| Last-second play lifts Raiders to victory |
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Posted: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:21 pm
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If revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, Middle Tennessee enjoyed a regal repast Tuesday night and shared it with the third largest crowd ever at Floyd Stadium and a national television audience through ESNP2.
Malcolm Beyah pulled in a pass from quarterback Joe Craddock on a 33-yard scoring play as the game clock hit 00:00, resulting in a 14-13 Blue Raider victory over Florida Atlantic.
The Blue Raiders improved to 2-3, 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference as they prepare for a four-week road excursion.
The circumstances of Middle's victory were amazing and made amends for a last-second scoring play and win by visiting FA in 2003.
Last night the miracle was the Blue Raiders who just missed a similar last-chance play in their last game at Kentucky when a long Hail Mary scoring pass came up about a yard short.
"Our kids kept fighting, kept believing and found a way to win this game,: Middle coach Rick Stockstill said after the exciting victory.
The final winning play which saw Beyah out finesse three FA defenders in the end zome to come down with the ball was the same play that barely missed knocking off SEC homestanding Kentucky in the Blue Raiders last game, Stockstill said.
There were several missed opportunities offensively in the second half by the Raiders. Stockstill said, "the win was a tremendous compliment to this team. They never gave up."
MTSU fans were encouraged to wear black shirts for the game that was televised on ESPN2 in honor of Blackout Night. MTSU wore black jerseys for the first time in school history.
By game time the black shirts were reportedly sold out at all retail outlets.
Game statistics
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Florida Atlantic 7 3 0 3 13
Middle Tennessee 0 0 0 14 14
SCORING SUMMARY FAU -MT
1st 11:33 FAU Edgecomb, D. 53 yd run (Leroy, Warley kick)
6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:27 7 - 0
2nd 03:19 FAU Leroy, Warley 25 yd field goal
7 plays, 37 yards, TOP 3:13 10 - 0
4th 05:22 MT Honeycutt, P. 25 yd pass from Craddock, Joe (Gendreau, Alan kick)
7 plays, 71 yards, TOP 2:41 10 - 7
01:15 FAU Leroy, Warley 25 yd field goal
9 plays, 52 yards, TOP 4:07 13 - 7
00:00 MT Beyah, Malcolm 32 yd pass from Craddock, Joe (Gendreau, Alan kick)
7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 1:15 13 - 14
Statistics
FA MT
FIRST DOWNS 18 13
Rushing 7 4
Passing 9 9
Penalty 2 0
NET YARDS RUSHING 153 55
Rushing Attempts 41 29
Average Per Rush 3.7 1.9
Rushing Touchdowns 1 0
Yards Gained Rushing 186 76
Yards Lost Rushing 33 21
NET YARDS PASSING 210 268
Completions-Attempts-Int 16-27-2 24-36-0
Average Per Attempt 7.8 7.4
Average Per Completion 13.1 11.2
Passing Touchdowns 0 2
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 363 323
Total offense plays 68 65
Average Gain Per Play 5.3 5.0
Fumbles: Number-Lost 2-2 1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards 8-62 6-59
PUNTS-YARDS 5-168 8-285
Average Yards Per Punt 33.6 35.6
Net Yards Per Punt 32.2 30.8
Inside 20 1 2
50+ Yards 0 0
Touchbacks 0 1
Fair catch 1 0
KICKOFFS-YARDS 4-219 2-111
Average Yards Per Kickoff 54.8 55.5
Net Yards Per Kickoff 38.0 48.0
Touchbacks 0 0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD 3-19-0 2-7-0
Average Per Return 6.3 3.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 1-15-0 4-67-0
Average Per Return 15.0 16.8
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD 0-0-0 2-7-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards 0 0
Possession Time 34:57 25:03
1st Quarter 7:37 7:23
2nd Quarter 10:39 4:21
3rd Quarter 6:49 8:11
4th Quarter 9:52 5:08
Third-Down Conversions 8 of 16 5 of 18
Fourth-Down Conversions 0 of 0 2 of 4
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 2-3 0-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards 1-9 3-19
PAT Kicks 1-1 2-2
Field Goals 2-2 0-0
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