Complete Team Effort Key in Blowout Victory over FIU

11/14/2021 8:31:00 AM | Football

Middle Tennessee nearly perfect in rout of Panthers

By: Sam Doughton

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Rick Stockstill could sense the knockout punch was coming. His Middle Tennessee football team opened the game with a 14-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown. They followed up a field goal from FIU with a 15-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown. And then followed a Panther punt with a 12-play, 58-yard drive for a touchdown.

But even up 21-3, the veteran coach knew there was still work to be done to get in a spot where his team could utilize its current strengths.

"I told our defensive guys that we've still got to stop the run," Stockstill said ahead of FIU's next drive. "But it's getting close to them being one dimensional."

Quincy Riley made sure the Panthers would be one dimensional the rest of the way on just one play, jumping a route to intercept a pass from Max Bortenschlager and return it 45 yards to the house, giving MT a 28-3 lead. Which, given the strength of Middle Tennessee's defensive front with a lead and FIU's 1-8 (now 1-9) reputation in 2021, was about all she wrote in Murfreesboro.

"Now they've got to throw the ball more than they can run it to get back in this thing," Stockstill said. "When a team becomes that one dimensional, it enhances the front. Our defensive coaches did a good job of calling the game. We did a good job of mixing up our pressures. We did a really nice job defensively of not giving up explosive plays. We kept the ball in front of us. When you do that, it makes it hard on offenses."

The Blue Raiders sacked Bortenschlager five times on Saturday, including a Marley Cook safety for the first points of the second half, and hurried five more times for good measure. That, coupled with a Blue Raider offense that was methodical and efficient, left FIU no chance as MT picked up its fifth win of the season with two games to play.

"They're dogs, they go to work every day during the week," safety Reed Blankenship said of the defensive line. "You can always count on them just to get to the quarterback. I love playing behind them."

Nick Vattiato looked sharp in his second career start for the Blue Raiders, earning the game ball from Stockstill after completing 83 percent of his passes (20-of-24) for 147 yards, two touchdowns and, crucially, zero turnovers. A simplified gameplan from offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon gave the freshman signal caller confidence as the game went on, particularly on the designed bootlegs, like the one he ran on his first touchdown pass of the day, to Jimmy Marshall.

"What FIU did on defense was different than what Western Kentucky did, so that changed our gameplan," Vattiato said. "What we did a good job of the whole time was taking what they gave us. It makes it a lot easier when you're rolling out, just watching those guys go to work. Some of them are straight up bootlegs, some are RPOs. The one to Jimmy was an RPO. And then the one to Jarrin (Pierce) was a bootleg out, and then you've got to go through your progressions."

Perhaps the biggest amount of praise on the offensive side of the ball, however, should be reserved for an offensive line that kept Vattiato on his feet almost the entire night (FIU only managed one sack and zero QB hurries as a team), but opened up plenty of the space for the Blue Raider run game to operate.

With the safety valve of the zone read limited after Chase Cunningham's injury, the o-line stepped up in a big way, leading MT to 261 yards rushing, 210 of which came from non-quarterbacks like Martell Pettaway, whose 57-yard touchdown run capped off a 95 yard day for the graduate transfer.

"I love our O-Line," Pettaway said. "A lot of times, they don't get a lot of credit for what we do when we do have a good game. They get a lot of backlash for the bad games that we have, but they work hard every week. So hats off to them, because they had a great night for sure."

It was a game when seemingly everything went right for the Blue Raiders, who outgained the Panthers by over 250 yards when all was said and done, earning over double the number of first downs FIU did in the process. After turning the ball over seven times in Bowling Green a week ago, Middle Tennessee didn't turn the ball over once, and compiled four takeaways on defense by the end of the evening.

Even on those first three scoring drives, Middle Tennessee was able to convert on fourth down four consecutive times, utilizing power formations featuring defensive linemen like Marley Cook, Zaylin Wood and Jordan Ferguson, the latter of which caught his first career pass to convert one of those fourth downs.

Now, attention turns ahead to the team's home finale against a hot Old Dominion squad, with a chance to get to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018.

"The feeling (tonight) is unmatched, and it doesn't get better (than that)," Vattiato said. "But, it's not the end of the season, and we've got to reup for next week."