MIAMI, Fla. — Middle Tennessee football got behind early and could not climb all the way back, falling to FIU 35-24 on Saturday afternoon at Pitbull Stadium.  

The Blue Raiders (3-9, 2-6 CUSA) struggled in the opening 15 minutes, giving touchdowns on both of FIU's first two drives, while going three-and-out on their first two offensive possessions. The Panthers (4-8, 3-5 CUSA) went 3-for-3 on third down their first drive and 2-for-2 on fourth down on their second, with the final conversion of each set resulting in rushing touchdowns.  

MTSU found a spark early in the second quarter, forcing a punt near midfield and then capitalizing the next drive with a reverse flea flicker. A handoff to Jekail Middlebrook turned into a reverse to Javonte Sherman, which then turned into a pass when Sherman flipped it back to Nicholas Vattiato, who found Holden Willis wide open down the field. The tight end ran for 35 yards after the catch on the 56-yard touchdown reception, cutting the lead to 14-7.  

The Panthers kept their foot on the gas, scoring touchdown passes their next two drives sandwiched around a punt for MTSU, but the Blue Raiders hanged in the game, with Vattiato finding Willis for his second touchdown of the day, a 37-yard strike on a play-action look to cut the lead to 28-14. The Blue Raiders were able to pull just a bit closer just before the half, taking advantage of a defensive stop to run the two-minute drill, going 56 yards in 11 plays to set up a 35-yard field goal from Zeke Rankin, cutting the lead to 28-17 at halftime.  

The Blue Raiders stalled on offense out of the gate but got some momentum back with a fourth-down goal line stand that gave MTSU the ball back after an FIU incompletion. But after some good execution to get near midfield, Vattiato was picked off on third down to come away with no points once again. 

Neither team would score in the second half until FIU hit a 50-yard touchdown pass over the top of the Middle Tennessee secondary, stretching the lead to 35-17. The Blue Raiders responded with a nine-play, 62-yard drive, capped off with a one-yard touchdown run from Jekail Middlebrook on a toss play where the running back beat the FIU linebacker to the pylon, shrinking the lead back to 11 points, 35-24.  

The Blue Raider defense got a stop to give their offense the ball back with four minutes to play. MTSU went 52 yards to set up a 43-yard field goal attempt from Zeke Rankin, but the kick was wide left, allowing the Panthers to kneel out the clock with under a minute left to play.  

By the Numbers    

10-61: Penalties and penalty yards for MTSU on Saturday. The Blue Raiders were penalized a total of 88 times for 726 yards in 2024, an average of 7.3 penalties for 60.5 yards per game.  

92: The difference in total yardage between FIU (463 yards) and MTSU (371 yards). Most of the Panthers' offensive advantage came through the air, where they tossed the ball for 63 more yards than the Blue Raiders (319 vs. 256). 

73: All-purpose yards for Jekail Middlebrook, who was a threat to run or catch out of the backfield on Saturday. The redshirt freshman ran for 41 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries and caught four passes for 32 yards.  

Blue Raider Notes 

• The 17 second quarter points against FIU are the most points scored in a quarter this season. 

• Nicholas Vattiato, Mateo Guevara, and John Howse are the only Blue Raiders to start every game in 2024. 

• MTSU ended the year winning the coin toss six times and losing the coin toss six times 

• MTSU had nine different offensive line starting groups in 12 games this season 

Offensive Player Notes 

#83| Holden Willis | TE| r-Sr. 

• Willis recorded his second 100-yard receiving game of the year and the fifth of his career with 123 yards and two touchdowns against FIU. 

#11 | Nick Vattiato | QB | r-Jr. 

• Made his team-leading 24th straight start today against FIU. 

• With 256 passing yards today against FIU, Vattiato surpassed the 3,000-yard mark for the second year in a row. He becomes just the second player in MTSU history to have multiple 3,000-yard seasons joining Brent Stockstill. 

• Vattiato recorded his 24th 200-yard passing game which ranks second all-time and is 11 behind career leader Brent Stockstill. Vattiato has now topped the 200-yard mark 20 times in his last 23 games. 

Defensive Player Notes 

#18 | Xavier Williams | S | Gr. 

• Made a team-high nine solo tackles on Saturday, securing his position as the team's leading tackler in the 2024 season despite not playing defense full time until the Blue Raiders' fourth game of the year (at Memphis).  

Special Teams Player Notes 

#7 | Zeke Rankin | PK | r-Sr. 

• With six points today he ran his career total to 285. That ranks as the second most points scored in MTSU history by a kicker and is the third most points scored overall. 

Thoughts from Head Coach Derek Mason  

"Overall, when I look at this ballgame, it's a game some of what we had seen before, just in terms of getting to third down, but not getting them off the field on third down, early. We started slow, offensive and defensively. Once we had a chance to get into it, we caught a little bit of rhythm before halftime. And we knew who they were going to and what they were going to do, but at times we panicked in some of those situations. It's just guys learning on the job.  

"It looks like 28 points in the first half. It's hard to spot anybody 28 points. As you start to climb that mountain, you try to go one series at a time. We scored before half, thought we had a chance to coming out of halftime to do something. Really didn't get going for two series and just ran out of time."