Middle Tennessee Becomes Bowl Eligible In 41-7 Victory Against North Texas

After a decent showing last week against Tennessee, the Mean Green defense looked like it may be making progress towards a somewhat acceptable end to the season. This week, however, the Mean Green made sure that their fans had no hope of that whatsoever. The team took a step back this week in their 41-7 blow-out loss to Middle Tennessee State.

After finally responding to an early 21-0 Middle Tennessee lead, The Mean Green hinted that they may have some life by cutting their deficit to only 14 points. However, the Blue Raiders took complete control from that point and did not look back. Middle Tennessee put up an additional ten points to close the half and added ten more in the third quarter before failing to score in the fourth.

The Mean Green struggled on both sides of the ball throughout the game. Aside from allowing 41 points, the offense only managed to score one touchdown on a QB run by DaMarcus Smith. That would be the last time any offensive sparks were seen. After only picking up 80 yards through the air and giving up one interception, North Texas eventually looked towards different quarterback options. Both Andrew McNulty and Josh Greer saw playing time towards the end of the game, with McNulty completing each of his four passes. Running back Jeffrey Wilson, who has had solid performances throughout the season, only picked up 39 yards on 12 carries throughout the game.

Middle Tennessee State, on the other hand, looked impressive throughout the game. The offense finished the game with 494 total yards. 322 of those yards were gained through the air by quarterback Brent Stockstill along with three passing touchdowns. Running backs Jordan Parker and Shane Tucker shared the majority of the load for the Blue Raiders ground game, picking up 98 combined yards and a touchdown. This win marks the Blue Raiders' third in a row and gives them bowl eligibility by bringing their win total for the season to six.

Middle Tennessee State will play UTSA next week to close out their season. North Texas will host UTEP next week in their final game of the season. With only one game remaining in the season for the Mean Green, many are highly anticipating big news regarding their head coaching search.