2015 Week 3

It was going to happen eventually, even if the 0-2 start raised more than a few eyebrows as the new coach led the Blue Raiders to consecutive losses against low-rated teams. The national-championship winning head coach had to finally get the first win under his belt at his second coaching destination. Yesterday was the day, as Middle Tennessee State took advantage of a ragged showing by their cross-country counterparts to win by a score of 30-10.

The coach erred on the side of caution, pulling his most important starters midway through the third quarter even though the game wasn't a complete blowout.

"It scared me when Anthony Singleton suffered that shoulder injury in the second quarter," said Clark after the game. "Luckily it wasn't anything major and he was back in the game on the next drive, but for me it was a major realization that he's one guy we really can't afford to lose."

Middle Tennessee embarked on a 10-0 lead thanks to the efforts of Singleton and kicker Harold McCoy.

With 5:28 remaining in the game, Singleton hurt his shoulder while being tackled on an 11-yard first-down scramble. Backup Adam Jackson came into the game and immediately threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Ron Ware as the Vandal defense suffered a major breakdown. The linebacker assigned to Ware bit on some inside motion even though the play wasn't a play-action fake, and resulted in the easy six.

McCoy kicked another field goal and the Blue Raiders jogged to the locker room with a comfortable halftime lead.

The Blue Raiders did a great job of containing the Vandals' wide receiver, Grady Walton. The 6'6", 190 lb. junior was one-on-one with Bristol, TN product Rod Davis on the game's first play, and Davis nailed him just as he got his hands on the ball, knocking it free. From there on Walton would get open for short catches all over the field, however his long gain on the day was 21 yards and he was held out of the end zone.

Linebacker Victor Harris, the Blue Raiders' most valuable defensive player, made a nice interception and a 24-yard touchdown return to make it 27-0 shortly after halftime. Clark put it on cruise control after that, taking out Singleton and Harris first and slowly removing troops as the game progressed.