MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (11/21/09) - The Arkansas State football team (2-8, 1-5) saw Middle Tennessee (8-3, 6-1) score on its first three possessions and was unable to recover, suffering a 38-14 setback against the Blue Raiders Saturday night at Floyd Stadium.
The Blue Raiders raced out to the early advantage on an 80-yard pass from quarterback Dwight Dasher to D.D. Kyles, a 39-yard field goal by Alan Gendreau and a 12-yard pass from Dasher to McClover. Dasher threw his third touchdown pass of the game with 6:20 left in the third quarter to put the Blue Raiders up 24-0.
Dasher passed for 263 yards and four touchdowns, while also adding 73 rushing yards to lead the potent Blue Raiders' offense.
ASU got on the scoreboard near the end of the first half when senior running back Reggie Arnold scored his 11th rushing touchdown on a two-yard run with 2:03 left. For Arnold, it was his 32nd career rushing touchdown, leaving him just one shy of tying the second most in school history.
Two touchdowns in the third quarter lifted the Blue Raiders to their largest lead of the game at 38-7, but Arkansas State closed the gap with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Aplin to Jahbari McLennan to land the final score at 38-14.
"We got off to a rocky start, gave up a couple of big plays and let them hop out into a lead," said ASU head coach Steve Roberts. "We had opportunities to move the football and had big plays, but they were called back and that really cost us.
"I've got to give Middle Tennessee a lot of credit because they played very well and made big plays. We can't give up the number of big plays that we did today defensively and have a chance. We've got to move the football down the field and put points on the board offensively. We're obviously disappointed."
Aplin completed 10 passes on 22 attempts for 147 yards and one touchdown, while McLennan led the team with three receptions for 49 yards and a touchdown. Arnold led the ASU running game, finishing with 55 yards. Arnold now has 3,775 career rushing yards and is 173 yards shy of breaking the school record.
M.D. Jennings led the Red Wolves defense with eight tackles and an interception, followed by Kelcie McCray with seven and Marcus Brown with six. Senior defensive end Alex Carrington recorded his fourth sack of the season and now has 16.5 for his career, which moved him into fifth place all-time at ASU.
Arkansas State will return to action Saturday, Nov. 28 when they host North Texas.
