Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
"There was no fluke to this” — Blue Raiders Dominate Hurricanes in defining win
9/25/2022 8:00:00 AM | Football
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — All through the defense's goal line stand, all through the quarter break that split up the goal line opportunity, the Middle Tennessee offense thought they had a shot.
DJ England-Chisolm was approached by Brent Stockstill, just before Teldrick Ross collided with Will Mallory to break up the 4th down pass and stop the Hurricanes from scoring, keeping the score at 31-17.
"If they get this stop, we've got to go 99," the wide receivers coach turned quarterbacks coach said.
England-Chisolm just nodded.
"I'm like 'shoot, let's go.' I'm ready for the challenge," England-Chisolm said.
Chase Cunningham rolled out with the defense to the line and saw Miami cornerback DJ Ivey lined up in press man coverage on the Moncks Corner, S.C. native on the outside. So, the quarterback called his shot.
"I knew (DJ) was going to win," Cunningham said. "I just had to make a throw."
The speedster wideout perhaps put it best.
"And the rest is history."
The 98-yard touchdown catch, tied for the longest catch in program history, was perhaps not the most important play of the afternoon, an afternoon that Blue Raider fans will remember for a long time after the MTSU plane takes off from South Florida and lands in Smyrna, long after the bus takes the team back to the Murphy Center at the end of the night
There was, after all, the two interceptions to start the day for the defense, setting MTSU up with a 10-0 lead. Or the myriad goalline stops, where MTSU kept Miami out of the endzone on downs twice within the five-yard line. Or the two other 69+ yard touchdown passes from earlier in the game.
But no play showcases HOW the Blue Raiders defeated the Hurricanes 45-31 any better than DJ England-Chisolm beating his man off the line and running the ball down Miami's throat, dominating the Hurricanes in every facet of the game en route to MTSU's first win over a team ranked in the AP Top 25 in program history.
"It's always fun to do stuff that no one thinks you can do," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "Coming down here 26-point dogs and kicking their butt like we did, because it was a butt kicking. There was no fluke to this, we were the tougher team here tonight, mentally and physically."
Chase Cunningham threw for a career-high 408 yards on just 16 completions. For those of us that aren't mathletes, that's 25.5 yards a completion. The Blue Raider defense allowed just 60 yards on the ground on 38 attempts for Miami, 1.6 yards per carry. The Hurricanes' QBs were sacked four times. Chase Cunningham? Just twice.
MTSU, for the first time since 2017, went on the road and beat an ACC opponent. And they did so by playing their style of ball, with an air raid offense that was firing on all cylinders, by imposing their will in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and by taking advantage of the opportunities for take the ball away, which they did three times to the Canes.
"I told our team earlier in the week, I said 'Ray Lewis and Michael Irvin and all them cats, they aren't coming out the smoke, they aren't coming out of the tunnel,'" Stockstill said. "'Have a strong belief in yourself, a strong belief in your team. Don't flinch, don't look at the scoreboard, just keep playing.' That's what we did."
As for the game's most important play, Zaylin Wood's 15-yard pick-6 to give MTSU a 10-0 lead and "shell shock", as Rick Stockstill put it, the Hurricanes, probably deserve your vote. Not just for the impact on the score, but for the preparation that went into it.
"Really, it came from practice," Zaylin Wood said. "All week, Coach West and Coach Shaf(er), we preach about matching hands with the quarterback. We worked more of that Friday before we came here."
A great read off the snap to get his hands up, and then an even better read to follow the football down and run it back for a score. Just like you practice.
Even a tackle for a loss, a large loss but still one that wouldn't raise eyebrows on the stat sheet, showed MTSU's toughness and domination. With Raquon Hartley taking advantage of a botched jet sweep, and using his own facemask to his advantage.
"He really messed up," Hartley said. "He tried to grab onto my facemask, so I can't let them down like that, put me dirt. So, I just said I was going to take him for a ride if he's going to go with it."
So much of MTSU's win over Miami was seen by folks around the country. National reporters who had overlooked this team, MTSU alumni who were looking for a reason to tune back in, Miami supporters who were way, way too confident ahead of this game.
One can only hope they all liked what they saw from the Blue Raiders. Because this team is already onto the next one.
"We can't dwell, we can't keep thinking about this game," England-Chisolm said. "We have a very good opponent next week in UTSA. We'll be ready to play those boys."
