Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
"It comes from the foundation” - Former MTSU Players-turned-Coaches take pride in Annual Blackout
9/28/2022 5:37:00 PM | Football
The Blue Raiders are 9-5 all-time in the Blackout game since its start in 2008.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When Middle Tennessee Cornerbacks Coach Kenneth Gilstrap was getting recruited to come to MTSU as a senior at Miller Grove High School in 2008, Willie Simmons and Rick Stockstill told him to make sure he was watching the Blue Raiders on Tuesday, September 30, when MTSU played FAU at Johnny Floyd Stadium on ESPN2.
The future Sun Belt champion sprinter and Blue Raider cornerback turned on his TV and was met with the first surprise of the night: with a national audience and 25,766 fans in the stands, MTSU took the field in all-black uniforms, with royal blue numbers and trim.
It ended up being a tight, defensive battle between the Blue Raiders and the Owls, with MTSU having the last possession trailing 13-7 on their own 35-yard line with 1:15 left to play. Quarterback Joe Craddock led a methodical, but quick, two-minute drill down field, but MTSU had to resort to a Hail Mary in the closing seconds to have a shot at the win.
When Craddock found Malcolm Beyah, "who rose above three defenders and secured the ball with no time on the clock" as GoBlueRaiders.com said at the time, Gilstrap was hooked.
"My homeboy, childhood guy I played park ball with growing up, caught the game winning touchdown," Gilstrap said, recalling his friendship with the Chamblee, Ga. native. "That was really important to for me to come here. Because I'd seen somebody where I'm from, grew up how I grew up, make an impact in a big game."
Beyah's touchdown catch as time expired, along with Alan Gendreau's extra point to seal the win, started an MTSU tradition that has never been broken since 2008. For one night game a year, the Blue Raiders will take the field in black uniforms, usually with thousands of Blue Raiders around them in Floyd Stadium clad in the annual Blackout shirt.
It helps that MTSU has a pretty good track record in those games, too. The Blue Raiders are 9-5 all-time in their annual Blackout game, including a 34-28, rain-soaked win over Marshall in 2021.
"Every day, you get accustomed to the silver helmets, the blue jerseys, the silver pants, the white pants," said wide receivers coach Shane Tucker, who won four Blackout games during his playing days as a Blue Raider. "But black, it just kind of moves you a little different."
All three position coaches that played in Blackout games as players on MTSU's staff (Gilstrap, Tucker and quarterbacks coach Brent Stockstill) all pointed to how, for whatever reason, the black uniforms the team has worn over the years have often brought out the best in the players. Whether that was from just the novelty of wearing new kicks, the fact the Blackout game is always a prime-time contest, or the fact that it's usually scheduled against a pretty tough opponent.
The quality of the games itself, whether it be Beyah's Hail Mary catch, Ed Batties 2015 walk-off, triple overtime touchdown against WKU (a favorite of Tucker's) or last year's six-takeaway game in the Monsoon in Murfreesboro against the Thundering Herd, certainly helps keep the game in the front of the program's eyes.
"2016, we were down 27-7 on a really good LA Tech team with some NFL teams," Brent Stockstill recalled, remembering the 34-31 comeback win he helped engineer over the Bulldogs. "In 2018 (a 25-24 win over Lane Kiffin's FAU), we had a two-point conversion to win it at the buzzer. It's just a cool atmosphere to create with everybody involved."
Gilstrap, who made his collegiate debut in 2009's Blackout game against Memphis, forcing and recovering a fumble on a second quarter kickoff that led to MTSU's second touchdown in the Blue Raiders 31-14 win, noted that the Blackout games also serve as one of the longest running institutional memories from players in his era to the ones currently on the roster.
"I was here when Coach Stock surprised us with black socks," Gilstrap said. "I remember when we played North Texas at home Coach Stock pulled out a black helmet. The game's changed! It comes from the foundation that Coach Stock laid and the guys that I played with, the foundation that they laid here."
This week, that foundation is laid just a little bit thicker, as the defending C-USA Champion, UTSA, heads into Murfreesboro for a Friday night kickoff as MTSU returns home after, perhaps, the biggest win in program history over then-No. 25 Miami. The coaches, Gilstrap notes, don't need to hype up their guys any further about the importance of this game. They fully understand not only the in-season meaning of the game, but the meaning it has for the campus and the program.
Even with that, the coaches certainly take pride in this game and the team's performance in it. Brent Stockstill, when informed he was 5-1 as a player in Blackout games, pointed out he didn't actually play in that one loss in 2017 (he didn't play in 2013's win either, so we'll call it an even 4-0 as a player for you Brent). And while both Stockstill and Gilstrap have experienced coaching in a Blackout game before, but for Tucker, Friday night will be a whole new experience.
"It's going to be a lot like it was when I was a player," Tucker postulated. "There is going to be a lot of excitement, I'm going to have a little bit of nerves. But at the end of the day, it's just football. I know, when we come out to this practice field (this week), I'm going to try to get everything out on here so going into the game I can be confident, and everything can be smooth."
As for the uniforms themselves this year? Folks might have to wait just a bit longer to get a sneak peek ahead of Friday's 6:30 p.m. kickoff. But Equipment GA and former MTSU QB Jordan Middleton was happy to tease some changes.
