Liberty (6-0, 4-0 CUSA) returns home to the Mountain to take on Middle Tennessee (2-5, 1-2 CUSA) on Tuesday night in Lynchburg, Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Rick Stockstill is the longest tenured head coaches in Conference USA and one of the longest in the entire country. He has led the Blue Raiders since 2006 and compiled a record of 111-108 during his time in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Under his direction, Middle has advanced to and won a bowl game in each of the past two seasons.
The Flames and Blue Raiders met in the 2021 season. Hugh Freeze and quarterback Malik Willis helped guide Liberty to a 41-13 win.
This year, Stockstill and the Blue Raiders are currently 2-5 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. They are coming off their first FBS win of the season, a 31-23 CUSA win over Louisiana Tech.
MTSU opened the season against two SEC opponents, falling to Alabama, 56-7, but keeping this close against Missouri before losing, 23-19. They then picked up their first win of the season, knocking off FCS foe Murray State, 35-14, before a non-conference loss to Colorado State, 31-23.
To open league play, the Blue Raiders lost at Western Kentucky, 31-10, in the 100 Miles of Hate rivalry game. Then, Middle took a 23-7 first half lead over Jacksonville State before the Gamecocks scored 38 straight after intermission, going on to win 45-30.
“If you turn the video on you can see how talented they are on both sides of the ball,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said of Middle Tennessee. “They’ve got some good playmakers on offense and then defensively, their defensive line is good. They’ve got some good secondary players, linebackers are very active. It’s not hard when you turn the video on, you can see how hard they play and things of that nature. Then, when you see them playing Alabama, Missouri, Colorado State, those are pretty good teams. With the exception of Alabama, all those games they played, whether won or lost, they had a chance to be in them. We will have to be ready to go and play well to have a chance to win.”
Nick Vattiato is one of the better quarterbacks the Flames have faced this season. He has completed 177 of 258 passes (66.8%) for 1,824 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. He also has 82 carries for 151 yards and 2 scores.
A three-star recruit out of high school, Vattiato started five games as a true freshman in 2021, was named to the CUSA All-Freshman team and the Bahamas Bowl MVP. He played in two games last year and was able to redshirt.
Vattiato has three main targets – Elijah Metcalf, Holden Willis, and Justin Olson. Metcalf leads the team with 35 receptions and 4 touchdowns, he’s second on the team with 409 receiving yards. Willis leads the team with 412 receiving yards on 27 catches and 2 touchdowns. Olson has 29 catches for 333 yards and a score.
MTSU has two main running backs they rely on in Jaiden Credle and Frank Peasant. Credle has 316 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 59 carries. Peasant has 48 rushes for 171 yards and 2 scores.
“They are dangerous because they have skill guys that if you miss a tackle they can take it the distance,” said Chadwell. “(Vattiato) does a really good job of finding them and distributing the ball to different people. We have to be able to pressure him. If you look at the video, he sits back there and he has time to throw, he can do a nice job of picking you apart. We’re going to have to do some different things to try and pressure and try to get him off his spots and not allow him to sit back there and pick us apart because they do have really good skill guys. We’ve got to try and make it a one dimensional game if we can. That’s got to be our goal. Try and pressure him in different ways to get him uncomfortable. We’ve not been great at pressuring the quarterback, that’s one of the areas we need to be better at from an overall sack standpoint and some of those. We’ve got to find a way to do some of that.”
On defense, the Blue Raiders have allowed 31.9 points and 398.6 yards per game this season. Linebacker Sam Brumfield leads the team with 54 tackles to go along with 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan has caused havoc from his position all season. He has 21 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and has broken up 6 passes on the season.
“He gets his hands up all the time,” Chadwell said of Dunnigan. “He is good at what he does. The last couple of games, especially last week and the week before, he gets such a push, if you are trying to get that ball off relatively quick, they do a good job of getting after the passer. They do a really nice job. They are good in the box as far as what they do and the strengths they have. He gets a really good push and then he gets the hand up. He takes a way a lot of the plays. There were several the last couple weeks, Jax State specifically, where third downs and fourth downs, he knocked the ball down quite a bit when guys were open. He’s somebody we’re going to have to do a good job to block.”
PREDICTION
Liberty 35, Middle Tennessee 17
Line: Liberty -14.5
Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 6-0
ATS: 3-3
