Blue Raiders drop close call to Hilltoppers

Saturday, October 3

4:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

0-4 , 0-2

Western Kentucky University

1-2 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

WKU

Middle Tennessee

10/3/2020 7:55:00 PM | Football

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By: JOSH VARDAMAN, MT Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Another rivalry matchup between WKU and Middle Tennessee went down to the wire Saturday with the Blue Raiders falling in a heartbreaker.

On their homecoming, the Raiders (0-4) couldn't find enough big plays in the second half, scoring only once after halftime and losing to the Hilltoppers (1-2) by a field goal, 20-17.

It was the eighth time in the last 10 meetings between the teams that the final was decided by less than a touchdown. MT leads the all-time series 35-34-1.

"It was a hard-fought ballgame, and we hate to lose it," MT head coach Rick Stockstill said. "I thought our defense played well enough for us to win … we just have to find a way to make more plays and get the ball in the end zone.

"I'm proud of this team. They fought their butts off and played hard."

Middle Tennessee looked dynamic on offense early on, taking a 7-3 lead with 7:51 left in the first half after a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard rushing score for redshirt junior quarterback Asher O'Hara.

The Blue Raiders added a field goal about five minutes later after they recovered a fumble, holding a 10-3 lead until WKU scored in the last minute of the first half to knot the score at 10 at the break.

That's when things got tough for MT offensively.

The Raiders punted on their first three possessions of the second half despite making it into Hilltopper territory twice. WKU added a third-quarter field goal and widened the lead to 20-10 with a touchdown with 6:04 remaining.

"We just couldn't get our groove going, and it's super tough to get that back as an offense," O'Hara said. "We have to do a lot better job of getting some big plays and getting some momentum going."

The Blue Raiders did enough on defense to win the game, Stockstill said. It was essentially just two second-half WKU drives that were killers, one going 14 plays and ending with a field goal and the other 13 plays ending with a touchdown.

"I thought we played our tails off," senior linebacker DQ Thomas said. "They had some plays that were pretty big … but we still played our tails off."

Middle Tennessee added a touchdown with 2:07 left to pull within three points when O'Hara hit senior CJ Windham in the corner of the end zone, but the Hilltoppers recovered the subsequent onside kick and iced the game.

O'Hara guided the Blue Raider offense. He completed 23-of-33 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown and added 98 more yards on the ground and another score.

Senior Jarrin Pierce was again O'Hara's favorite target. He caught nine of 11 targets for 65 yards.

Thomas led the defense with 10 tackles, tying his career high, to go with 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble.

Junior safety Gregory Grate Jr. had seven tackles and also forced a fumble, which was recovered and led to a 44-yard Crews Holt field goal.

Middle Tennessee will hit the road for a matchup with FIU next week.

"We just have to find a way to get better," Stockstill said. "We have to find a way to get a win this week against FIU."