Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
7-5 , 4-4
Florida International University
4-8 , 2-6
Team Stats
MTS 3, FIU 0
MTS - Rankin,Zeke 31 yd field goal 15 plays, 61 yards, TOP 05:57
MTS 6, FIU 0
MTS - Rankin,Zeke 25 yd field goal 11 plays, 72 yards, TOP 03:38
MTS 13, FIU 0
MTS - Bracy,Darius 1 yd run (Rankin,Zeke kick), 12 plays, 89 yards, TOP 04:50
MTS 20, FIU 0
MTS - Cunningham,Chase 16 yd run (Rankin,Zeke kick), 9 plays, 51 yards, TOP 04:09
MTS 20, FIU 7
FIU - Fairweather,Rivaldo 6 yd pass from Carlson,Haden (Gabriel,Chase kick) 9 plays, 93 yards, TOP 01:13
MTS 27, FIU 7
MTS - Cunningham,Chase 2 yd run (Rankin,Zeke kick), 11 plays, 56 yards, TOP 04:32
MTS 27, FIU 14
FIU - Fairweather,Rivaldo 75 yd pass from Carlson,Haden (Gabriel,Chase kick) 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 00:09
MTS 27, FIU 21
FIU - Miamen,Josiah 21 yd pass from Carlson,Haden (Gabriel,Chase kick) 4 plays, 63 yards, TOP 01:14
MTS 27, FIU 28
FIU - Fairweather,Rivaldo 3 yd pass from Carlson,Haden (Gabriel,Chase kick) 8 plays, 86 yards, TOP 03:15
MTS 33, FIU 28
MTS - Thomas,Jakobe 28 yd interception ()
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Thomas’ late pick-6 pushes Blue Raiders past Panthers
11/26/2022 9:19:00 PM | Football
MTSU guarantees second-straight winning season with the victory in regular season finale
Taking a 20-7 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Blue Raiders (7-5, 4-4 C-USA) quickly took a 27-7 lead in the third quarter on Chase Cunningham's second rushing touchdown of the evening. But the Panthers (4-8, 2-6 C-USA) had a counter punch in their final game of 2022, scoring 21 unanswered points to take the lead.
Pinned back in their own red zone, pressure for the Blue Raider defensive front led to a lofted pass into double coverage, where Thomas jumped the route and ran it 28-yards back for the touchdown. A desperation heave on the Panthers' final drive was similarly cut off by the safety, who ran it back into FIU territory to clinch the win.
Decorian Patterson had two first-half interceptions in the red zone, denying Panthers early points that led to the Blue Raiders' early advantage. Izaiah Gathings, Yusuf Ali, DJ England-Chisolm and Jaylin Lane all recorded at least five catches, led by Gathings seven catches for 77 yards.
By the Numbers
168: Total yards rushing for the Blue Raiders. Darius Bracy (20 carries for 91 yards) led the way after Frank Peasant left the game with an injury (Nine carries for 55 yards). Bracy and Chase Cunningham both scored rushing touchdowns, with the MTSU signal caller scoring on the ground twice.
9.0: Sacks on the season for Jordan Ferguson, tying a career high in a single season for the sixth-year senior (2021). His 22.0 career sack total ranks second on the career sack list in Blue Raider history.
2-for-2: MTSU's success rate going for it on fourth down. The Blue Raiders ended the regular season 20-for-34 on fourth down, and entered Saturday with the top conversion rate in Conference USA
Blue Raider Notes
CAPTAINS: Today's game captains were Yusuf Ali, Chase Cunningham, Jordan Ferguson, Jaylin Lane, and Ja'Kerrius Wyatt.
NUMBER 5&6: Junior Decorian Patterson recorded his team and C-USA leading 5th and 6th interceptions of the season when he picked off an FIU pass in the endzone in first quarter and another deep in FIU territory. The six pick equals the third most in a season in Blue Raider history with the record being eight. Tonight's effort went down as the second multi-interception game of the season for Patterson.
FERGUSON MOVES UP: With two sacks against FIU, Jordan Ferguson ran his career total to 22.0. That moved him into a tie with Leighton Gasque for second place all-time. He needs one more to surpass Erik Walden as the all-time leader. Ferguson also now has nine sacks on the season to equal his career-best and rank third on the single-season list.
THOMAS COMES UP BIG: Redshirt freshman safety Jakobe Thomas recorded his third interception of the season against FIU and it could not have come at a better time. With the Blue Raiders trailing, 28-27 with 2:50 to play, Thomas stepped in front of a Haden Carlson pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown of his collegiate career. Thomas later sealed the game with his fourth interception to stop FIU's final drive.
QUICK HITTERS: Jordan Ferguson made his 34th consecutive start against FIU today while Kyle Ulbrich made his 38th start in a row … Ferguson also played in his team-leading 57th career game which ranks third most all-time … MTSU has now won four straight games in the state of Florida … The Blue Raiders recorded their fourth defensive touchdown of the season.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Stockstill
"A great college football game, man. We knew it was going to be tough. It's hard to win on the road. You can look across some scores today, how close everybody played, this is very competitive conference. I told the team all week that you can't take this team for granted. They're going to fight, they're going to give you their best effort for 60 minutes. We've got to match their intensity and be better at it, and I thought we were.
"We played extremely hard. There's going to be adversity in every game, and there was adversity in this game. And we were tough enough to overcome it."
Up Next
Middle Tennessee will await news of their bowl destination, which typically comes after the conference championship games have concluded each season. Stay tuned for GoBlueRaiders.com to see when you can watch the Blue Raiders Bowl in 2022!
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