Raiders, Miners battle for 7th win

Saturday, November 29

El Paso, TX

6:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

UTEP

Photo by: Kaitlyn Hungerford/MT Athletic Communications

11/28/2014 6:00:00 AM | Football

Kickoff set for 6:04 PM on ASN

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO - One thing is for certain in regard to the end of the 2014 football season for Middle Tennessee, and that is that very little else about the current Conference USA logjam is certain.

Middle Tennessee will travel to El Paso, Texas to play the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) on Saturday evening in the regular season finale for both teams. It will be the first time that the Blue Raiders have ever played in historic Sun Bowl Stadium.

The game is scheduled for Saturday night at 6 PM, and will be televised on the American Sports Network (WUXP-30 locally). It will also be broadcast on the Blue Raider Network (BRN) with Chip Walters handling play by play, and Dennis Burke adding color commentary. BRN affiliates include 102.5 FM, 100.5-FM. 101.9-FM and 1450-am. Live stats are available throughout the game at GoBlueRaiders.com.

Both teams are 6-5 overall, the minimum number of wins required to be eligible for a bowl. The Blue Raiders are 5-2 in league play, with losses to unbeaten and nationally-ranked Marshall along with the recent game at FIU, while the Miners are 4-3.

More important, however, may be UTEP's record in Sun Bowl Stadium. The Miners are 4-1 at home. Their only home loss was in their season opener to Texas Tech, a game in which the Miners led until the final quarter of play.

With both teams at 6-5 overall, the Blue Raiders really need to get win No. 7 on Saturday night, since Conference USA rules dictate that a seven-win team would take precedence over a team with six wins in the bowl assignment process.

To be successful, the Blue Raiders have to win the turnover battle and find a way to slow down the Miners' strong rushing attack. UTEP ranks 29^th nationally in rushing at 209.3 yards a game and is second nationally in time of possession.

The Blue Raiders will have to be efficient offensively which means getting the hot man the ball in senior running back Reggie Whatley. The 5-7 speedster from Rome, GA, almost single-handedly got MT back in the game on two different occasions when visiting Florida Atlantic took the lead in MT's thrilling 35-34 come-from-behind win over the Owls in the Blue Raiders' final home game of the season on Saturday night.

Whatley, whose blazing speed makes him a crowd favorite, rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns against FAU. His 321 all-purpose yards was the second highest total in Middle Tennessee football history. He also had 136 yards in kickoff returns. And it was his 75-yard scoring run midway thru the third quarter that got the Blue Raiders back in the game, setting up the wild final minutes in which the Blue Raiders scored twice in the final 4:15 to win.

For his efforts, Whatley was selected as the Conference USA's Offensive Player of the Week. But quarterback Austin Grammer's 12-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Henry on 4^th down with 19 seconds remaining in the game was the game-winner.