Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Blue Raiders face Friday test against WKU
10/29/2018 6:00:00 PM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – For the second time this season, Middle Tennessee is prepping for a Friday night showdown instead of Saturday.
On the Blue Raiders' Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces night, rival WKU will make the short trip down from Bowling Green to play under the Friday night lights at Floyd Stadium.
"It's an opportunity for this football team to play a really good football team in WKU," MT head coach Rick Stockstil said. "It's a talented team … and we all know the history of this game, the rivalry of this game."
Things haven't been too good for the Hilltoppers (1-7, 0-4) this season, but don't think the Blue Raiders (5-3, 4-1) are looking past their rival.
"This is the perfect example of how you can't look at a team's record and assume anything," Stockstill said. "They're 1-7, they've had four three-point losses and one eight-point loss, so that's five one-score games that they've lost.
"Don't look at their record and assume that this isn't a very good team."
A win would make Middle Tennessee bowl eligible for the sixth season in a row and ninth out of the last 10 years.
To reach bowl eligibility, MT will have to have a good week with one less day to prepare. Luckily, this isn't the first time this season the Blue Raiders have had to deal with a Friday matchup.
On Oct. 5, the blue and white traveled to Marshall for a Friday night tilt and captured its first ever win in Huntington, West Virginia, beating the Thundering Herd 34-24.
The experience has given the Blue Raiders some knowledge in how to handle this week.
"I feel like we have a good plan, and I felt like we had a good plan going into Marshall," Stockstill said. "The thing that's different now is we're four weeks since that Marshall game, so our bodies have changed a little bit.
"Our players adjusted to that plan when we played Marshall, and they've got to do a little more this week. Bottom line, it's going to come down to execution Friday night."
The Hilltoppers haven't necessarily been great at any aspect this season, ranking in the bottom half of Conference USA in just about every statistical category.
WKU has already let bowl eligibility go by the wayside, meaning it won't reach six wins this year for the first time since 2010.
Despite their struggles, the Hilltoppers would surely like nothing more than to postpone their biggest rival's bowl eligibility by another week. Not to mention, MT is fighting for the C-USA East Division title, currently sitting half a game behind leader FIU.
With that much at stake for the Raiders, they'll undoubtedly get the best game out of their rival.
"We understand how close these games have been the last several years," Stockstill said. "Both teams play extremely hard and want to win it really bad … and we know we'll get their best shot."
The Friday night matchup will present unique challenges, but if the Blue Raiders can stand up to them, bowl eligibility will be theirs yet again.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Josh Vardaman is the staff writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Vardaman and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
On the Blue Raiders' Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces night, rival WKU will make the short trip down from Bowling Green to play under the Friday night lights at Floyd Stadium.
"It's an opportunity for this football team to play a really good football team in WKU," MT head coach Rick Stockstil said. "It's a talented team … and we all know the history of this game, the rivalry of this game."
Things haven't been too good for the Hilltoppers (1-7, 0-4) this season, but don't think the Blue Raiders (5-3, 4-1) are looking past their rival.
"This is the perfect example of how you can't look at a team's record and assume anything," Stockstill said. "They're 1-7, they've had four three-point losses and one eight-point loss, so that's five one-score games that they've lost.
"Don't look at their record and assume that this isn't a very good team."
A win would make Middle Tennessee bowl eligible for the sixth season in a row and ninth out of the last 10 years.
To reach bowl eligibility, MT will have to have a good week with one less day to prepare. Luckily, this isn't the first time this season the Blue Raiders have had to deal with a Friday matchup.
On Oct. 5, the blue and white traveled to Marshall for a Friday night tilt and captured its first ever win in Huntington, West Virginia, beating the Thundering Herd 34-24.
The experience has given the Blue Raiders some knowledge in how to handle this week.
"I feel like we have a good plan, and I felt like we had a good plan going into Marshall," Stockstill said. "The thing that's different now is we're four weeks since that Marshall game, so our bodies have changed a little bit.
"Our players adjusted to that plan when we played Marshall, and they've got to do a little more this week. Bottom line, it's going to come down to execution Friday night."
The Hilltoppers haven't necessarily been great at any aspect this season, ranking in the bottom half of Conference USA in just about every statistical category.
WKU has already let bowl eligibility go by the wayside, meaning it won't reach six wins this year for the first time since 2010.
Despite their struggles, the Hilltoppers would surely like nothing more than to postpone their biggest rival's bowl eligibility by another week. Not to mention, MT is fighting for the C-USA East Division title, currently sitting half a game behind leader FIU.
With that much at stake for the Raiders, they'll undoubtedly get the best game out of their rival.
"We understand how close these games have been the last several years," Stockstill said. "Both teams play extremely hard and want to win it really bad … and we know we'll get their best shot."
The Friday night matchup will present unique challenges, but if the Blue Raiders can stand up to them, bowl eligibility will be theirs yet again.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Josh Vardaman is the staff writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Vardaman and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
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