MURFREESBORO, Tenn.?Roles appeared reversed on Saturday as Middle Tennessee's offense racked up season highs in points and yards while ASU's offense sputtered for the second straight game as the Blue Raiders trounced the Indians, 45-7, in Sun Belt Conference action.
The Indians (4-4, 3-2) entered the game as the top rated offense in the SBC and the Blue Raiders (3-4, 2-2) boasted the top defense but just the 113th rated offense nationally. But MTSU's offense got going right out of the gate as the Blue Raiders built a 31-0 halftime lead.
ASU's offense was stymied nearly the entire night. Only running back Antonio Warren shined for the Indians, rushing for another113-yards on just 18 carries to give the senior six straight games with at least 100-yards on the season.
MTSU got the scoring started when running back Eugene Gross's 1-yard plunge capped an 80-yard drive that covered 14 plays with 9:14 left in the first quarter. MTSU was held scoreless until the 11:51 mark of the second quarter when Kolby Smith connected fro 26-yards to make the score 10-0 in favor of the home squad.
While the Blue Raiders were gaining confidence on offense, the Indian attack was held without a first down on its first five possessions. The Indians mustered just 16 yards of offense in the first quarter and 85 in the first half. MTSU, averaging just 266 yards of offense per game and 13.8 points per game, posted 226 yards in the first half and 31 points en route to easily the team's best offensive performance of the season.
ASU finally broke a touchdown scoring drought when quarterback Nick Noce found Gary Vincent in the endzone for a 13-yard score with 8:48 left in the game. That snapped a stretch of just over 112 minutes of game time plus an overtime in which the Indian offense failed to produce a touchdown.
The Indians' hopes of a conference title took a bit of a blow, but the loss by Louisiana-Monroe to Florida International earlier in the day keeps the ASU title hopes alive. ASU will face Troy on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Indian Stadium. The game will not be televised, as originally planned, but kickoff for the contest will remain at 6:00 p.m.
