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Can’t make it to todays game but was curious if there was any TV? If not is the game on 88.1 or 95.9.

MURFREESBORO – Rick Stockstill figures once the stomach stops fluttering when early August rolls around, then it might be time to move on and do something else. But the churn of the gut the MTSU football coach is feeling this week in welcoming his 10th Blue Raiders squad for preseason drills that begin Thursday is just as strong as the pangs he felt when starting down this playing and coaching path way back when. That goes back to his high school playing days at Fernandina Beach High School in Florida for his father to being a standout quarterback at Florida State. An assistant college coach for nearly a quarter of a century, Stockstill finally got his head-coaching break at MTSU in 2006. “This will be my 34th year coaching in college,” Stockstill said Monday at the annual media kickoff luncheon for the upcoming season, “and that passion never ends. I still get butterflies and nervous like the first time I was a freshman and went out there. “We play a great game, and it is an opportunity to help young men reach all their goals on and off the field.” Those who think Stockstill hasn’t gotten the job done at MTSU are few and far between. Bowl eligible five of the last six seasons and posting an 11-5 record in the program’s first two seasons in Conference USA, not to mention going 43-26 overall in league play when counting the Sun Belt Conference, the Blue Raiders are annual contenders for the postseason still less than two decades into their conversion to the highest level of NCAA football. read more: http://www.dnj.com/story/sports/college/mtsu/2015/08/03/pogue-stockstill-hungry-usa-greatness/31089543/

MURFREESBORO MTSU athletics director Chris Massaro admits the expansive football television package this season is a double-edged sword. Always a battle to put people in the seats at Floyd Stadium, the Blue Raiders have become somewhat of their own competition, considering fans can sit at home in front of high-definition TV sets with little effort and catch the games. It's not just the constant battle of MTSU and Conference USA, which provides its members one, if not the, best television packages for mid-major conferences. From the NFL to the SEC, teams are fighting diminishing home attendance, vowing to battle the swoon with an upgrade of game-day and in-stadium experiences and opportunities. With 11 of 12 games on national or regional or local television, MTSU football enters the season Saturday against visiting Savannah State with its best TV package yet. Five games will be on national sports networks, four are headed for regional telecasts via the C-USA package, the Memphis road game is on the American Conference network and the Western Kentucky home game is on local television. But at what cost? There has to be a balance between home attendance against the exposure to hopefully grow new fans through television. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/story/sports/2014/08/23/pogue-mtsu-balances-tv-viewership-home-attendance/14509887/

Read more: http://www.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/77773 Good Morning Blue Raider Fans! As the calendar creeps deeper into July, it provides the perfect opportunity to review our historic first season in Conference USA and to look forward to another great year of Blue Raider sports. I wanted to send you this letter to update you on the many things that are happening within our athletics department. Facility Renovation Update In keeping with our goal of providing the best home-field and home-court advantage in C-USA for our student-athletes, and thanks to your support, we enjoyed tremendous success at home with our football team and our men's and women's basketball teams. This past year, our football team, men's basketball team and women's basketball team combined for a 34-5 home record. This outstanding mark speaks to not only the accomplishments of our student-athletes, but also to the unwavering enthusiastic support our players enjoy every time they take the field or court by great fans such as you. To make your visits to Murphy Center even more enjoyable and to help create an even better home-court advantage, we have completely remodeled the concession stands, renovated the concourse bathrooms, and have installed new heating and air-conditioning units. You will notice the differences immediately in your first visit to Murphy Center. The center will also feature new theatre-style court lighting, which will give us the ability to enhance our pre-game introductions and in-game timeouts. Please know that fan amenities and enhancements will continue to be a priority for us. We are confident that when we finish this phase of improvements in September/October, there will be no better place to watch college basketball than the historic Murphy Center. To help increase our home-field advantage in football, our student athletes are currently enjoying a brand new, state-of-the-art, new playing surface at Floyd Stadium. This particular synthetic turf, considered the top-of-the-line playing surface manufactured by Shaw Sports Turf, extends wall-to-wall in the stadium as we eliminated the blue concrete apron surrounding the field. This creates additional playing surface space and makes our stadium even more multi-use for all of our teams to practice and train. Additionally, we have removed the center crown and leveled the playing surface giving Floyd Stadium one of the best playing surfaces in the country.

