Well, hey there, sugar. Come in, sit down and have a biscuit. I'm Opal Stonebriar, a Rutherford County girl and a church choir director, and folks around Murfreesboro call me the front-row grandma. I'm 34. It's a spiritual title. I'll feed you, I'll love on these Blue Raiders like they're my own, and if you say something untrue about my team, I'll correct you sweetly and with a citation.
And honey, last Tuesday night, my choir would've sung the Hallelujah chorus.
Part 1: Ninety-Three Yards to Glory
Middle Tennessee beat Delaware 33-30 last Tuesday night at Floyd Stadium. We're 3-3 and 1-1 in Conference USA.
It took the whole hymnal. Dominic Bourgeois kicked a 47-yard field goal, and our defense got a safety in the first quarter. Roman Gagliano ran it in from a yard out early in the second quarter for a 12-3 lead. Delaware came back to lead 16-12 at the half. Then, on the very first play of the second half, Gagliano threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Koraun Perdue. AP says so, and so does my heart.
The teams traded the lead after that, and Delaware went up 30-26 with 9:57 left. And then, sugar, Gagliano took us 93 yards in 10 plays. He found Neo Clifton for a 14-yard touchdown with 3:06 remaining, and we held on. I stood up in the front row and didn't sit back down till Wednesday.
Gagliano went 22 of 32 for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with a rushing touchdown too. Perdue caught four passes for 103 yards. Clifton caught four for 64 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, Korey Smith made 10 tackles and a sack, Ashton Taylor had 1.5 sacks, and Bryce Williams intercepted a pass. And we were flagged just five times for 45 yards, per ESPN's box score. That's a well-behaved choir.
Now, I'll be honest, because I don't fib. Delaware threw for 321 yards against us and kept it close all night. And earlier this month, we lost 55-0 at Kansas. That one I've prayed over. But we beat Murray State and Nevada at home, we lost by two at Marshall, and now we've learned how to finish a fourth quarter. That's growth.
Part 2: The Blue Raiders Go to Miami
Tuesday, 7 p.m. Eastern, CBS Sports Network, Middle Tennessee at FIU.
First, I'll say something sweet about the Panthers, because Mama raised me right. FIU's defense is very, very good. AP ranks it ninth in FBS in yards allowed and ninth in scoring defense, at 14.7 points a game. DeeJay Holmes Jr. has five sacks. FIU's passing offense ranks 37th, and Maguire Anderson caught eight passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns last week. Those are fine young men, and I'd bake them a pie.
Now, bless their hearts. Bless their big guys up front, too.
FIU's scoring offense ranks 122nd in FBS, at 19.7 points a game. Its rushing offense ranks 117th, at 120.0 yards a game. Its red zone offense ranks 93rd. AP has the Panthers 82nd in turnover margin, at minus-1. And JJ Kohl has seven interceptions this season, per AP's preview. Our turnover margin is plus-4, which ranks 22nd. Our quarterback has two interceptions all year. Sugar, those two numbers are a sermon all by themselves.
And last week in Jacksonville, FIU was flagged 12 times for 100 yards and lost by three. The Panthers have lost at South Florida, at Florida Atlantic and at Jacksonville State. Every road they've been down this year has a pothole in it. But we're the ones traveling this time, so let me be careful.
I'll be honest about my own family. Our offense ranks 122nd in yards, and our run defense ranks 127th, allowing 199.2 yards a game. Our red zone defense ranks 114th. So, yes, we've got some chores to do. But Gagliano has 11 touchdown passes, Antonio Martin has 433 rushing yards, and Cam'ron Lacy has 35 catches for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Korey Smith has 56 tackles. That's a choir with some soloists.
And the history book? CollegeFootballData.com says Middle Tennessee leads the all-time series 14-7. We won five straight meetings from 2019 through 2023, including 50-17, 50-10 and 40-6 games at home. FIU has won the last two, I'll admit it, sugar. Every family has a couple of rough holidays.
Tales From Two Towns
Murfreesboro. Wikipedia says Murfreesboro was settled in 1811. It was first named Cannonsburgh, and about a month later it was renamed for Colonel Hardy Murfree, a Revolutionary War hero. It was the capital of Tennessee from 1818 to 1826, and today has 152,769 people. It's the geographic center of Tennessee, with a stone monument about half a mile north of MTSU, and it's the center of population, too. Since the 1990s, it's been Tennessee's fastest-growing major city. We have the Stones River National Battlefield, which preserves the site of a major Civil War battle fought at the turn of 1863, Cannonsburgh Village downtown, the Oaklands Historic House Museum and a Greenway walking trail along the river. And our stadium is Floyd Stadium, which Wikipedia says opened on Oct. 14, 1933, with a scoreless tie against Jacksonville State and now seats 27,303. Our football team started in 1911, and we've been to 14 bowl games. That's a lot of Sunday dinners. Derek Mason was hired as our 15th head coach in December 2023, per Wikipedia, and he follows Rick Stockstill, who led the program from 2006 to 2023 and won a share of the Sun Belt title in his very first season. We know how to build something here, and we know how to be patient while it rises, like a good biscuit dough.
We're the heart of the state, sugar. Literally. Look it up. I did.
Miami. Now, Miami is a big, beautiful city with a skyline full of high-rises, I know. But here's something I learned, and I'll say it gently. Wikipedia says FIU's main campus is in Westchester, and its stadium sits in unincorporated Miami-Dade County with a Miami mailing address. So Miami's team isn't technically in Miami. It just gets the mail there. And FIU plays in a stadium named Pitbull Stadium. Sugar, that sounds like a place with a chain-link fence and a "Beware" sign on the gate. Our stadium is named for a coach. Theirs sounds like it bites.
And Miami calls itself the Magic City. Wikipedia says that's because winter visitors thought the city grew so fast it was like magic. Honey, Murfreesboro has been the fastest-growing major city in Tennessee for three decades, and nobody had to call it magic. We just call it Tuesday. And I've got a little magic too. It's called a 93-yard drive.
Opal's Sunday Dinner Plan for Tuesday
1. Protect the football. Plus-4 got us here. Keep it in the family. 2. Stop the run. Their rushing offense ranks 117th, so make them throw it into the wind. 3. Bless the big guys up front. Keep Gagliano clean, and he'll keep finding Perdue and Clifton. 4. Score touchdowns. A ninth-ranked defense won't hand out many chances, so cash in every one.
Pack a biscuit and come sit with us, even if it's on the TV this time. You'll leave a Blue Raider. I promise.
My call: Florida International Panthers 28, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 16.