DJ England-Chisolm was approached by Brent Stockstill, just before Teldrick Ross collided with Will Mallory to break up the 4th down pass and stop the Hurricanes from scoring, keeping the score at 31-17.
"If they get this stop, we've got to go 99," the wide receivers coach turned quarterbacks coach said.
England-Chisolm just nodded.
"I'm like 'shoot, let's go.' I'm ready for the challenge," England-Chisolm said.
Chase Cunningham rolled out with the defense to the line and saw Miami cornerback DJ Ivey lined up in press man coverage on the Moncks Corner, S.C. native on the outside. So, the quarterback called his shot.
"I knew (DJ) was going to win," Cunningham said. "I just had to make a throw."
The speedster wideout perhaps put it best.
"And the rest is history."
98 YARDS FROM THEIR OWN END ZONE‼️ pic.twitter.com/7QGxcqilg2
— ESPN (@espn) September 24, 2022
As called by @Chip_Walters & heard on the @varsity app: pic.twitter.com/2NyjISwlg2
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 24, 2022
The 98-yard touchdown catch, tied for the longest catch in program history, was perhaps not the most important play of the afternoon, an afternoon that Blue Raider fans will remember for a long time after the MTSU plane takes off from South Florida and lands in Smyrna, long after the bus takes the team back to the Murphy Center at the end of the night
There was, after all, the two interceptions to start the day for the defense, setting MTSU up with a 10-0 lead. Or the myriad goalline stops, where MTSU kept Miami out of the endzone on downs twice within the five-yard line. Or the two other 69+ yard touchdown passes from earlier in the game.
But no play showcases HOW the Blue Raiders defeated the Hurricanes 45-31 any better than DJ England-Chisolm beating his man off the line and running the ball down Miami's throat, dominating the Hurricanes in every facet of the game en route to MTSU's first win over a team ranked in the AP Top 25 in program history.
"It's always fun to do stuff that no one thinks you can do," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "Coming down here 26-point dogs and kicking their butt like we did, because it was a butt kicking. There was no fluke to this, we were the tougher team here tonight, mentally and physically."
Chase Cunningham threw for a career-high 408 yards on just 16 completions. For those of us that aren't mathletes, that's 25.5 yards a completion. The Blue Raider defense allowed just 60 yards on the ground on 38 attempts for Miami, 1.6 yards per carry. The Hurricanes' QBs were sacked four times. Chase Cunningham? Just twice.
MTSU, for the first time since 2017, went on the road and beat an ACC opponent. And they did so by playing their style of ball, with an air raid offense that was firing on all cylinders, by imposing their will in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and by taking advantage of the opportunities for take the ball away, which they did three times to the Canes.
"I told our team earlier in the week, I said 'Ray Lewis and Michael Irvin and all them cats, they aren't coming out the smoke, they aren't coming out of the tunnel,'" Stockstill said. "'Have a strong belief in yourself, a strong belief in your team. Don't flinch, don't look at the scoreboard, just keep playing.' That's what we did."
As for the game's most important play, Zaylin Wood's 15-yard pick-6 to give MTSU a 10-0 lead and "shell shock", as Rick Stockstill put it, the Hurricanes, probably deserve your vote. Not just for the impact on the score, but for the preparation that went into it.
"Really, it came from practice," Zaylin Wood said. "All week, Coach West and Coach Shaf(er), we preach about matching hands with the quarterback. We worked more of that Friday before we came here."
A great read off the snap to get his hands up, and then an even better read to follow the football down and run it back for a score. Just like you practice.
ZAYLIN WOOD HOUSE CALL👀#BLUEnited | #EATT pic.twitter.com/6LaxbppMDd
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) September 24, 2022
Even a tackle for a loss, a large loss but still one that wouldn't raise eyebrows on the stat sheet, showed MTSU's toughness and domination. With Raquon Hartley taking advantage of a botched jet sweep, and using his own facemask to his advantage.
"He really messed up," Hartley said. "He tried to grab onto my facemask, so I can't let them down like that, put me dirt. So, I just said I was going to take him for a ride if he's going to go with it."
So much of MTSU's win over Miami was seen by folks around the country. National reporters who had overlooked this team, MTSU alumni who were looking for a reason to tune back in, Miami supporters who were way, way too confident ahead of this game.
One can only hope they all liked what they saw from the Blue Raiders. Because this team is already onto the next one.
"We can't dwell, we can't keep thinking about this game," England-Chisolm said. "We have a very good opponent next week in UTSA. We'll be ready to play those boys."
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