Story by Brett Walker
Feature Photo by Paige Mast
Middle Tennessee football (3-7, 2-4 CUSA) fell at the hands of Liberty (6-2, 4-2 CUSA) on Saturday, Nov. 9, by a final score of 37-17.
Saturday’s loss knocked the Blue Raiders out of bowl contention in head coach Derek Mason’s first year leading the program. MTSU will be on the couch during postseason play for the second season in a row.
Despite the disappointing result, Saturday’s game wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were a few highlights in the midst of a dreary day. Here are three bright spots and three dark spots from MTSU’s defeat.
Bright spots
Butts on the line
The 2024 campaign hasn’t been kind to the Middle Tennessee defense. The Blue Raiders gave up 37 points to the Flames and are giving up 35 points per game, notching them at 113th of 134 in the nation in points allowed according to TeamRankings.com.
Despite the struggles, a positive sign from the past two weeks has been the emergence of true freshman defensive end Aidan Butts. Against UTEP, Butts picked up the first sack of his collegiate career in addition to two assisted tackles.
This MTSU team is no stranger to relying on youth, having played 11 true freshmen so far this season. Butts made his impact felt for the second straight week picking up his second career sack against Liberty.
Butts and the rest of the Middle Tennessee defense found success early on in the game picking up two Liberty fumbles. The early Flames fits were due to everyone on the Blue Raider defense doing their job, defensive end Brandon Buckner said.
“Everybody understood the assignment, everybody was flying around to the ball,” Buckner said. “We tried to keep things simple, and I thought that was what we were doing early.”
First time for everything
The result wasn’t what the team hoped for, but the final score likely won’t be the most memorable part of Saturday for two Blue Raiders.
Wide receiver Hayes Sutton reached a career milestone against the Flames early in the first quarter, hauling in his first career touchdown reception as a Blue Raider. The touchdown came on a 6-yard dart from quarterback Nick Vattiato to give MTSU its first and only lead of the game.
“The play design was great,” Sutton said. “I had a little whip route and just made the most of the opportunity.”
The graduate student from Norcross, Georgia spent his first three years at Brown before transferring to Duke for his redshirt senior season. After not playing in any games as a Blue Devil he entered the portal to Murfreesboro where he has appeared in all 10 games this season.
Another Blue Raider hit a long-awaited career mark on Saturday as redshirt senior running back Terry Wilkins caught his first career touchdown pass on a 17-yard Vattiato strike. Wilkins has appeared in 28 games across his five years in Middle Tennessee and has acquired 437 all-purpose yards and four total touchdowns.
Willis returns
Middle Tennessee received positive news on the injury front early in the week with the news that star tight end Holden Willis would reenter the lineup.
Willis suffered a concussion late in a 42-20 loss versus Jacksonville State and was sidelined the following week in a 20-13 win at UTEP. On Saturday, he returned to the field with a guardian cap and started right where he left off.
Going up against the Flames, Willis grabbed five catches for 81 yards, leading the Blue Raiders in receiving yards for the fourth time this season.
The 2023 First Team All-CUSA selection sits in second place in team receiving yards this year with 44 catches for 681 yards and three end zone trips.
Dark Spots
Stuck in the mud
Over the course of the season, Middle Tennessee has consistently struggled to run the ball effectively. Saturday’s first half was the perfect example of those struggles.
At the first half whistle, MTSU garnered 10 rushing attempts for a horrific four yards. For all of the mathematicians out there, that’s good for 0.4 yards per carry, or more specifically 14.4 inches per handoff.
Even when the Blue Raiders busted off a big run play, they seemed to get called back due to holding penalties, Mason said.
“The peaks and valleys, the hurdles,” Mason said of MTSU’s inconsistent offensive attack. “We have to stop climbing those things and start using some of the momentum that we get as a force multiplier, because right now it’s really setting us back.”
To Middle Tennessee’s credit, the ground game gained traction coming out of the second half. On the first possession alone, the Blue Raiders found the rushing attack they’d been looking for, carrying the ball nine times for a total of 40 yards before Jaiden Credle was stopped just short on a fourth and one play deep inside Flames territory.
MTSU finished the contest with 26 carries for 70 rushing yards. Liberty on the other hand ran wild with 50 totes for 339 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Foot, meet bullet
Keeping with the season long theme of self-inflicted wounds, a young MTSU team had itself another day filled with penalties and mistakes.
Middle Tennessee played a relatively clean game in the first quarter, but it all unraveled on a second quarter Liberty drive. Tied at 7-7 early in the second, MTSU stopped Liberty on third down and had Liberty set up to punt in its own end.
Flames punter Max Morgan shanked the kick on 4th and 6 as it traveled a pitiful 18 yards. However, Liberty earned a redo after an MTSU defender was illegally lined up over the long snapper.
The penalty moved the ball five yards and brought up 4th and 1 and the Flames lined up to punt it away again, only this time they tried to catch the Blue Raiders off guard with a fake. The fake seemed to be a massive failure as MTSU buried the Flames in the backfield, appearing to rip momentum from Liberty.
Unfortunately for Middle Tennessee, a Blue Raider jumped offsides before the snap giving Liberty an automatic first down to keep the drive alive. What ensued was a 14 play, 85-yard drive culminated by a four-yard Quinton Cooley touchdown.
The score gave the Flames their first lead of the game at 14-7, a lead that they never surrendered. There were times in the ball game where MTSU thwarted Liberty’s momentum but ended up giving it right back, Mason said.
Saturday’s 10 accepted penalties against the Blue Raiders tied a season high set against Kennesaw State, while the 93 penalty yards given up broke the previous season high of 81 yards surrendered to Tennessee Tech.
Kellyless
While MTSU added one key player back into the lineup on Saturday, it was forced to subtract another. Middle Tennessee was without explosive receiver Omari Kelly with an undisclosed injury.
In his nine games played, the Auburn transfer has led the Blue Raiders in receiving five times. His 48 catches for 811 yards and three touchdowns lead the team this season. In Kelly’s absence, Vattiato was forced to share the love hitting nine different receivers in the ball game.
“When you don’t have your full gambit, other guys have to step up,” Mason said. “It was nice to see Hayes [Sutton] make a couple plays. You know, [we] just didn’t see enough.”
With two games remaining, it is unknown at this time when or if Kelly will return to the lineup this season.
Kelly and others will have the chance to heal up as the Blue Raiders have a bye week upcoming before taking on New Mexico State (2-7, 1-5 CUSA) on Nov. 23 in their final home game of the 2024 season.
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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