"We just didn't execute really well”— MTSU searches for answers after season opening loss

Saturday, September 3

Harrisonburg, VA

5 PM CT

Middle Tennessee

0-1 , 0-0

James Madison

1-0 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Middle Tenn.

James Madison

Photo by: Matt Posey/MT Athletic Communications

9/4/2022 9:30:00 AM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Sam Doughton, MT Athletic Communications

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Folks like to say that numbers never lie. It's one of the biggest fallacies in life itself. Numbers lie to us all the time, rarely telling the full story behind how they were made.

But in the case of Middle Tennessee Football's 44-7 loss to James Madison on Saturday night at Bridgeforth Stadium, none of the numbers lied in showing how thoroughly JMU dominated the Blue Raiders on the night.

"We got our butts kicked," a blunt head coach Rick Stockstill said post game. "Give (JMU) credit. They did a nice job."

The Blue Raiders (0-1) managed just 125 yards of total offense, only 12 of which came on the ground. The Dukes (1-0), hyped up for their first ever game as an FBS team, compiled 548 total yards on offense, split nearly evenly between the run (261 yards) and the pass (287 yards). MTSU was beaten on first downs (10 vs. 31), third down conversions (4-for-16 vs. 9-for-17) and even tackles for loss (8 vs. 13).

Wherever you turned on the stat sheet, there was more evidence of what everyone saw in the Shenandoah Valley: MTSU got hit in the mouth and didn't have a response, particularly on offense.

"We just didn't execute really well," quarterback Chase Cunningham said. The sixth-year senior finished the night 18-for-32 for 110 passing yards and a touchdown. "We had a great camp leading into this. Nothing much to say about tonight, just have got to put in the past."

The drive chart is where one could find the most evidence for the offense's woes, as a stout Dukes defensive rush gave Cunningham little time to find open receivers down the field or establish the run. When Cunningham finally found time, his long-range strikes downfield never found their targets, either bouncing off his receivers' hands or sailing too far out of reach.

Out of seven first half drives for the Blue Raiders, four of them ended in three-and-outs. The two longest drives were just five plays each, with only one drive lasting longer than two minutes.

"I think the biggest thing for us is we couldn't get that first first down to get our tempo going," Cunningham said. "It starts with me. I've got to be better and lead these guys. We'll get back to work tomorrow and figure it out."

That left the MTSU defense in a tough spot, with Stockstill pointing out how many short fields they had to defend thanks to the offense's struggles. The Dukes also had seven first half drives, only starting behind their own 35-yard line twice. Until the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand, JMU only started three out of a possible 12 drives behind their own 35-yard line.

The defensive line played well at times, generating decent pressure on JMU quarterback Todd Centeio when JMU didn't max protect. Centeio, however, showed off his scrambling ability many times to force MTSU to not just pin their ears back.

"The biggest thing was not really having too much film on the quarterback," defensive end Jordan Ferguson said of what the defense was surprised by. "We knew he was a runner, but last year they had a quarterback who stayed in the pocket and didn't run as much. So, it was kind of hard to prepare for something like that if you don't see what he's doing and how they were going to block it."

The transfer from Colorado State not only threw for the most touchdowns of any opposing quarterback in MTSU history (six, with the previous high being five), he led James Madison with 110 yards on the ground.

"Defensively, the guys up front, looking at it from the field, I thought they did a nice job, made some plays," Stockstill said. "Our back end, we've got to get better. Our eye discipline was not very good, we had some chances at some contested balls, contested throws and didn't really make any plays. Their guys made plays, and we didn't."

And while numbers didn't lie on Saturday night, there is also some truth to the general wisdom that the most improvement seen in a football team is from Week 1 to Week 2. Stockstill mentioned he liked the fact his players, despite the score, never gave up in their effort. Effort that will need to be shown almost as soon as the plane touches back down in Tennessee as the team starts to prepare for another road trip to Colorado State next weekend.

A good thing to carry over, perhaps the only thing to carry over after a night like Saturday night.

"I told our team the season is a marathon, not a sprint," Stockstill said. "We've got to use this as motivation to bounce back tomorrow and get better and try to correct the mistakes that we've made here tonight."