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The Other Side: A look into MTSU football with MTSU Sidelines
While WKU football prepares to try and continue its dominance against rival Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, College Heights Herald Sports Editor Jake McMahon sat down with Brett Walker, sports editor of MTSU Sidelines, to talk about the 74th edition of the ‘100 Miles of Hate’ rivalry.
The Blue Raiders head into their matchup with the Hilltoppers coming off a 52-3 shellacking from current No. 5 Ole Miss. MTSU struggled to get anything going against the Rebels, tallying only 278 yards of total offense.
Part of the Blue Raider detriment came from MTSU’s struggle to keep the ball moving on the ground. In MTSU’s 32-25 week one win against Tennessee Tech, the Blue Raiders totaled 118 rushing yards. Against Ole Miss, however, MTSU was held to 28 yards on the ground.
“They [MTSU] will try to establish the run. It can come to their detriment,” Walker said. “They did it very well against Tennessee Tech, obviously Ole Miss [is a] different caliber of opponent so they weren’t able to do it well at all.”
Even though Walker said an established run game is an important key to MTSU’s offense, he did say the Blue Raiders have found success with the “quick pass game.” Through the first two games of the season, MTSU quarterback Nicholas Vattioto has thrown for 419 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions