Up next is an opponent that should give us a good idea of where we are. MTSU is a good team with a potentially scary offense. Like us, MTSU has a win over an FCS and a loss to a major team. More on both later.
So without any further ado, here we go ...
TL;DR version
MTSU has a Matt Johnson-looking QB and an explosive WR. The rest of the receivers are untested. We will see a fast-paced pass-first offense where our offensive running game may be key to victory.
The series
- I believe this is the first time we've ever played.
- This is the second straight year where we play two teams from Tennessee.
- We return the game to Murfreesburo next year. We should schedule Vanderbilt too to make it three straight years.
- Let's get this out of the way quickly. MTSU has a great QB and a ton of question marks at receiver. Major question marks thanks to an incredible run of injuries.
- MTSU is a pass first offense. The QB is Brent Stockstill, who is the son of the head coach.
- He originally was committed to Cincinnati. Then he decided all he ever wanted to do was play for his father. I'm sure every father reading this would love to hear the same. Hell, my older brother, an engineer, has two sons, and his self-proclaimed proudest moment as a father came when one of his sons asked him to play with Legos.
- Stockstill had a great season in 2015. He completed 2/3 of his passes for 4000 yards, 30 TDs against 9 interceptions.
- He has a good strong arm. Check out some of the Bahama's Bowl against WMU from last year. He was as comfortable throwing vertical routes as he was short crossing routes.
- He also is a lefty. We don't see many lefty QBs. I'm not sure how that may change our pass rush.
- He's around Matt Johnson size and has similar mobility and scrambling.
- In his sophomore season in two games, Stockstill is completing right around 2/3 of his passes for 728 yards, 8 TDs, 2 interceptions.
- The receivers. The star receiver from last year was Richie James. Small, electric guy at 5-9 171. He caught over 100 passes for nearly 1350 yards and 8 TDs.
- Think of him as mix of Ronnie Moore and Roger Lewis. He can catch quick passes and find a tunnel and go, or he can catch go routes.
- He was a freshman All-American and deservedly so. Seriously, watch him from the Bahama's Bowl. It is one of the best bowl games I've ever seen, and the worst nightmare for defensive coordinators.
- So far in two games, James already has 22 catchees for 256 yards and 2 TDs, and that is with being the focus of the defense.
- As for the next receivers from last year behind James ...
- Ed'Marques Batties. Graduated
- Terry Pettis. Fourth year junior. Injured in practice, out indefinitely
- Christian Collis. Graduated
- Demetrius Frazier. Fourth year junior. Injured against Alabama A&M, out indefinitely
- Shane Tucker. Senior. Was a RB last year and moved to WR. Injured in practice, out indefinitely.
- Austin Grammer. Transferred.
- So here's where that leaves the receivers not named Richie James.
- Patrick Smith. 6-0 185. Walk-on, first year playing, hometown boy. 8 catches for 113, 2 TDs.
- Ty Lee. Similar size to James. True freshman. 10 catches for 95 and a TD.
- Desmond Anderson. Sophomore, was listed as a RB last year, switched to WR. 5-10 176 and fast. 5 catches for 71 and a TD.
- Dennis Andrews. Senior transfer from Georgia Tech. 4 catches for 51 and a TD.
- Also, redshirt freshman Jocquez Bruce, transfer from Tennessee, was supposed to start this year. Injured in practice, out indefinitely.
- As you can see, the receivers are not exactly the original plan. As MTSU is a pass first team, they need receiver depth, but even a passing team like Texas Tech would have trouble recovering from this many injuries.
- So to summarize this section, MTSU has a great QB. They expected to have an experienced and deep receiving corps. They have one returning freshman All-American receiver and a lot of young, untested guys.
- I haven't seen any game film of this year. The stats show the receivers playing well, which likely has as much to do with Stockstill's play as anything else.
- Our secondary hasn't exactly impressed yet this year. This week they will be definitely tested with an up-tempo pass first offense.
