Blue Raiders Have Tough Start to 2020 Season, Lose Close One in San Antonio After Two Blowouts

The MTSU Blue Raiders finished September 0–3 after losses to Army, Troy and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

MTSU began the 2020 campaign in New York taking on Army, but the Black Knights were too much for the Blue Raiders and MTSU fell 42–0. The game marked the first time MTSU had been shut out since the 2012 season finale.

“You’ve got to give Army credit,” MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill said. “I knew they were really big and strong up front . . . We just put our defense in such bad field position because of the turnovers.”

MTSU gave up four turnovers that led to 21 Army points.

Two weeks later, on Sept. 19, the Blue Raiders hosted Troy in the team’s home opener, but the renewed rivalry didn’t go the Blue Raiders’ way.

Troy regained possession of the Palladium trophy, winning 47–14.

*Blue Raiders photos by Nathan Wallach, MTSU Athletic Communications*

“We didn’t do much good on offense,” Stockstill said. MTSU gained only 241 total yards and 15 first downs in this one, compared to 496 yards and 30 first downs for Troy, and gave the ball up three times.

“Our defense, especially early, was flying around,” Stockstill said. “I thought we played fast and put some pressure on their quarterback . . . our defense got a little tired having to be on the field as much as they were.”

The following week, MTSU expected to have a week off, but announced a Friday game against UTSA.

This one was much closer; the Blue Raiders battled back in the fourth quarter and had a shot to tie the game with a two-point conversion attempt with one minute remaining, but could not convert the attempt.

Quarterback Asher O’Hara tossed three touchdowns and Chaton Mobley added two on the ground to get the offense going finally, but ultimately, MTSU would fall to 0–3 after a 37–35 loss.

“Our guys played really hard and competed their tails off,” Stockstill said.

O’Hara said the team was “just sick of getting our teeth kicked in . . . we had some good momentum going and had some good tempo on offense. We just left some things out there.”

MTSU will try and build on that momentum and look for its first win of the season against Western Kentucky University.

MTSU will take on WKU on at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3 for homecoming followed by an Oct. 10 trip to Miami to take on Florida International University.

The team will host North Texas in Murfreesboro at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, and will conclude the month in Texas for a contest with Rice on Oct. 24.

For more on Blue Raider athletics, visit goblueraiders.com.