Blue Raiders suffer Sun Belt road setback

September 20, 2008

Middle Tennessee has dominated the football series against Arkansas State with wins in eight of the first nine meetings; however, the 10th gridiron clash between the teams is one the Blue Raiders would likely prefer to forget.

Arkansas State (3-1, 1-0) was too much for Middle Tennessee in a 31-14 win on Homecoming at ASU Stadium here Saturday night. The Red Wolves dominated from the outset and took control in the first half on the way to a 17-0 halftime advantage. They provided the dagger when quarterback Corey Leonard threw his third touchdown of the game - a 2-yard pass to David Johnson - to cap a 13-play, 74-yard drive that consumed 8:35 on the opening second half drive. (PHOTO ID: Desmond Gee tries to break free from a tackle during Middle Tennessee game at Arkansas State)

Leonard threw a pair of first-half scores. His 17-yard pass to tailback Reggie Arnold started the scoring with 326 remaining in the first quarter. Josh Arauco added a 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0 with 8:30 remaining in the first half before Leonard found Johnson for a 14-yard scoring strike with 36 seconds remaining before intermission.

Middle Tennessee (1-3, 0-2) finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when Phillip Tanner plunged in from the 2 to cap a nine-play, 76-yard drive and narrow the margin to 24-7 with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter.

Any hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed as Arkansas State methodically answered the Blue Raider scoring drive with a nine-play, 88-yard drive capped with Derek Lawson’s 2-yard run with less than 13 minutes remaining for a 31-7 advantage.

The Blue Raiders wouldn’t go quietly. They pulled to within 31-14 when Dwight Dasher connected with Patrick Honeycutt for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 9:17 remaining. Honeycutt turned in a career-best performance with a personal-best 11 receptions for 94 yards and his first score of the season and second of his career.

What had been an efficient Middle Tennessee offense struggled in its first Sun Belt road encounter of the season. The Blue Raiders had 315 yards total offense led by quarterback Joe Craddock’s 25-of-35 for 268 yards passing. The unit had two first-half interceptions with Craddock and Dwight Dasher each throwing one.

Middle Tennessee squandered several first-half opportunities. The Blue Raiders had the ball at midfield or the plus side of the field three times in the first half and failed to get any points out of opportunities generally set up by excellent special teams play and near touchdown-breaking returns from Desmond Gee.

Gee’s first long return to the Blue Raider 48 was negated when Dasher was intercepted at the Arkansas State 7. Another long return didn’t result in points after Craddock was picked off the Arkansas State 3 on a second-and-8 from the ASU 18.

The Blue Raiders finally got their offense untracked in the second half but the deficit was already too large.

Middle Tennessee will return to action when it plays host to Florida Atlantic in the "Blackout Night" game, Sept. 30.

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