Blue Raiders put FAU loss behind, gear up for No. 8 Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. - Middle Tennessee will go from hunted to hunter in its second game of the season. One week after being upset by I-AA Florida Atlantic, the Blue Raiders will take to the road as the underdogs when they invade Athens to play No. 8 Georgia. Saturday's game will be the first meeting between the two teams. The trip to Georgia begins a daunting three-game road swing for the Blue Raiders with games at Clemson and at Missouri to follow. "[We're going to take them] one at a time," head coach Andy McCollum said of the upcoming games against major conference teams. "We feel like we've got a good football team. Just because of what happened in our first game, doesn't mean we don't have a good football team. "We've got to execute to be a good team and we can't have nine penalties, just on offense." McCollum added that the top priority for Saturday's game is improved execution. Nine offensive penalties (11 overall) will be unacceptable against the Bulldogs. The game will be a Georgia reunion of sorts for a Middle Tennessee team with a third of its roster (38 players in total) from the state of Georgia. It will be a reunion for McCollum as well, another Georgia native. "This game is special because I get to take a team there that wants to be good, that wants to be recognized, that is hurting over a tough loss," McCollum said. "And, I am able to go back home. I grew up a Georgia Bulldog, for whatever that's worth. "My Daddy played there for a year and coming out of high school, which is probably not a lot different from a lot of our players, I wanted to go to school there. It will be special for our guys because our guys are at home." Middle Tennessee (0-1) will be gunning for its first ever win against a ranked opponent carrying an 0-5 record against top 25 teams so far in the I-A era. Senior safety Brandon Lynch, who led a defense that McCollum said played as well as he's seen since coming to Middle Tennessee, for the FAU game's first 55 minutes, said the team was eager to put the upset loss behind them and concentrate on an upset win of their own. "We're glad (the FAU loss happened last) Thursday," Lynch said. "We've had time to grieve and now it's water under the bridge. It hurt bad, but we have to put it behind us because we have a big game Saturday." Kickoff is scheduled for 1 PM local time and the game can be seen on Pay-Per-View in the states of Georgia and Tennessee. A sellout crowd of 92,000, the largest to ever see a game at Sanford Stadium, is expected on Saturday. The game can also be heard over the internet at GoBlueRaiders.com. Nate Rau is a junior at Middle Tennessee. Reach him at naterau9797@yahoo.com

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Players Mentioned

Brandon Lynch

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics