QB, BALL-HAWKING DEFENSE POWERS MIDDLE TENNESSEE
San Diego State and Middle Tennessee football teams boarded flights Monday for Honolulu, kicking off a week of practices and bowl events leading up to Saturday’s EasyPost Hawaii Bowl.
Amid all this comes the NCAA’s early signing period, the threeday window to sign players from the Class of 2023 (not to mention players in the transfer portal), opens on Wednesday morning.
This is the first meeting between SDSU (7-5) and Middle Tennessee (7-5), which finished tied for fourth place in the 11-team Conference-USA. SDSU opened as a 31⁄2-point favorite against Middle Tennessee when the matchup was announced Nov. 28. The Aztecs are now 7-point favorites for the Christmas Eve game that kicks off at 5 p.m. PT (ESPN) at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
About the Blue Raiders
Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill (17th year, 108103 career record) was hired to coach the Blue Raiders in December of 2005. That makes Stockstill the fourth-longest tenured active coach, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (24 years), Utah’s Kyle Whittingham (18 years) and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy (18 years).
This is the 14th bowl game in Middle Tennessee history. It is the 10th appearance for the Blue Raiders, all under Stockstill, during the Division I era (since 2000).
Middle Tennessee went 42 years between bowl trips — 1964 Grantland Rice Bowl to 2006 Motor City Bowl — but this is the program’s sixth postseason trip in the past decade.
Middle Tennessee is 5-8 all time in bowl games, including a 31-24 win over Toledo in the 2021 Bahamas Bowl.
Like the Aztecs, Middle Tennessee needed a second-half surge to get over .500 for the season. Highs and lows have come in threes.Henry Henry (Padres The Blue Raiders won three straight games — at Colorado State (34-19), vs. Tennessee State (49-6), at Miami (45-31) — during a 3-1 start. They lost three straight in midseason — vs. UTSA (45-30), at AlabamaBirmingham (41-14), vs. Western Kentucky (35-17) — and closed out the regular season with three straight wins — vs. Charlotte (24-14), vs. Florida Atlantic (49-21), at Florida
International (33-28) — while winning four of their last five.
The Blue Raiders rank tied for 59th in scoring offense (29.2 ppg), 82nd in scoring defense (28.1 ppg), 67th in total offense (390.2 ypg) and 98th in total defense (413.2 ypg).
They are sixth in turnovers gained (25), scoring 88 points off the turnovers. That’s more than twice as many points (43) as have been scored against them following 17 turnovers committed this season.
Perhaps the team’s most notable stat is that it ranks third in the nation with six blocked kicks. It includes four blocked punts and two field goal attempts.
The offense
Senior QB Chase Cunningham (283 for 420, 2,920 yards, 19 TDs/9 INTs) is among the C-USA passing leaders, most notably for 400-yard passing performances this season against Miami (408 yards) and Florida Atlantic (448 yards).
Cunningham tied a school record with a 98-yard touchdown pass to DJ EnglandThe
Chisolm at Miami.
He set a school record with 372 passing yards in the first half against FAU. Cunningham suffered a season-ending knee injury in the eighth game of the season last year, so this will be Cunningham’s first bowl appearance. His top targets are senior WRs Jaylin Lane (59 catches, 829 yards, 4 TDs) and Yusuf Ali (48 catches, 361 yards, 2 TDs) and sophomore WR Izaiah Gathings (53 catches, 490 yards, 2 TDs), though seven players have at least 22 receptions. Sophomore RB Frank Peasant (165 carries, 747 yards, 9 TDs) leads the Middle Tennessee running game.
A good predictor of success is when the Blue Raiders have a 100-yard rusher. They are 55-11 under Stockstill on such occasions.
Peasant has the team’s only 100-yard rushing game this season, a 122-yard effort Week 3 against Tennessee State that included an 85-yard run.
The defense
Senior DE Jordan Ferguson, who leads Middle Tennessee with nine sacks, is the most disruptive player on the Blue Raiders defense.
Ferguson (63 tackles, 16 tackles for loss) will be particularly motivated against the Aztecs. He ranks second in school history with 22 career sacks, which ranks 13th among active FBS players. One sack will give Ferguson the record.
Middle Tennessee’s strong front includes sophomore DTs Marley Cook (6½ sacks) and Zaylin Wood (5½ sacks, two fumble recoveries).
Junior CB Decorian Patterson (six INTs) and redshirt freshman S Jakobe Thomas (four INTs) account for most of the team’s 17 interceptions. Patterson’s total ranks second in the nation among FBS players. Junior CB Teldrick Ross leads C-USA and is third in the nation with 19 passes defended (18 breakups, INT).
The Blue Raiders have returned four of their 25 turnovers for touchdowns, which ranks fourth in the country.
Special teams
SDSU head coach Brady Hoke has mentioned — more than once — Middle Tennessee’s six blocked kicks this season, so expect it to be a point of emphasis for the Aztecs.
The Blue Raiders, in fact, have nine players on the team who have blocked at least one kick in their career. Sophomore K Zeke Rankin is 12 for 14 in field goals, with a long of 35 yards. Rankin had a streak of 11 straight makes before a miss in the regularseason finale against FIU. Senior P Kyle Ulbrich is averaging 46.23 yards on 60 punts, ranking fifth in the NCAA in punt average (SDSU’s Jack Browning is eighth at 46.0). Ulbrich has 26 punts of 50-plus yards and 25 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.