Blue Raiders Set for Conference Opener

Murfreesboro, TN -The Blue Raiders find themselves in the same situation that confronted them one-week ago - simply searching for a win. Off to the worst start since 1980, the 0-4 Blue Raiders are excited, however, to finally jump into conference play. "This is what you play for, a conference championship," quarterback Andrico Hines said. "The other games are 'exposure' games, the big games, but the conference is what you set your goals for. You want to win the conference and go to a bowl game, so right now we're 0-0 in the conference and that's all that matters." Winning the Sun Belt Conference after such a sluggish start is not uncommon, in fact, it is more of a precedent. North Texas began the inaugural Sun Belt season 0-5 and wound up tying Middle Tennessee for the conference championship and representing the Sun Belt in the New Orleans Bowl. "We're 0-4, but we haven't started conference play yet," defensive back Muhammad Rashada said. "Hopefully we'll get rolling. North Texas started slow last year and then won the conference. Hopefully, we can feed off that and get things going." And the way to "get things going", head coach Andy McCollum feels, is to go right back to work and gain some confidence. "Our concern for our football team," McCollum said, "is gaining confidence. [Middle Tennessee], coming off of the first three games, didn't play with a lot of confidence, and we didn't play with a lot of confidence this Saturday. So we have to come back and believe in ourselves and believe in what we're doing and get some confidence. The way you get better is to go right back to work." The Blue Raiders will probably be without the services - for the second consecutive week - of Heisman Trophy candidate Dwone Hicks as he is listed day-to-day. However, All-American candidate Brandon Westbrook is expected to play Saturday against Arkansas State. And McCollum knows that Westbrook's leadership will be needed against a much-improved Indian team. "They're a lot better than a year ago," McCollum said. "They're almost a different football team. They're playing hard." ASU is 3-3 on the year with wins over Tulsa, UT-Martin and conference foe Louisiana-Monroe. In other words, the 54-6 pounding of ASU last season doesn't mean anything this year. "They are a pretty good football team and are a lot different than last year," Rashada said. "We beat them last year but that has nothing to do with this year." "I know they don't have the same team, Hines said. "They have a great bunch of guys over there. They have three wins right now and are on the right track. They're at the top of the conference." McCollum has always instilled in his players to only worry about what Middle Tennessee can and cannot do, and his offensive leader Andrico Hines has followed the coach's lead. "I think once we take care of Middle Tennessee, Hines said. "everything else will take care of itself. It's all on us - what we do from here - that's all it's about right now." Kick off is set for 4 p.m. in Jonesboro, Ark. The game can be heard on the Blue Raider Network on 104.9 and 89.5 FM, or by logging on to GoBlueRaiders.com.

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Players Mentioned

Dwone Hicks

Andrico Hines

Muhammad Rashada

Brandon Westbrook

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics