Week 9 Pick 'Em

Brent Stockstill battled through injuries last week to guide the Blue Raiders to a 21-13 victory over Charlotte. It was an ugly win and it will only get worse against Old Dominion this Saturday. In a game that will feature more turnovers than touchdowns, Brent Stockstill’s leadership will be the deciding factor.

Stockstill‘s play hides the problems that continue to plague the program. Their inability to run the ball and their failure to protect Stockstill will eventually come back to bite this team. This week, however, Stockstill’s tenacity will be enough to beat Old Dominion by a final score of 21-20.

Seven games into the season, Middle Tennessee sits at 4-3. It’s not bad, but it could be better. And quite frankly, with senior quarterback Brent Stockstill leading the offense, the Blue Raiders should be rolling through conference play.

But they aren’t. And it’s cause for concern. In fact, after squeaking by a traditionally woeful Charlotte team last week, I believe the Blue Raiders will lose to Old Dominion this weekend for one simple reason: Brent Stockstill can’t carry this team alone and I have no faith that Middle Tennessee’s 118th ranked rushing attack will suddenly come to life this week.

Scott Shafer’s defense has done a solid job this season and will do enough this Saturday to give the Blue Raiders a chance to win the game, but I don't think it will be enough.

I have Old Dominion this week in a nail biter. The Monarchs will seal the deal with a late score that drops the Blue Raiders to a 4-4 record on the season, and potentially out of the conference title picture altogether.

Man, this week is a hard one to tackle. On one hand, ODU has beaten Virginia Tech and narrowly walked away with a win versus East Carolina as well. On the other hand, they got spanked by 42 againt Liberty, and have looked vastly uncompetitive in a slew of other outings.

And then there's Middle Tennessee, coming off of a very lackluster win over Charlotte, a game in which they were dominated on every major stat line except the final score.

So yeah, this one is perplexing. To make matters worse for MT, they are beat up pretty bad on both sides of the ball right now.

All signs point to a letdown performance on the road in the proverbial trap game, but I think MT walks away with the win this week.

Brent Stockstill will look much better as he continues to mend his ankle injury, and I think the offensive firepower that the Blue Raiders have left to put on the field will do enough to put points on the board. Wide receiver Ty Lee has come on very strong of late, which is a great sign for the Blue Raiders. He will be the difference make for MT this week on offense.

Defensively, Scott Shafer's unit has improved every week and are really flying around the ball right now. Sans their vulnerability to big plays, they're playing their most complete ball right now, which is ultimately why I have MT winning this week. ODU will get theirs, but MT's bend but don't break approach will prove to be the deciding factor.

The Conference USA home stretch is under way and the Blue Raiders are battling for the right to play for a conference USA championship. Saturday afternoon MTSU heads to Old Dominion for a road game. Simply put, if Middle Tennessee drops this game, their chances of winning the East Division shrinks in a major way.

Middle Tennessee is 3-1 in league play while the Monarchs of Old Dominion are 1-4 in CUSA play. On paper this may seem like a mismatch. I would not go as far as to say that. I fully expect the Monarchs to put up a fight and come to play, though. The thing is I do not believe they have the Jimmies and the Joes to beat Middle. Middle is not some juggernaut by any means, but they just have more talent than ODU.

If they are going to beat MTSU, ODU signal caller Blake LaRussa is going to have to carry them to victory. LaRussa has thrown for about 500 more yards than MT’s Brent Stockstill. Stockstill has thrown for 1,438 while LaRussa has thrown for 1,941. Make no bones about it, the Monarchs will look to air it out.

Again, I expect a decent game, but ultimately I think ODU is more one dimensional than MT, who gets the win.

Another week. Another coin flip.

And yet again, my coin flip tells me that Middle Tennessee will pull out the win. Quarterback Brent Stockstill will run for his life and he’ll get decked a bunch, but somehow, he will manage to carry the Blue Raider offense on his back while limping down the field. Meanwhile, the Middle Tennessee rushing attack will continue to struggle.

It will be a classic example of bend-but-don’t break defense. The Blue Raider defense will give up some big plays but will ultimately hold the Monarchs out of the end zone.

A big play late in the game secures the Blue Raider victory by a final score of 28-16.