- The good news for us is MTSU has some receivers who weren't expecting to play significant minutes. And they don't have the size of receivers we've seen so far this season but lots of speed.
- Our pass rush came up with some sacks against UND. Stockstill is a mobile guy so it may be hard to sack him. He's only been sacked once so far this year. It would be awfully nice to put some pressure on him because if he can drop back and pass all day, our secondary will be up for an even busier afternoon.
- The single biggest key will be minimizing the damage Richie James can do. That kid can fly.
- MTSU is a hurry up pass-first offense. As with any offense, the pass game is made more effective with a potent running game.
- Last year MTSU spread the carries and yards around. As a team, they rushed for a little under 1900 yards with no runner individually capping 500.
- This year they are on pace for better rushing yardage on fewer carries. The average ypc is much higher this year, although half of their stats has been against an FCS team that went 3-8 last year.
- This year, senior back I'Tavius Mathers is the leader. In two games he has 127 yards, averaging over 6 a carry with a TD - the team's only rushing TD so far. He is a transfer from Ole Miss.
- Freshman back Terrelle West has nearly as many carries as Mathers and is averaging 5.53 ypc.
- The offensive line is way bigger than I would have expected for a fast-paced offense. All five starters are 300+ pounds.
- I would have expected a smaller, leaner line to get back to the line of scrimmage fast.
- This is a line that does a great job at pass protection. With their size, they naturally run block well.
- All in all, the run game is the supporting role in the offense. On the season, there have been nearly double the pass attempts vs rush attempts.
- Hell, against Vanderbilt, there were 65 pass attempts and only 21 rush attempts. Much of that is due to MTSU playing comeback most of the game.
- Obviously our passing game is a bit of a work in progress with all the new faces. The coaches, QBs, and receivers are all on the same page on one thing: the QBs and the receivers are not on the same page yet.
- Everybody is saying the same story: with time and practice, this passing game will erupt. I hope they are right.
- Our passing offense relies upon the receivers altering their routes based on what they see in the defense and the QB seeing the same thing in the defense and making the same alteration. There was a case last Saturday where Moore slowed his route down based off I suppose what he saw in the defense. What he didn't see was the ball in the air coming his way. He certainly then saw the ball in the hands of the safety.
- Maybe this week we see some improvements in the pass offense.
- MTSU's defense was perfect one week, shutting out a bad Alabama A&M team. Against a run heavy Alabama A&M team, MTSU held the QB to 4-17 for 28, no TDs, 1 interception by senior transfer safety from Mississippi State Deontay Evans. MTSU came up with 4 sacks.
- Last week vs run heavy Vanderbilt, the QB went 15-28, 113 and a TD. MTSU came up with two sacks.
- This pass defense hasn't yet seen a pass heavy team. Except they see one every day in practice.
- I just do not have a beat about the pass defense. I hope we can carve these guys up.
- Miller came to life in a big way last week. He reminded me of Ryan Burbrink in how he could just sneak his way to getting open deep.
- Ronnie Moore has been mostly quiet. Teams are keying in on him. I'm guessing MTSU will look at Ronnie Moore the way they look at Richie James in practice. They'll be ready for Moore.
- Redding had a nice catch last week, but beyond that, he and Phoutavang have been pretty quiet on the outside. They both have the bodies to be physical receivers. Maybe this is the week one of them breaks out, or maybe both.
- MTSU has those six sacks on the season. The pass rush is probably the strength of their defense and has got to be a concern to our out-of-rhythm pass offense.
- The biggest key here is QB and receiver chemistry. The talent is all there. Knapke has a great arm and if he underperforms, Morgan is there ready to take over. The receivers are as talented as any in the conference. Now they all need to be working together.
- If you read the tea leaves the same way I do, I think Jinks is aching to put Morgan in. Maybe we see a 2013 Tulsa situation?
- If the pass game doesn't get the job done, the run game has a chance ...
