Feature Photo by Paige Mast
Story by Brett Walker
For the third straight week, Middle Tennessee’s offense started hot.
MTSU made quick work of Louisiana Tech’s defense on the opening drive scoring in 2:35 and capped it off with an 18-yard Holden Willis touchdown catch.
Even after the Bulldogs struck back to knot the score at 7-7, the Middle Tennessee offense went right back to work, taking a 14-7 lead after Jekail Middlebrook broke the plane on a 24-yard touchdown.
Following Middlebrook’s score, the Blue Raiders wouldn’t reach the endzone again for nearly 30 minutes of gametime and surrendered 35 unanswered points in a demoralizing 48-21 defeat.
So, what happened?
For first-year Middle Tennessee offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder, the collapse goes back to execution.
On MTSU’s third offensive possession of the game, the Blue Raiders marched the ball down to the La Tech 49-yard line before an Omari Kelly fumble stalled momentum.
Trailing 20-14 after a Bulldogs touchdown, the Middle Tennessee offense took the field again only to be thwarted by its own mistakes. A second down sack and third down incomplete pass resulted in a punt and the game unraveled for MTSU from there.
“It’s that execution, those unforced errors sometimes during the middle of a game that causes us to lose our footing and that’s what we want to eliminate,” Reeder said.
If the story of the La Tech game sounds familiar, it’s because it is. For MTSU, self-inflicted wounds were a season long occurrence. The Blue Raiders had 19 total turnovers on the year not including failed fourth down conversions.
While the turnovers are certainly distressing, they are just a natural part of the game of football, Reeder said. Turning the ball over is inevitable, so the bigger emphasis comes on letting his players know the truth and that continuous miscues are unacceptable.
“Being an offensive coordinator can be really fun sometimes like playing a video game, and other times you’re in an isolated box,” Reeder said. “There’s just so many things you want to try to go help and do, but you can’t because you’re not on the field. You’ve just got to love the guys up and continue to compete with them and let them know you believe in them and know that they’ll respond the next time.”
Going into the year, the first-year coaching staff had their work cut out for them.
In addition to a new regime, Middle Tennessee brought in 59 players over the off-season in efforts to rebuild the program after the firing of longtime head coach Rick Stockstill.
Despite the message to fans and boosters, having a successful campaign was always going to be a challenge in year one, but it was made even more difficult by a surplus of injuries, especially up front.
On opening night alone, Middle Tennessee lost center Julius Pierce and right tackle J’Shun Bodiford to injury, forcing inexperienced youth to be thrown into the fire from the get-go.
Injuries devastated the Blue Raider offensive line all season. In 12 games, MTSU used eight starting offensive line combinations, leading the nation.
To the casual observer, swapping out linemen wouldn’t seem to be a big deal, but what most don’t understand is how much communication plays into those positions, Reeder said.
“Naturally your communication gets better with someone you’re around and playing next to all the time,” Reeder said. “When those lineups change, the communication isn’t as crisp or consistent as it would be if we could create consistency in the lineups and allow those guys to multiply their reps.”
At the end of the day, football is a line of scrimmage game, so it’s no secret as to why Middle Tennessee’s offense was so inconsistent all year, head coach Derek Mason said.
“At times it’s looked really good, at times, man, it’s been very inconsistent, more inconsistent than outstanding,” Mason said of the team’s offensive struggles. “So, for us, that’s something that we have to address. When you’re in season, those are the toughest things to address. That’s about physicality, mentality, and it’s hard to shape that mentality when you’re in season.”
Perhaps what has suffered most throughout the constant offensive line juggling is the Blue Raiders’ rushing attack. In the 2024 regular season, MTSU is ranked near the bottom of FBS teams in total rushing at No. 129/134 with 1,069 yards.
Under Reeder, MTSU wants to move on from its air-raid past and be a run first offense, something that has been nearly impossible to accomplish with front line issues.
A lack of run support has rendered Middle Tennessee’s offense one-dimensional and added to the stress of its veteran quarterback. The hope for the future is to be able to establish a run game that can alleviate some of the pressure off Vattiato, Reeder said.
“Right now, Nick [Vattiato] is playing with a lot of pressure on him because he has to be perfect all the time,” Reeder said of the junior quarterback. “What the running game does is it helps the quarterback, so we want to be a downhill, physical run team with an explosive passing attack and an elite quarterback.”
While this season certainly hasn’t been a perfect one for Vattiato, he’s managed to succeed despite the offensive line woes. He finished first in CUSA passing yards with 3,092 on the year.
The veteran presence of Vattiato has helped the offense along while it works around inexperience and depth in other areas.
“Nick has obviously played a lot of football, so he’s able to filter through some of the trash and get to the good stuff,” Reeder said. “Nick makes all of his teammates better.”
The lack of a running game for MTSU hasn’t been for the lack of creativity on the coaching staff’s part. Finding ways to get it going has been an accepted challenge for Middle Tennessee coaches.
During the midweek CUSA stretch, the staff implemented a two running back formation into the offense and more recently experimented with ‘pro-style’ under-center looks. The under-center approach is meant to give Middle Tennessee’s offense a personality, Mason said.
For what it’s worth, MTSU had its most successful day running the ball in a 36-21 loss to New Mexico State. The Blue Raiders accrued a season-high 170 rushing yards against the Aggies with the implemented under-center game, albeit against the second worst rushing defense in the conference.
With 80 yards on the ground, Middlebrook led the team in rushing against New Mexico State. The under-center offense, and the downhill running that derives from it, helped give the MTSU offensive line a chance against the Aggie front, Middlebrook said.
At the end of the day, the coaching staff is still exploring what the offense can do. To this point, they know what guys like Kelly, Willis and the running back room can provide, but they still have to figure out the other offensive pieces, Mason said.
The fact is that no matter what, Reeder’s offense won’t be able to fully flourish until the offensive line is fixed. While the current talent will surely progress, the focal point of this offseason in regard to recruiting is the offensive line, Reeder said.
“We need to make sure that we’re building depth and really just getting that room up to par,” Reeder said.
Simply put, the 2024 season wasn’t pretty for Middle Tennessee’s offense. But in a game as beautifully hideous as American football, the road to success rarely is.
Brett Walker is the sports editor for MTSU Sidelines
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