropped again.
MTSU capitalized on one of the turnovers scoring a touchdown but punted or fumbled the rest of the first half.
After the first Liberty fumble, Middle Tennessee quarterback Nick Vattiato led a short field drive capped by a touchdown pass to Hayes Sutton. The touchdown reception was the first of Sutton’s Blue Raider career.
“The play design was great, I had a little whip right almost and made the most of the opportunity,” Sutton said.
The flame of Liberty was dim in the first quarter but grew in the second quarter. Liberty scored three touchdowns carried by the rushing game. Liberty rushed for 125 yards in the second quarter with Salter and running back Quinton Cooley going wherever they pleased.
MTSU remained stale in the second half, getting shut out in the third quarter. Redzone problems continued as MTSU got within ten yards of paydirt and failed to score, choosing to attempt a fourth and one rush play which proved unsuccessful.
MTSU played better in the fourth quarter with two scoring drives and Vattiato finding a presence inside the pocket. On the first drive of the fourth quarter, Vattiato found Sutton for a 27-yard pass to set up a 17-yard touchdown pass to running back Terry Wilkens.
Vattiato led one last drive with multiple deep balls but only got a field goal out it. Kicker Zeke Rankin drilled a season long 48-yard field goal .
Liberty put the backups in during garbage time once up by 20 with just under five minutes left.
With the loss to Liberty, MTSU is out of bowl contention for 2024. With two games remaining, head coach Derek Mason will look to finish strong and build towards 2025.
“The execution part of the game continues to come back and put us in adverse situations,” Mason said. “I told our guys afterwards we have got have got to execute better.”
Jacob Burgess is the lead sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines
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