Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Austin Peay
Raiders, Govs renew rivalry after 13 years
9/10/2010 7:00:00 AM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Most of the players on Middle Tennessee's football team were in elementary school the last time the Blue Raiders squared off with Austin Peay on the gridiron. None of them were even born the last time the Ohio Valley Conference school beat Middle Tennessee.
The two teams will play for the first time since 1997 when the Blue Raiders host Austin Peay at 6:00 pm Saturday night in Floyd Stadium. And many things have changed since that last game, won by Middle Tennessee, 59-10. The Raiders were on the verge of moving out of the OVC into Division IA, and the Governors were headed in the opposite direction, having dropped to non-scholarship, Division II status that year. Peay is now firmly entrenched back in the OVC, while MTSU has established its presence in the BCS.
Coach Rick Stockstill did not attach any significance to playing a smaller program after facing a BCS team last week.
"We have played one game, and have 12 left. We always take each game as it comes. We know that we are going to get their best shot, but they are going to get our best shot. We will be ready to go, mentally, physically and emotionally because it is the next game on our schedule."
The Blue Raiders (0-1) opened the 2010 season last Thursday night in a nationally-televised home game with Minnesota, which the Golden Gophers won, 24-17. Austin Peay (1-0) opened at home with a 38-6 drubbing of Cumberland College.
Despite losing the opener to a Big Ten team, and having to use a sophomore quarterback that had never taken a snap in an FBS game, Stockstill still found some things to be positive about. One was the way his team battled against the much bigger Gophers.
"We fought our guts out all night. I told them to look Minnesota in the eye and not flinch. And we didn't flinch," said Stockstill.
The Blue Raider running game came in for praise after averaging 6.6 yards per carry. Senior Phillip Tanner had 75 yards on only eight carries, and scored on a seven-yard run in his first appearance since a season-ending injury in the second game last fall.
"I felt the strength of our offense coming into the season was our running game," said Stockstill. "We have three really strong running backs in Tanner, Benny Cunningham, and D. D. Kyles. When our offensive line is healthy, we can be really effective."
Logan Kilgore, who joined the Blue Raiders in spring practice from Bakersfield College, drew the starting assignment at quarterback against Minnesota, replacing Dwight Dasher who is suspended indefinitely for an NCAA violation. Kilgore guided the offense to 312 yards of total offense in only 14:26 minutes of possession time, hitting on 13 of 18 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown.
"I thought Logan threw the ball well, he stayed poised and didn't panic, and for the most part he made good decisions, but sometimes tried to do too much. We will work on that for this week," noted Stockstill.
Defensively, Middle Tennessee gave up 281 yards and 27 first downs last week against Minnesota's huge, powerful offensive line. And they will face another big O-line against Austin Peay, who averages 315 pounds per man.
"We will be smaller than most teams we play this year, but the disparity this week is not as great as it was last week, when it was so glaring. We should match up better against Austin Peay."
Senior linebacker Antwan Davis led all tacklers with 12, followed by Darin Davis, another linebacker, with eight. Both were career highs for the Davis', who are not related.
Turnovers were another point of contention for Middle Tennessee. For only the second time in 14 games, the Blue Raiders did not force a turnover in the opener. That was disappointing for a team that was eighth in the nation last year by forcing 33 turnovers in 13 games. Stockstill indicated that turnovers would be a focus in practice this week.
The Middle Tennessee - Austin Peay game may be heard live on the Blue Raider Network with veterans Chip Walters and Kelly Holcomb in the booth, along with veteran spotter Wayne Groce and engineer Bob Saunders.
BRN affiliates include WGNS-AM 1450, 101.9 FM and WMOT- 89.5 FM, all in Murfreesboro, WNSR 560 AM in Nashville and 103.9 FM in Bowling Green, Ky.