DMURFREESBORO - MT Athletics on Sunday unveiled #TRUE as its marketing theme for next season, a more consistent and distinctive advertising concept that will be used by all 17 teams and also connects to the University's ongoing "I am True Blue" brand. "We were looking for a way to show support to the 'I am True Blue' brand, yet have a look and feel that would be more distinctive for athletics," said Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. "We also wanted our advertising to reflect the hard work, determination and spirit put forward by our student-athletes. "Our advertising has been somewhat inconsistent, not only from season to season, but from sport to sport," Massaro said. "The imagery and messaging that will be connected with #TRUE will make our marketing for all our sports more distinctive and identifiable." The color of the main #TRUE mark will be Raider blue, with limited alternate uses in white or black when required. The lettering has a gritty, stencil-like feel and features a lightning bolt in the "U," a nod to Lightning, the horse symbol used in the primary MT Athletics mark. Read more: http://www.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/77334

The Blue Raiders currently have 10 signees listed in their 2014-15 class, but coach Kermit Davis said two signees are projected to not qualify academically. “A couple of those players have academic situations, but we will definitely be at 13 players (on the full roster) when September rolls around,” Davis said. “We should have 11 here for summer school in June.” Davis said he would not reveal which signees likely will not qualify academically because they still have a very small chance of making their grades. The final signing class should be ready for release later in the summer. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20140521/BLUERAIDERS02/305210031/MTSU-signs-point-guard-likely-lose-2-signees

4. Expect big things from North Texas, MTSU The Buzz: Conference USA saw six schools land into postseason bowls, two of those – East Carolina and Tulane – will no longer be a part of the league in 2014. North Texas and Middle Tennessee State also qualified and played for the postseason after terrific seasons in 2013. North Texas returns 17 starters from a squad that won nine games – it’s best season since moving up to the FBS. Middle Tennessee State won eight games for the second straight season. Both programs were ranked first and second in Conference USA in turnover margins. Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/blogs/college-gridiron-365/os-conference-usa-top-storylines-college-football-20140422,0,6739498.post

North Texas When: Saturday, Oct. 12 (Time TBA). Where: Denton, Texas. TV: TBA. Radio: 100.5 FM, 102.5 FM, 89.5 FM. Series: UNT 7-5. Last meeting: MTSU 38-21 (2012). If theres a trap game on MTSUs schedule, this has the potential to be it. A week earlier, East Division power ECU comes to Murfreesboro for a highly anticipated game. And after this game, a bye week and an equally hyped home matchup with East Division contender Marshall awaits. North Texas likely will not jump off the page on anyones schedule, but the Mean Green should be solid and balanced. UNT will be coming off its first ever C-USA game versus Tulane, so it could be 1-0 in its new league with the Blue Raiders coming to town for its conference home opener. If the Blue Raiders look ahead, this game could bite them. Read more: http://www.vegas.com/gaming/sportsline/college-football/

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/8/18/4633678/ncaa-marine-mtsu-steven-rhodes-eligibility

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University football player J.D. Jones is accused of choking his former girlfriend while teammates videotaped and narrated the incident, according to a campus police report. Jones, a 20-year-old defensive tackle, is also accused of choking the same victim, 19-year-old MTSU student Ronni Cantrell, until she agreed to give him money to buy marijuana, among numerous incidents that occurred between October 2012 and May 2013 and resulted in his arrest on two counts of domestic aggravated assault. Two other MTSU players — cornerback Rodney O'Neal and defensive tackle Marcus Robinson — were charged with two counts of aiding and abetting, according to the Rutherford County Detention Center. All three MTSU players were arrested on Saturday and suspended from the Blue Raider football team. An arrest warrant for aiding and abetting was issued for Molly Roos, another 19-year-old MTSU student, who was present at the videotaped incident, according to the police report. Iman Smith, a redshirt freshman linebacker for MTSU, was also listed as a suspect and present for at least one of the alleged assaults, according to the police report, but he has not been charged with a crime. Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/cusa/2013/07/22/middle-tennessee-state-mtsu-jd-jones-choking-video/2577081/

