Middle Tennessee Hangs 38 on Murray State
Roman Gagliano needed one quarter to make the day easy. He threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to Neo Clifton and 22 yards to Cam'Ron Lacy in the first quarter, the second one with 22 seconds left, and Middle Tennessee led 14-0 without much trouble.
Murray State did not just disappear. Tyrell Campbell broke a 46-yard touchdown run at 7:18 of the second quarter to make it 14-7, and Jawaun Northington's 1-yard run in the third trimmed it to 24-14. Between those scores Gagliano ran in a 22-yarder of his own (21-7) and Dominic Bourgeois added a 45-yard field goal (24-7).
The fourth quarter took the doubt out of it. Terrence Brown ran 15 yards for a touchdown at 14:53 (31-14), and then, 68 seconds later, Kalen Woods returned a fumble 39 yards for a score and it was 38-14. Without the fumble return it is still 31-14, but two touchdowns in barely over a minute is a good way to end an argument.
Gagliano went 20 of 26 for 200 yards and two touchdowns, with another 25 yards and a score on the ground. Middle Tennessee had 396 total yards (200 passing, 196 rushing), and it did that without turning the ball over once. Antonio Martin was the workhorse with 15 carries for 103 yards.
The Blue Raiders are 1-0 and Murray State is 0-1. In fantasy terms, Gagliano's 28.5 points will not be matched by many quarterbacks this week, and Lacy's 118 receiving yards were a nice bonus.