MURFREESBORO, TN- Middle Tennessee State (1-0) scored four touchdowns off of turnovers and returned a punt for another score to defeat Monmouth (0-1) on Saturday night, 50-15.
 
The two teams played to a deadlocked first quarter but MTSU's Jaylin Lane took a punt back for 70 yards on the first play of the second frame to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.
 
Monmouth tied it up with a 22-yard scoring strike from Tony. Muskett to Archie to knot the game up at 7-7 with 8:41 left in the fourth. The drive, which covered 79 yards over 12 plays, was kept alive by a fourth down catch and run by Terrance Greene Jr.
 
Momentum shifted to the Blue Raiders after a sack fumble stopped a Monmouth drive at the MTSU 33. Four plays later MTSU pulled ahead 14-7 on a 29-yard scoring strike from NC State transfer Bailey Hockman to DJ England-Chisolm.  The Blue Raiders expanded that lead after another Monmouth miscue, this time taking two plays to reach the endzone on another Hockman toss.
 
After MTSU pulled ahead 28-7 in the third quarter, Muskett engineered a 14-play drive that went for 75 yards with the sophomore plowing in from one-yard out. Lonnie Moore converted the two-point attempt and the Hawks went into the fourth quarter trailing 28-15. MTSU returned an interception for a touchdown and scored a couple late touchdowns.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
""I am kind of disappointed in the way we went out and performed tonight, it was certainly not what we were looking for and we need to be a lot better in many areas in order to have a chance to win some games this year. You have to give credit to Middle Tennessee, they are a very good team, they are well coached and they have some high-level players. They exposed every mistake that we made over the course of the night, which is what good football teams do. There was a point in the game where I thought we were going to get ourselves back into the game, but we continued to break ourselves down and really never gave ourselves a chance." - Head Coach Kevin Callahan
 

• Muskett's one-yard TD in the third quarter was the quarterback's first collegiate rushing touchdown
• Ezrah Archie had his best day as a Hawk, finishing with five catches for 47 yards and a first quarter touchdown
• First career start for DL Pat Hayden; Dale Sieczkowski saw his first action as a Hawk
• Eddie Morales shut second quarter drive all down by himself with back to back hits on the MTSU quarterback, one resulting in a sack-fumble and one causing an errant throw
• Monmouth committed four turnovers in the loss
• Freshman Jaden Shirden recorded his first carries as a Hawk, finishing with 22 yards on eight carries

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Monmouth held MTSU to 89 yards rushing
• Muskett finished 26-of-40 for 183 yards with a touchdown and an interception
• Juwon Farri's night ended with 18 carries for 99 yards and a long of 27
• Sieczkowski finished with two tackles for a loss
• Morales had six tackles, two tackles for a loss
• Anthony Budd and Tyrese Wright led the Hawks with seven tackles

 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will head to the Bronx next Saturday to face Fordham at 6 PM