- MTSU predicatably kept Alabama A&M's run offense in check. It seemed like every drive was a 3 and out.
- Then along came Vanderbilt. The same Vanderbilt that just last year only scored 20+ three times, one of which was against an FCS and another was against Kentucky. They notably only scored 17 against MTSU in 2015.
- Vanderbilt beat MTSU 47-24 last week. And it was because of the run offense.
- Vandy carved up MTSU for 230 yards and 5 TDs on the ground. Their prime back came up with several big carries to get to 211 on 29 with 2 TDs.
- That back was an 1150 yard rusher last year, so he is good. Still in one game he matched the average of two games last year against this MTSU defense.
- Last year, five of their top six tacklers, including their entire LB corps, were seniors. They have new players all over the place on defense.
- The defensive line from 2015 mostly returns. The line is experienced and has been disruptive so far. The team has come up with 6 sacks and 14 TFLs with the D line leading the way.
- I believe this is a chance to get our run game going. So far, we have faced a tough, deep Big Ten team and a hungry FCS team known for rush defense.
- Coppett hasn't yet been overly impressive. The offensive line hasn't yet effectively run blocked consistently. Cleveland has shown some bursts and will be gone the second he breaks loose.
- If this is the game where the O line finally gets it together, our run game can be very effective. Both at picking up yards and controlling the clock.
- The more we have the ball, the less time Stockstill and the passing offense has it.
- Now would be a great time for our run game to come together. This is probably the weakest run defense we've seen so far - we've seen two great ones - and I feel better running than passing in this one.
- Richie James is no surprise the punt returner. I'm guessing he's dangerous there.
- We should go for two and go for it on fourth down. 'nuff said.
- Noon kickoff. Yay.
- Weather could be bad. Yay.
- The bad weather could aid us more than MTSU. MTSU passes first and they've got new receivers all over the place who haven't yet played in rain.
- Bowling Green weather comes to the aid?
- This will be the most MAC-like team we have faced so far. Lots of offense, a few stars, depth at certain places, and good coaching.
- I look at this game very similarly to how I looked at Indiana 2014. It is a real chance to get our season on track. A win here would go a long way in terms of perception.
- And a loss would look awful given how the first two games have gone. And a bad loss, that is the last thing Jinks and the staff need right now.
- We're going to need to score some points in this one because that QB and that Richie James are going to score points against us. Going against a run defense that got gouged last week, I think this is a great opportunity for our running backs and offensive line to take control of a game.
- A lot of people are predicting a shootout. I hope not, but if a shootout is what we need to win, that's what we get.
- The run offense will be important if our defense gets winded. We aren't used to clock-chewing drives but if we need them, Coppett and Cleveland and the offensive line may be our secondary's best friends, giving them time to breathe between possessions.
- I know they have receiver depth behind James. Still given all the receiver injuries, I say keep James in double coverage all the time. Make Stockstill beat us with untested receivers. Don't give up the easy big play to James.
- And lastly, my biggest concern with our team at this point. Someone, maybe Factman, said that the assistant coaches were largely spectators on the sideline. Others noticed too, including high school coaches - who are the worst people to instill concern in a program's direction.
- This is the easiest problem to fix. Simply establish expectations for each coach in terms of in-game coaching. If need be, shuffle around in-game duties among the coaches. I don't want to hear of this problem again.
- I have faith that Jinks will get on this. He's been a high school coach, so he knows that kids need just as much instruction and correction in games as in practice. And he's been around Big 12 ball and knows what it takes to compete.
- What I want from this game ...
- No injuries. None for either team. That poor MTSU receiving corps.
- An entertaining game with a Falcon win!
- A week where we on this board are talking about optimism about this season, not nagging concerns we've all seen just two games in.
- And seriously, check out Flipper's post. We are just two games in. None of the problems we've all pointed out need be persistent. I would say every problem complained about in the game thread against UND is correctable.
