Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
On third down, Middle Tennessee took advantage of “advantageous” situations against LA Tech
10/11/2023 8:43:00 AM | Football
The Blue Raiders were 10-of-16 on third down conversions on Tuesday night.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — On third-and-six near the start of the fourth quarter, Holden Willis already has something up his sleeve.
Matched up against Roderick Roberson of Louisiana Tech, Willis had already burned the nickel corner on a move at the line of scrimmage earlier in Tuesday night's 31-23 win over the Bulldogs. But the ball didn't come to the six-foot-four wideout.
"I just kind of put that in my bag," Willis said of his move.
On third-and-six from the MTSU 40, Willis pulled the move out of his bag of tricks again. Fake right, Roberson bit, break left.
"He won big, and my job was easy," quarterback Nicholas Vattiato said. "O-Line protected well, I just had to make sure I didn't overthrow him (and) give him a good ball."
Willis' 60-yard touchdown catch was MTSU's ninth third down conversion of the night. The Blue Raiders finished Tuesday's game 10-of-16 on third down while holding LA Tech to just 3-for-13 on third down themselves. In a one possession game, the sustained drives afforded to the Blue Raiders from the third down conversions, and denied to the Bulldogs, gave MTSU the upper hand on Tuesday night.
The key, head coach Rick Stockstill said, to the third down success rate was the work the offense put in on first down.
"It seemed like we were really really good on first down," Stockstill said. "We were in third-and-manageable, really advantageous situations. To me, 10-out-of-16, that's hard to do. To be able to do that, you've got to be able to be successful on first down."
Those types of plays, the four-yard runs, the three-yard screen passes, the six-yard crosses across the middle of the field, aren't the explosive plays that folks will remember from Tuesday night. They'll remember the flea flicker back to DJ Riles, the one-foot catch for a touchdown from Elijah Metcalf, the 53-yard punt return from Zack Dobson, the endzone interception from Tra Fluellen.
But those short gains are the types of plays MTSU executed on Tuesday, while the Bulldogs could not get themselves into those third-and-manageables. The Blue Raiders held LA Tech to just 79 yards on the ground, never allowing the rushing game to gain any rhythm. And while the Air Raid passing finally got going for the Bulldogs in the second half after the entrance of Hank Bachmeier, MTSU found ways to stop the pass on third-and-long, compiling 10 pass breakups on the night, six of those PBUs coming from the Blue Raider secondary.
While the Bulldogs constantly found themselves in tougher than needed situations due to penalties, the Blue Raiders kept moving forward, avoiding the false starts and holding penalties that pushed LA Tech back in the red zone three times on Tuesday.
"Our theme all year has been penalties, and we didn't have that many, especially pre and post snap penalties," Vattiato said. "So, we stayed out of third-and-longs for the most part, which makes third down a lot easier."
The catalyst for the improvement? According to Holden Willis, at least for the offense, it was communication in the trenches.
"As y'all could see on the film, I was in the box a lot more in the core and I was able to hear all the communication we were doing," Willis said. "We added a few new protections, we were able to keep some guys on pressures off of Nick. And Nick just balled, stayed in the pocket and we were able to hit guys wide open."
After allowing eight sacks and being held to just 33 yards rushing prior to Terry Wilkins bursting out a 75-yard gain against Jacksonville State while MTSU trailed by three scores less than a week ago, the Blue Raider offensive line kept Vattiato upright, only allowing three sacks, while creating holes for both Wilkins and Jaiden Credle, who combined to average 4.6 yards per rush on Tuesday.
Defensively, MTSU's trenches had to wait until the fourth quarter to get on the stat sheet with a sack, but both of them could not have been more clutch. Richard Kinley beat his man off the line on third-and-10 to stall out LA Tech's first drive of the fourth quarter, which was then followed up late in the quarter by a sandwich sack from Parker Hughes and Sam Brumfield on LA Tech's final desperation drive near midfield. The final sack forced two tough plays on third and fourth down, leading to an eventual De'Arre McDonald pass break up to put the Blue Raiders in victory formation.
It was the complementary football MTSU had been searching all season for and its appearance could not have come at a better time as the Blue Raiders look to right the ship in the second half of the season.
"This team has got some character," Stockstill said. "In tough times, character is revealed. Like I tell them all the time, tough times don't last, tough people do and you ain't going to find anybody tougher than us."
