‘Didn’t play perfect’: MTSU coach praises team despite Alabama blowout

Alabama football thoroughly dismantled Middle Tennessee State Saturday night, in a 56-7 thrashing at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide was expected to win big and it did, with Jalen Milroe turning in a sterling performance at quarterback and the UA defense putting the clamps on the Blue Raiders.

After the game, MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill still found reason to praise his squad, which will play another SEC team next week at Missouri.

“I was proud of our team and how we fought, how we competed extremely hard,” Stockstill said after the game. “When you play teams like this you gotta play perfect and we didn’t play perfect. But I like our team. I told them in (the locker room) and I told them the last couple minutes of the game, we’re gonna have a heck of a team this year, heck of a year.”

The Blue Raiders didn’t manage to score until 32 seconds remained in the third quarter, when quarterback Nick Vattiato hit Bryce Bailey for a seven-yard touchdown. MTSU had a chance to break its scoring draught earlier, when Zeke Rankin lined up for a 32-yard field goal 8:48 left in the second quarter.

Rankin missed and one of the Blue Raiders’ most productive drives went to waste.

“We hung in there,” Stockstill said afterward. “It’s 14 to nothing and that last couple, three, four, five minutes of the second quarter they kind of bombarded on us a little bit and we drive down there and have a chance to make it 14-3 and we miss the field goal and they hit us with two quick ones, a couple deep balls get over the top of us there to go into halftime.”

Even with the big loss, Stockstill wouldn’t be discouraged.

“We just got to make corrections where we made mistakes tonight and get ready for another really good SEC team,” he said.

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