MURFREESBORO — Now that the pomp of MTSU’s official entrance into Conference USA has settled just a bit, it’s time to start capitalizing on the move. On the field, the Blue Raiders hope to repeat success similar to last season’s 8-4 record. Offseason workouts continue, and players are slated to report to preseason camp on Aug. 1. Off the field, MTSU needs to make a good first impression in the new league by selling tickets and filling up more of Floyd Stadium that previous seasons. “We want to measure ourselves more with East Carolina and Southern Miss, and (higher attendance) is under that broad conference component that we want,” MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro said. “We can get a lot better. We need to get back to averaging more than 20,000 like we did before, and I think we need to consistently get to averaging 25,000 like a Conference USA school can.” MTSU’s average attendance for home football games dipped slightly from 18,407 in 2011 to 17,738 last season. Massaro said it was not surprising that sales slipped coming off a 2-10 record in 2011. He has set a minimum goal of a 10 percent increase in season-ticket sales this year (that total number has hovered around 6,000 sold the past few seasons).That task primarily rests on The Aspire Group, an outsourced yet on-campus ticket sales and marketing firm brought in by MTSU as a new approach to building its fan base while stepping into C-USA. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20130706/BLUERAIDERS01/307060028/C-USA-raises-bar-MTSU-attendance

MURFREESBORO President Sidney McPhees charge to his Middle Tennessee State University coaches is simple entering Conference USA: Dominate. Thats easier said than done, especially in a league redefining itself amid a shakeup that brings in eight new member schools, including MTSU, on Monday. MTSU and its fans will celebrate the long-awaited entrance into C-USA, but McPhee said work toward athletic success in the conference started long ago. I have already passed that, and Im looking ahead, McPhee said. Quite frankly, Ive already talked to (athletic director Chris Massaro) and our coaches about How do we dominate Conference USA like we have dominated the Sun Belt? We are looking at how we position ourselves for that next movement, whether its in my tenure or someone elses tenure. Winning in C-USA is attainable for MTSU. Though C-USAs brand is regarded more highly than the Sun Belt, the two leagues have been quite comparable athletically the past few years. And MTSU has been the Sun Belts best, winning the leagues Bubas Cup all-sports trophy in nine of the 13 years its been in the league, including the past five in a row. Still, this weeks move offers a new challenge to the Blue Raiders on the field and court, particularly in the depth of competition. North Texas, a well-rounded athletic school, makes the move from the Sun Belt to C-USA alongside MTSU. Western Kentucky, the most comparable to MTSUs overall athletic success, comes to C-USA next year. Read More: http://www.dnj.com/article/20130630/BLUERAIDERS02/306300035/Blue-Raiders-ready-C-USA-competition

