Blue Raiders Ready for SBC Opener

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The road to New Orleans starts Saturday at Monroe, Louisiana for the Middle Tennessee football program. This week's football game at Louisiana-Monroe marks the first-ever Sun Belt Conference contest in the history of the league with the SBC champion advancing to the Dec. 18 New Orleans Bowl at the Superdome. "This is what you play for (conference games/title)," said quarterback Wes Counts. "You get tired of playing for pride or for a record. Plus this is the first Sun Belt game ever, and no one else is playing this week. You have to win every game because no team is going to win the league at 5-1 or 4-2, so that makes every game big." The Blue Raiders will bring the nation's top ranked offense to Monroe where they will face a stern Indian defense, which has caused MT problems in the past. Led by Counts, running back Dwone Hicks and wide receiver Kendall Newson, the Blue Raiders are averaging 624.5 yards of total offense and are scoring 45.5 points a game. Hicks leads the country in scoring at 22.0 points a game and is 11th in rushing, while Counts is 13th nationally in total offense. Middle Tennessee leads the nation in total offense, is second in rushing offense, sixth in scoring and eighth in passing. In the Sun Belt, the Blue Raiders lead the league in nine team statistical categories. "We're still not where we need to be offensively," head coach Andy McCollum said. "We showed improvement from game one to game two, but there is still room for more. We've had some breakdowns during drives that have to be corrected, but we have had a good week of practice. Hopefully, we can put everything together this weekend." Defensively, the Blue Raiders continue to get better and better. Over the last six quarters of play, the defense has allowed just 17 points and collected a league best six-quarterback sacks. In all, the Blue Raiders have allowed a total of 45 points this season and 31 of those have come in the second quarter (28 vs Vanderbilt when MT had a couple of missed assignments). In the Sun Belt, Middle Tennessee is fourth in total defense, but first in rushing defense. The Blue Raider defense will face an Indian team that is rated last in total offense and scoring offense, but do pose a unique weapon in tailback Ivory Brown. The junior from Bastrop, LA, is 5-11, 265 pounds, and originally signed with Notre Dame out of high school. "Brown is a very athletic back for his size," McCollum added. "He's made some runs this year that make you turn your head in disbelief. He's very physical and our defense will have to swarm to the football if we hope to contain him." The Blue Raiders and Indians will be meeting on the gridiron for the third time with the series knotted at 1-1. Middle Tennessee won last year's game 28-0 in Murfreesboro, while ULM won in 1999 10-0. That's right, the visiting team has never scored in the series. "We're playing down there," McCollum said. "The last time we went down there, it was not the result we had hoped for. It's a great challenge for our football team. They are well-coached and we have a lot of respect for their team and staff. It's our first conference game. That says enough. It's been talked about for two years and now it's time to play." Kickoff is slated for 6 PM and the game can be heard locally on 104.9 FM or on the world wide web at GoBlueRaiders.com. The pregame show begins at 5:30 PM. NOTES OF INTEREST:
For Blue Raider fans traveling to Monroe and wanting to listen to the game, turn the radio dial to KJLO 104 FM for the ULM broadcast - The weather forecast on Saturday calls for temperatures in the mid-80s with a chance of isolated thunderstorms - The state of Louisiana has been swarmed on by mosquito's this season - In fact, there have been 59 cases of encephalitis reported - The outbreak of mosquito's has been so bad the Monroe area has moved all high school football games to 5:30 PM because the mosquito's are at their worst around 9 PM - The Blue Raiders will fly out via charter on Friday morning and will workout at Malone Stadium at 4:15 PM - The Blue Raiders have won five consecutive games dating back to the 2000 season - Middle Tennessee has won the third game of a season nine times over the last 11 years, including both years under Andy McCollum.

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Players Mentioned

Wes Counts

Dwone Hicks

Kendall Newson

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics