The Battle for the Palladium was won by Troy yesterday, and Nate Doucette was the big reason why that was so. Doucette broke loose for a 53-yard gain on the first play of the game yesterday, giving Troy early momentum, then scored a couple plays later to give Troy the lead. After Middle Tennessee was forced to punt, Doucette scored again on a 14-yard run less than two minutes after his first to give Troy a 14-0 advantage.

Middle Tennessee would hang around in this game as they mounted one nice drive that ended in a 4-yard touchdown run by Mike Moore, his only carry of the day.

Troy kicked two field goals in the second quarter, and the Blue Raiders responded with a field goal of their own with just 15 seconds remaining in the first half, going into the break down 20-10 and receiving the second-half kickoff.

A good game appeared to be taking shape in the third quarter, as word spread that Kris Miller would not be back after getting hurt in the first half. Miller is Troy's excellent starting quarterback.

The Blue Raiders took the opening kickoff in the second half and mounted their second touchdown drive of the day, breaking into the end zone on a short flick from Anthony Singleton to Steven Day following a play-action fake.

Jeremy Calhoun, the Trojans' second-string quarterback, was intercepted once in the third quarter but then bounced back, throwing touchdown passes in the third quarter and the fourth quarter as the Trojans pulled away. After slowing down Doucette for much of the second quarter and early in the third, Doucette took over again late in the third and throughout the fourth, quashing any comeback hopes the Blue Raiders might have had.

According to players, Coach Clark lit into the team after the game.

"It was the last game of the season," said Clark. "I could have given them the old nice try routine, but this was a game we had a chance to win if we could just play stout defense after their starting QB went down. But instead we forced one punt the entire game. Yet again we simply could not force the other team to punt the football. I bet we led the nation in fewest forced punts.

"So, did I want this experience of losing yet again and falling to 4-8 to be a pleasant one? No. Losing should never be fun, especially when you play like we did today. We sucked. See you in the offseason."

Clark came back to the podium.

"Victor Harris," Clark grunted. "What the hell are we going to do without that kid next year?"

Harris had 14 tackles, including four tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. The Blue Raiders recovered only one of the two.

"That kid has some real heart," said Clark. "I can't wrap the season up without mentioning the job he did. As bad as we were on defense, without him we would have been twice as bad."