MURFREESBORO - The University and Blue Raider athletics will celebrate the official move to Conference USA on July 1 and want to encourage all alums and fans to take part in this historic day. Approximately 52 businesses and restaurants will be wearing specially designed tee shirts with the inaugural C-USA logo on July 1 throughout Murfreesboro and football players and staff will be handing out schedule cards and posters all day, hitting The Square, The Avenue, Rutherford Boulevard, Broad Street, Memorial Boulevard, and Church Street. The official celebration headquarters will be at Sam's Sports Grill at the Stones River Mall where patrons will be greeted by Blue Raider cheerleaders and Lightning. President Sidney McPhee, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro, Rick Stockstill, Kermit Davis, and Rick Insell, will all be on hand at Sam's from 11:30 AM until 1 PM to answer questions and talk with fans and supporters. The marketing department, Aspire, Alumni, and the BRAA will all be on hand as well at Sam's, while various football players will be signing autographs and distributing posters and schedule cards. There will also be other giveaways fans will not want to miss so make plans to attend today. Ideastees will also be selling the official tee-shirt at their main store for $10. Come celebrate one of the biggest days in Blue Raider history and learn more about our new conference members as MT embarks on a new era in collegiate athletics. July 1 Timeline 7:00 AM: MT helmet displayed on Old Fort Parkway and C-USA banner will be up at intersection of Broad Street and Memorial. 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Football players and designated coach signing autographs and passing out schedule cards and posters at Reeves-Sain 11:00 AM - 2 PM: Plane will flyover Murfreesboro advertising the move to C-USA 11:30 AM - 1 PM: Sam's Sports Grill, the Official Headquarters 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Football players and designated coach signing autographs and passing out schedule cards and posters at Chick-Fil-A 4:00 PM - 6 PM: Plane will flyover Murfreesboro/Nashville advertising the move to C-USA

So the story of the Stockstills will now be told simultaneously, probably for the next five years, and there lies some interesting twists and turns — especially for the fans that may judge the special circumstances of a father-son football pair and the media that covers them. Rick was at least slightly concerned about both until his son signed in February at Cincinnati, which recently granted Brent a full release from his scholarship. Father-son example Rick and Brent are both level-headed and ultra competitive, so the coach-player relationship between them will probably work itself out, but that’s another story for another day. The question here is about how fans and media see the unique situation. Brett Vito, the North Texas beat writer for the Denton Record-Chronicle, has first-hand insight into that. Vito covered former North Texas head coach Todd Dodge and his son Riley, the one-time Mean Green quarterback, when they were together from 2008-10. Vito has some words of wisdom for MTSU fans and especially yours truly. “We wrote about Riley being the coach’s son. We acknowledged it right off the bat, and everybody knew it,” Vito said. “But after that, he was mostly just the quarterback. “In newspapers, you often have to acknowledge something that everybody already knows. But eventually you’re just belaboring the point.” Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20130528/BLUERAIDERS01/305280028/A-new-chapter-begins-Stockstill-family

Thoughts?

MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s football team will face BYU in football this season for a Friday game on Sept. 27 as announced by Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. A game time and television possibilities will be released at a later date. The Blue Raiders and Cougars will be meeting for the first time in football. http://www.tennessean.com/article/D4/20130128/BLUERAIDERS01/301280040/MTSU-play-BYU-Sept-27 This is a nice road payday game for MT in my opinion.

Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN FAU & Middle Tennessee leaving Sun Belt year early, will join C-USA this fall, sources told @espn Collapse Reply Retweet Favorite More https://twitter.com/McMurphyESPN/status/292314229996920832 This post has been promoted to an article

GRAPEVINE, Texas – Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State are negotiating to exit the Sun Belt Conference a year early and join Conference USA in 2013, a person briefed on the talks told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are supposed to be private. A decision about which league the schools will play in next season should be finalized by Feb. 1 so that football schedules can be completed. If the schools stay until 2014, neither will owe the Sun Belt an exit fee, the person said. Schools are supposed to pay a $1 million penalty for leaving early, but the current negotiations center on whether they would owe the full amount. The person said Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee are joined at the hip and will either stay in the Sun Belt or join C-USA together. Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sunbelt/2013/01/17/conference-usa-sun-belt-florida-atlantic-middle-tennessee-state/1843111/