Matched up against Roderick Roberson of Louisiana Tech, Willis had already burned the nickel corner on a move at the line of scrimmage earlier in Tuesday night's 31-23 win over the Bulldogs. But the ball didn't come to the six-foot-four wideout.
"I just kind of put that in my bag," Willis said of his move.
On third-and-six from the MTSU 40, Willis pulled the move out of his bag of tricks again. Fake right, Roberson bit, break left.
"He won big, and my job was easy," quarterback Nicholas Vattiato said. "O-Line protected well, I just had to make sure I didn't overthrow him (and) give him a good ball."
Holden Willis running free through the secondary!
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) October 11, 2023
60-YARD @MT_FB TOUCHDOWN!
📺: @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/z15eKhgDQU
Willis' 60-yard touchdown catch was MTSU's ninth third down conversion of the night. The Blue Raiders finished Tuesday's game 10-of-16 on third down while holding LA Tech to just 3-for-13 on third down themselves. In a one possession game, the sustained drives afforded to the Blue Raiders from the third down conversions, and denied to the Bulldogs, gave MTSU the upper hand on Tuesday night.
The key, head coach Rick Stockstill said, to the third down success rate was the work the offense put in on first down.
"It seemed like we were really really good on first down," Stockstill said. "We were in third-and-manageable, really advantageous situations. To me, 10-out-of-16, that's hard to do. To be able to do that, you've got to be able to be successful on first down."
Those types of plays, the four-yard runs, the three-yard screen passes, the six-yard crosses across the middle of the field, aren't the explosive plays that folks will remember from Tuesday night. They'll remember the flea flicker back to DJ Riles, the one-foot catch for a touchdown from Elijah Metcalf, the 53-yard punt return from Zack Dobson, the endzone interception from Tra Fluellen.
But those short gains are the types of plays MTSU executed on Tuesday, while the Bulldogs could not get themselves into those third-and-manageables. The Blue Raiders held LA Tech to just 79 yards on the ground, never allowing the rushing game to gain any rhythm. And while the Air Raid passing finally got going for the Bulldogs in the second half after the entrance of Hank Bachmeier, MTSU found ways to stop the pass on third-and-long, compiling 10 pass breakups on the night, six of those PBUs coming from the Blue Raider secondary.
While the Bulldogs constantly found themselves in tougher than needed situations due to penalties, the Blue Raiders kept moving forward, avoiding the false starts and holding penalties that pushed LA Tech back in the red zone three times on Tuesday.
"Our theme all year has been penalties, and we didn't have that many, especially pre and post snap penalties," Vattiato said. "So, we stayed out of third-and-longs for the most part, which makes third down a lot easier."
The catalyst for the improvement? According to Holden Willis, at least for the offense, it was communication in the trenches.
"As y'all could see on the film, I was in the box a lot more in the core and I was able to hear all the communication we were doing," Willis said. "We added a few new protections, we were able to keep some guys on pressures off of Nick. And Nick just balled, stayed in the pocket and we were able to hit guys wide open."
After allowing eight sacks and being held to just 33 yards rushing prior to Terry Wilkins bursting out a 75-yard gain against Jacksonville State while MTSU trailed by three scores less than a week ago, the Blue Raider offensive line kept Vattiato upright, only allowing three sacks, while creating holes for both Wilkins and Jaiden Credle, who combined to average 4.6 yards per rush on Tuesday.
Defensively, MTSU's trenches had to wait until the fourth quarter to get on the stat sheet with a sack, but both of them could not have been more clutch. Richard Kinley beat his man off the line on third-and-10 to stall out LA Tech's first drive of the fourth quarter, which was then followed up late in the quarter by a sandwich sack from Parker Hughes and Sam Brumfield on LA Tech's final desperation drive near midfield. The final sack forced two tough plays on third and fourth down, leading to an eventual De'Arre McDonald pass break up to put the Blue Raiders in victory formation.
It was the complementary football MTSU had been searching all season for and its appearance could not have come at a better time as the Blue Raiders look to right the ship in the second half of the season.
"This team has got some character," Stockstill said. "In tough times, character is revealed. Like I tell them all the time, tough times don't last, tough people do and you ain't going to find anybody tougher than us."
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