"Blackout's going to look a little different this year," Middleton said. "We've got something new coming out, I can't tell you exactly what it is. You'll have to be there Friday night, 6:30, Johnny Red, it'll be rocking."
The future Sun Belt champion sprinter and Blue Raider cornerback turned on his TV and was met with the first surprise of the night: with a national audience and 25,766 fans in the stands, MTSU took the field in all-black uniforms, with royal blue numbers and trim.
It ended up being a tight, defensive battle between the Blue Raiders and the Owls, with MTSU having the last possession trailing 13-7 on their own 35-yard line with 1:15 left to play. Quarterback Joe Craddock led a methodical, but quick, two-minute drill down field, but MTSU had to resort to a Hail Mary in the closing seconds to have a shot at the win.
When Craddock found Malcolm Beyah, "who rose above three defenders and secured the ball with no time on the clock" as GoBlueRaiders.com said at the time, Gilstrap was hooked.
"My homeboy, childhood guy I played park ball with growing up, caught the game winning touchdown," Gilstrap said, recalling his friendship with the Chamblee, Ga. native. "That was really important to for me to come here. Because I'd seen somebody where I'm from, grew up how I grew up, make an impact in a big game."
Beyah's touchdown catch as time expired, along with Alan Gendreau's extra point to seal the win, started an MTSU tradition that has never been broken since 2008. For one night game a year, the Blue Raiders will take the field in black uniforms, usually with thousands of Blue Raiders around them in Floyd Stadium clad in the annual Blackout shirt.
It helps that MTSU has a pretty good track record in those games, too. The Blue Raiders are 9-5 all-time in their annual Blackout game, including a 34-28, rain-soaked win over Marshall in 2021.
"Every day, you get accustomed to the silver helmets, the blue jerseys, the silver pants, the white pants," said wide receivers coach Shane Tucker, who won four Blackout games during his playing days as a Blue Raider. "But black, it just kind of moves you a little different."
All three position coaches that played in Blackout games as players on MTSU's staff (Gilstrap, Tucker and quarterbacks coach Brent Stockstill) all pointed to how, for whatever reason, the black uniforms the team has worn over the years have often brought out the best in the players. Whether that was from just the novelty of wearing new kicks, the fact the Blackout game is always a prime-time contest, or the fact that it's usually scheduled against a pretty tough opponent.
The quality of the games itself, whether it be Beyah's Hail Mary catch, Ed Batties 2015 walk-off, triple overtime touchdown against WKU (a favorite of Tucker's) or last year's six-takeaway game in the Monsoon in Murfreesboro against the Thundering Herd, certainly helps keep the game in the front of the program's eyes.
"2016, we were down 27-7 on a really good LA Tech team with some NFL teams," Brent Stockstill recalled, remembering the 34-31 comeback win he helped engineer over the Bulldogs. "In 2018 (a 25-24 win over Lane Kiffin's FAU), we had a two-point conversion to win it at the buzzer. It's just a cool atmosphere to create with everybody involved."
Gilstrap, who made his collegiate debut in 2009's Blackout game against Memphis, forcing and recovering a fumble on a second quarter kickoff that led to MTSU's second touchdown in the Blue Raiders 31-14 win, noted that the Blackout games also serve as one of the longest running institutional memories from players in his era to the ones currently on the roster.
"I was here when Coach Stock surprised us with black socks," Gilstrap said. "I remember when we played North Texas at home Coach Stock pulled out a black helmet. The game's changed! It comes from the foundation that Coach Stock laid and the guys that I played with, the foundation that they laid here."
This week, that foundation is laid just a little bit thicker, as the defending C-USA Champion, UTSA, heads into Murfreesboro for a Friday night kickoff as MTSU returns home after, perhaps, the biggest win in program history over then-No. 25 Miami. The coaches, Gilstrap notes, don't need to hype up their guys any further about the importance of this game. They fully understand not only the in-season meaning of the game, but the meaning it has for the campus and the program.
Even with that, the coaches certainly take pride in this game and the team's performance in it. Brent Stockstill, when informed he was 5-1 as a player in Blackout games, pointed out he didn't actually play in that one loss in 2017 (he didn't play in 2013's win either, so we'll call it an even 4-0 as a player for you Brent). And while both Stockstill and Gilstrap have experienced coaching in a Blackout game before, but for Tucker, Friday night will be a whole new experience.
"It's going to be a lot like it was when I was a player," Tucker postulated. "There is going to be a lot of excitement, I'm going to have a little bit of nerves. But at the end of the day, it's just football. I know, when we come out to this practice field (this week), I'm going to try to get everything out on here so going into the game I can be confident, and everything can be smooth."
As for the uniforms themselves this year? Folks might have to wait just a bit longer to get a sneak peek ahead of Friday's 6:30 p.m. kickoff. But Equipment GA and former MTSU QB Jordan Middleton was happy to tease some changes.
"Blackout's going to look a little different this year," Middleton said. "We've got something new coming out, I can't tell you exactly what it is. You'll have to be there Friday night, 6:30, Johnny Red, it'll be rocking."
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