COACH RICK STOCKSTILL: We have North Texas coming up this Saturday, and they are coming off an emotional win last week over ULL. They will come in here with a lot of confidence. We are both 2-1 in the conference along with three others, so it is a critical game. We'll have to play extremely well. They are doing a great job of running the ball, and I think they are under-rated in passing the ball. They throw it 26 to 27 times a game, and have thrown it over 200 yards in five straight games. In the past couple of years, they had Lance Dunbar, who was their "bell cow" and he got the majority of the reps. Now they are pretty evenly balanced. They have two really good backs that can run, they are good in the screen game, and they have good speed. They'll use them more in the passing game than they did with Dunbar in the past. (On how MT running backs did last week without Benny Cunningham): I thought all of those guys did a nice job, Jordan (Parker) ran hard and had some explosive runs, a couple of them over ten yards. Reggie Whatley and Drayton Calhoun also had some nice runs. Drayton ran better than his stats and was the victim of a missed block and a holding penalty. Jeremiah (Bryson) had some nice runs as well. All four of those guys have also improved in pass protection than what they were in previous games, and they will only continue to get better. I was pleased with the production of the running backs. Even with the absence of Benny, we are still the same offense. Each game is going to be different, but we still want to be as balanced as we can in passing and throwing. Read more: http://www.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/63594

4. How big is this game for MTSU? Very big. I think if MTSU wins this, it goes to a bowl. That would give the Blue Raiders five wins, and they still have South Alabama on the schedule. If they lose this one, it will be tough to get to bowl eligibility. Aside from beating South Alabama, they would have to get a win at WKU, at Arkansas State or at home against Troy, who has beaten MTSU six straight times. 5. How do you see this game going? My colleagues at the paper picked North Texas to win. I picked MTSU in a close one. I think it’s a toss-up game. I think both teams will run the ball well. I feel like MTSU to get a few big plays in the passing game, but the Blue Raider pass defense has been in a slump lately. It comes down to turnovers and special teams. I’ll go with MTSU because of a blocked kick or long return. MTSU 24, North Texas 21 read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2012/10/qa-with-adam-sparks-of-the-daily-news-journal.html/

MURFREESBORO — Think October is too early to be chasing a bowl bid? MUTS and North Texas know differently, as they will face off in Saturday’s Blackout game with potential postseason ramifications. Aside from the Sun Belt Conference race, where both teams have a 2-1 league record, the overall wins total is becoming important for each school. MUTS has four wins with five games remaining. North Texas touts three victories with five games ahead. Teams become bowl eligible at six wins, and there are no gimmes on either schedule. “This is a critical game for both teams,” MUTS coach Rick Stockstill said. “For us, this is big to keep us in the hunt for the conference championship. It’s big to keep us in the mix for bowl eligibility. When you only have two bowl slots guaranteed (in the Sun Belt) and you’ve got four teams with four wins, every game is magnified that much more.” The New Orleans Bowl and GoDaddy.com Bowl are the only contracted spots to Sun Belt teams, but other at-large bids should come open. Bowls are likely to scramble for teams to fill slots, as Ohio State, Penn State and North Carolina have bowl bans and other conferences are projected to have trouble filling their automatic bids. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20121024/BLUERAIDERS01/310240013/MTSU-UNT-bowl-chase

MURFREESBORO — MTSU basketball’s record-breaking season earned prime-time billing for a pair of games in the upcoming campaign. Two Blue Raider games have been picked up for national telecasts by ESPNU. MTSU’s Dec. 21 game against Vanderbilt at Bridgestone Arena will air on ESPNU. Tipoff has been moved to 8 p.m. And the same network will air the Blue Raiders’ home game versus North Texas at Murphy Center on New Year’s Eve at 7 p.m. “The national exposure your university and program get when playing on the ESPN networks is fantastic,” MTSU coach Kermit Davis said. “Last year, we ended up having 15 televised games, and that was exciting for fans to see. To have two home games on ESPNU already this year is not only another great opportunity for our basketball program to grow, but it’s also a chance to see fantastic crowds fill Murphy Center and Bridgestone Arena.” MTSU posted a program-record 27 victories last season, including signature wins against UCLA, Ole Miss and Tennessee and a trip to the NIT quarterfinal. The Vandy and North Texas games have the makings of good matchups. Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20120911/BLUERAIDERS02/309110021/ESPNU-picks-up-2-MTSU-men-s-hoops-games

Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20120507/BLUERAIDERS01/305070038/MTSU-s-Nolan-arrested-assault?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|BlueRaiders.com