Blue Raiders fight, but fall short at Charlotte

Friday, September 24

Charlotte, NC

5:30 PM

Middle Tennessee

1-3 , 0-2

Charlotte

3-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Middle Tennessee

Charlotte

9/24/2021 9:32:00 PM | Football

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Cunningham impressive in first career start

By: SAM DOUGHTON, MT Athletics

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Despite a sterling first career start from redshirt junior quarterback Chase Cunningham, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders could not slow down Charlotte in the Queen City on Friday night, falling to the 49ers 42-39 in MT's second C-USA matchup.

After giving up a touchdown on Charlotte's opening drive, Middle Tennessee struck back with a methodical 75-yard drive, capped off by a seven yard touchdown pass from Chase Cunningham to Jimmy Marshall. Marshall was left wide open out of the h-back slot and Cunningham slipped the pass over the rushing lineman for an easy six points for the Blue Raiders. Zeke Rankin's PAT was good to tie the game 7-7.

Jaylin Lane would keep the good thing doing next drive, concentrating through tight coverage to catch the pass off the bobble and score MT's second touchdown. The 24-yard toss tied the game. Zeke Rankin would convert the Blue Raiders' first field goal attempt of the season from 26 yards out to give MT its first lead of the game.

The 17-14 advantage would hold going into the half. The Blue Raiders outgained Charlotte 239-192 yard in the first 30 minutes, holding a 141-129 yard advantage in the air and a 98-63 yard advantage on the ground. Cunningham led all passers and rushers, going 12-17 for 141 yards passing, plus tacking on 56 rushing yards on seven attempts.

Jorden Starling kept the 49ers off the board to open the second half, tipping Charlotte's 35-yard field goal attempt at the line to force the kick wide left.

After another Charlotte touchdown catch, the Blue Raiders responded quickly, driving 75-yards in just 48 seconds, capped off by a 51-yard touchdown catch from DJ England-Chisolm, who got over the top of man coverage with his burners to scamper in for the score to put MT up 24-21.

Charlotte would score 14 unanswered points to pull away in the second half, taking a 35-24 lead. But a circus catch through tight coverage from Jarrin Pierce would give Chase Cunningham his fourth touchdown of the evening and pull the Blue Raiders within a field goal after his two-point conversion pass was complete to Jaylin Lane.

The 49ers then drove down and converted a fourth down on the goaline to score their sixth touchdown of the night to take a 42-32 lead. Chase Cunningham and the Middle Tennessee offense responded quickly, driving 75-yards in just 1:48 to pull within three at 42-39 when Cunningham connected with Yusuf Ali for his fifth touchdown pass of the night. But the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Charlotte to ice the game.

Cunningham finished his first career start going 28-for-40 for 379 yards, tossing five touchdowns to five different Blue Raider receivers. He also led the team in rushing with 65 yards on the ground. Jarrin Pierce was Cunningham's top target on the evening, hauling in a season-best 10 receptions for 92 yards and a score. Reed Blankenship broke the all-time tackle record at MT behind a team-leading 13 total stops on the night. The senior safety also broke up a pass and forced a fumble.

POSTGAME NOTES
CAPTAINS: Today's game captains were Reed Blankenship, Jordan Ferguson, DQ Thomas, Jarrin Pierce and CJ Windham.

BLANKENSHIP SETS ALL-TIME MARK: Senior Reed Blankenship became the all-time tackles leader at Middle Tennessee when he registered 13 stops against Charlotte, giving him 348 for his career. Blankenship surpassed Roosevelt Colvard, who had 344 career tackles from 1983-86. The record had stood for 34 years, 10 months and 2 days. The senior entered play Friday ranked tied for fourth nationally in total tackles among active NCAA players.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Junior QB Chase Cunningham was impressive in his first career start at Charlotte. Cunningham completed 28-of-40 passes for 379 yards and five touchdowns. Cunningham had 444 yards total offense as he also led the team in rushing with 65 yards. The Knoxville, Tenn., native set career highs for completions, yards, touchdowns and rushing yards.

