Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: “Scoring seven points isn’t going to win you pretty much any football game.”
11/5/2023 5:44:00 PM | Football
After 18 days between games, MTSU football again fell short of the goal in front of them.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Minutes after his 36th pass attempt of the evening fell to the turf of Aggie Memorial Stadium incomplete for the 16th time on Saturday, the tension on Nicholas Vattiato's face was evident.
Vattiato conducts himself more professionally in press conference settings than maybe any athlete I've covered. That was once again the case after Saturday night's 13-7 loss to New Mexico State. The redshirt sophomore quarterback had, again, left it all on the field, finishing the night with 20 completions for 178 yards passing and 18 carries for a career-high 96 yards rushing.
He was insightful, calmly explaining what NMSU's defensive game plan was (running man coverage with two high safeties most of the night, Vattiato said, noting that the safety help over the top allowed the Aggies corners to stay in the Blue Raider receivers' back pockets, daring MTSU to run the ball). He was, appropriately, blunt about the offense's scoring output.
"Overall, for the night, it wasn't exactly our best effort all-around on offense," Vattiato said. "Whether it was the run game, whether it was the pass game. Whether it was finishing drives, converting on third down, getting in the endzone, obviously."
At one point late in the first half, MTSU was averaging just two yards per play on offense. A two-minute drill capped off with a 27-yard strike to DJ England-Chisolm tied up the game and buoyed the offensive production at the break, but when a final two-minute drill came up short with two incompletions in the endzone to end the game, Vattiato's assessment, while simple, was the most enlightening of the night for the Blue Raiders and summed up perhaps his own frustration.
"Scoring seven points isn't going to win you pretty much any football game," Vattiato said. "We, as an offense, didn't do a good enough job to win and we let our team down."
It was the latest frustration in a season with many for Middle Tennessee, who officially fell out of the race for bowl eligibility with their seventh loss of the season on Saturday. The Blue Raiders record on the road dropped to 0-5 this season. The Blue Raiders are 1-4 in one score games in 2023.
"Our guys busted their gut, they left everything out there," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "Just when you look at the totality of this game, we didn't do enough to win the game."
When a football team is 2-7, there's very rarely any area that can't be improved upon. But it was a bit of a reversal of fortune for 2023 that the defense entered the game as the CUSA team giving up the most points per game was the side of the ball that held up their side of the bargain on Saturday, particularly just one game removed from allowing over 400 yards on the ground in a 42-35 loss at Liberty.
The Blue Raider defense certainly bent a few times on Saturday, giving up over 400 yards of total offense and several big plays, which safety Tra Fluellen highlighted in his postgame comments. But when it came down to it, it kept the Aggies off the scoreboard, forcing just a 25 percent third-down conversion rate and holding the Aggies to 1-3 in the redzone, thanks in part to an aggressive second half blitz package that kept Diego Pavia uncomfortable and an interception from Fluellen in the first quarter.
But with just putting up seven points, going 0-for-2 in the redzone thanks to a missed field goal and a pair of incompletions to close the game, the offense is now left with plenty of questions heading into the final three games of the season, many of which, including how to generate a consistent running game from the halfbacks to being able to give Vattiato time to find his guys down field, have plagued the team most of the year.
This year has been a series of disappointments for the Blue Raiders, who have found so many unique ways to lose, from giving up a 23-7 halftime lead at home against Jacksonville State to a late scoop-and-score flipping all the momentum in a 31-23 loss to Colorado State at Floyd Stadium. From nights where the offense shined through the air in Lynchburg, only to fall just short in the fourth quarter to the Flames.
The effort has never wavered despite the setbacks, despite the lack of reward for the hard work in practice and in the film room. That reflects well on the players' character, no question. And there's been flashes of what this team could've been, from Saturday night's defensive line to the aerial assault Vattiato put together back-to-back weeks against LA Tech and Liberty,
But seven times this year, the Blue Raiders have not been good enough. And now they'll play three weeks for just pride to end the season, with plenty of tough questions to remain on the other side of the 2023 season, particularly now that the final goal that would've been worth achieving, making a bowl game through your resume, not your APR score, is out of reach.
"Right now is a time it'd be easy to shut down," Fluellen said. "It'd be easy to get down on ourselves. We don't want to accept it obviously, but that's what it is."
But the mantra for the Blue Raiders, Fluellen noted, has to remain the same, even if it's just for themselves.
"We'll come back to work and see what we can do to get better," the safety said.
Vattiato conducts himself more professionally in press conference settings than maybe any athlete I've covered. That was once again the case after Saturday night's 13-7 loss to New Mexico State. The redshirt sophomore quarterback had, again, left it all on the field, finishing the night with 20 completions for 178 yards passing and 18 carries for a career-high 96 yards rushing.
He was insightful, calmly explaining what NMSU's defensive game plan was (running man coverage with two high safeties most of the night, Vattiato said, noting that the safety help over the top allowed the Aggies corners to stay in the Blue Raider receivers' back pockets, daring MTSU to run the ball). He was, appropriately, blunt about the offense's scoring output.
"Overall, for the night, it wasn't exactly our best effort all-around on offense," Vattiato said. "Whether it was the run game, whether it was the pass game. Whether it was finishing drives, converting on third down, getting in the endzone, obviously."
At one point late in the first half, MTSU was averaging just two yards per play on offense. A two-minute drill capped off with a 27-yard strike to DJ England-Chisolm tied up the game and buoyed the offensive production at the break, but when a final two-minute drill came up short with two incompletions in the endzone to end the game, Vattiato's assessment, while simple, was the most enlightening of the night for the Blue Raiders and summed up perhaps his own frustration.
"Scoring seven points isn't going to win you pretty much any football game," Vattiato said. "We, as an offense, didn't do a good enough job to win and we let our team down."
It was the latest frustration in a season with many for Middle Tennessee, who officially fell out of the race for bowl eligibility with their seventh loss of the season on Saturday. The Blue Raiders record on the road dropped to 0-5 this season. The Blue Raiders are 1-4 in one score games in 2023.
"Our guys busted their gut, they left everything out there," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "Just when you look at the totality of this game, we didn't do enough to win the game."
When a football team is 2-7, there's very rarely any area that can't be improved upon. But it was a bit of a reversal of fortune for 2023 that the defense entered the game as the CUSA team giving up the most points per game was the side of the ball that held up their side of the bargain on Saturday, particularly just one game removed from allowing over 400 yards on the ground in a 42-35 loss at Liberty.
The Blue Raider defense certainly bent a few times on Saturday, giving up over 400 yards of total offense and several big plays, which safety Tra Fluellen highlighted in his postgame comments. But when it came down to it, it kept the Aggies off the scoreboard, forcing just a 25 percent third-down conversion rate and holding the Aggies to 1-3 in the redzone, thanks in part to an aggressive second half blitz package that kept Diego Pavia uncomfortable and an interception from Fluellen in the first quarter.
But with just putting up seven points, going 0-for-2 in the redzone thanks to a missed field goal and a pair of incompletions to close the game, the offense is now left with plenty of questions heading into the final three games of the season, many of which, including how to generate a consistent running game from the halfbacks to being able to give Vattiato time to find his guys down field, have plagued the team most of the year.
This year has been a series of disappointments for the Blue Raiders, who have found so many unique ways to lose, from giving up a 23-7 halftime lead at home against Jacksonville State to a late scoop-and-score flipping all the momentum in a 31-23 loss to Colorado State at Floyd Stadium. From nights where the offense shined through the air in Lynchburg, only to fall just short in the fourth quarter to the Flames.
The effort has never wavered despite the setbacks, despite the lack of reward for the hard work in practice and in the film room. That reflects well on the players' character, no question. And there's been flashes of what this team could've been, from Saturday night's defensive line to the aerial assault Vattiato put together back-to-back weeks against LA Tech and Liberty,
But seven times this year, the Blue Raiders have not been good enough. And now they'll play three weeks for just pride to end the season, with plenty of tough questions to remain on the other side of the 2023 season, particularly now that the final goal that would've been worth achieving, making a bowl game through your resume, not your APR score, is out of reach.
"Right now is a time it'd be easy to shut down," Fluellen said. "It'd be easy to get down on ourselves. We don't want to accept it obviously, but that's what it is."
But the mantra for the Blue Raiders, Fluellen noted, has to remain the same, even if it's just for themselves.
"We'll come back to work and see what we can do to get better," the safety said.
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