'CHASE'ING RECORDS: Chase Cunningham's first career start nearly resulted in a single-game record. Cunningham's five TD passes are tied for No. 2 on the single-game list and one shy of Hall of Famer Wes Counts' six against Idaho in 2001. Cunningham is just the fifth Blue Raider signal-caller to throw five or more TDs in a single game. His 379 yards passing are ninth most in a single game.

BIG ANSWER: After falling down 7-0 in the first quarter against Charlotte the Blue Raider offense came up with a big answer as QB Chase Cunningham led a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Cunningham accounted for all 91 yards on the drive (there were two penalties). Cunningham was 4-of-5 for 46 yards through the air, including a 7-yard TD pass to Jimmy Marshall to cap the drive. He also had four rushes for 45 yards. His 27-yard run was the longest rush from scrimmage for a Blue Raider this season.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: MT had seven plays of 20-plus yards against Charlotte, including five in the first half. The longest was a 51-yard TD pass from QB Chase Cunningham to DJ England-Chisolm in the third quarter to put MT back in front 24-21. Cunningham and WR Yusuf Ali also connected for a 50-yard hook-up in the second quarter. Cunningham played a role in four of the five first-half big plays, completing passes of 50, 24 and 21 yards. He also had a 27-yard run. Brad Anderson added a 22-yard scamper.

ANOTHER TAKEAWAY: The blue-clad defense forced its eighth turnover of the season in the second quarter. It was a huge play as Charlotte had a reception to the MT 16 with under 1 minute remaining in the first half and the Blue Raiders clinging to a 17-14 lead. LB Cody Smith forced the fumble that was recovered by Zaylin Wood. It was the fifth fumble recovery of the season for MT.

DEFENSIVE STAND: MT's defense buckled down after giving up two touchdowns and 156 yards on Charlotte's first two drives of the game. The Blue Raiders surrendered just 66 yards on the next three drives. The 49ers ran just 15 plays on the last three drives of the first half. The defense held Charlotte out of the end zone on four straight drives before they finally hit paydirt for its third TD midway through the third quarter.

ANOTHER BLOCK: Jorden Starling blocked Charlotte's potential game-tying 35-yard field goal attempt to start the second half. It marks the second blocked field goal in as many weeks for the Blue Raiders and the first time they have had blocks in consecutive games since 2014. It goes down as the 25th blocked field goal under Rick Stockstill and the 65th for MT as a FBS member. In all, MT has 45 career blocks under Stockstill.

RANKIN CASHES IN: Freshman PK Zeke Rankin converted on his first career FG at Charlotte when he cashed in on a 26-yard attempt to give MT a 17-14 first-half lead. It was MT's first field goal attempt in four games. The Blue Raiders entered the game as one of three teams nationally to not attempt a field goal.

STREAK STAYS ALIVE: WR Jarrin Pierce had 10 catches against Charlotte to extend his streak of consecutive games with at least one reception to 25 games, which is the 15th longest such streak nationally and ties for the seventh longest all time at Middle Tennessee. Pierce has caught at least one pass in every game of his Blue Raider career.

MOVING THE CHAINS: MT's offensive line came up big on the second scoring drive as the Blue Raiders converted two fourth downs and two third downs to keep the drive alive. The second third-down conversion came on a 3rd-and-7 from the Charlotte 24 and resulted in a 24-yard TD pass. The power running of Amir Rasul was also pivotal on the drive as he converted both 4th-and-1 plays.

ULBRICH STRONG AGAIN: Punter Kyle Ulbrich, a Ray Guy Award candidate, had another exceptional game at Charlotte. Ulbrich had five punts for an average of 42.4 yards. Two of his four efforts pinned the 49ers inside the 20, enabling the Blue Raiders to win the field position battle at key times. He had a long of 51. Ulbrich has placed 11 punts inside the 20 and delivered seven of 50-plus yards this season. For his career, Ulbrich has had 28 punts of 50-plus yards, and he has pinned the opponent inside their 20 a total of 32 times.

QUICK HITTERS: WR Jarrin Pierce and safety Greg Grate made their team-leading 14th consecutive start tonight against the 49ers … In six meetings all-time against Charlotte, the Blue Raiders have played in the Queen City four times … QB Chase Cunningham made his first collegiate start tonight … LB Devyn Curtis made his first career start tonight.