MT Football Perseveres Despite Injuries

From Sidelines, 11/01/07

During the taping of "The Rick Stockstill Show" on Sunday, a look of disbelief was on the face of Charlie McAlexander, the radio voice of Middle Tennessee football. Although he was preparing the quiz Stockstill on the previous night's victory against North Texas, the one thought on his mind was "have you ever seen a team get this beat up in one season?" That same question has ran through the minds of every Blue Raider fan this week as the team prepares to take on the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

To date, 24 of the 84 players have missed games at some point in time in the season. Seven of those players suffered injuries that sidelined them for the season. Of those seven players, five were injured before the season began.

The position that has fans and coaches' alike collectively holding their breath is at quarterback. During the Louisiana State game, redshirt junior Joe Craddock was injured on a play where an opposing player put a helmet in his back. Although he tried to finish the game and practice the next week, the injury was too serious to play on so he sat out for a month.

During this time, true freshman quarterback Dwight Dasher stepped in and ignited the offense to average 26 points a game.

When Craddock became healthy enough to play, offensive coordinator G.A. Mangus inserted a two-quarterback play set that involved both Dasher and Craddock to be on the field at the same time. The play set was an instant hit with fans but was short-lived. Shortly before the end of the first half in Saturday's game against North Texas, Dasher was injured on a scramble from the backfield.

Craddock will be getting his first start this weekend since being injured in week three, a span of 7 weeks. While there is more confidence in whether Craddock's ability to run the offense, there are other times where coaches must pull pieces together to make due.

During the FAU game, MT played with three centers, all of them ended up injured by the end of the game. Coach Stockstill was forced to start Mark Thompson at center, a position he was playing for the first time in his career. Offensive line became a game of musical chairs at the beginning of the season but both sides of the ball ended up being problem areas.

"We look at all the people we lost on the offensive line, look at the defensive line," says Coach Stockstill. "We lost Jonathan Presley and Brandon Perry for the year. We lost Chris McCoy for the last three weeks and Derek Mason for the last two weeks. When you look at the injury report, it's a wonder if we could have kept everybody healthy we might have won a game or two that we didn't win."

When injuries became a problem last year, the movement of Phillip Tanner to the defensive side of the ball became heralded as one of the most unselfish decisions of a player last season. This year, however, moving players to different sides of the ball is not an option. "We don't have anybody that can go to other side of the ball. We don't have enough numbers. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Even with the injury issues, the Blue Raiders have still been able to compete for the conference championship. They must win out to win a share of the conference championship but that is easier said than done. Two of their next three opponents are on the road and are undefeated at home.

Coach Stockstill, though, has been fair with his evaluation of the team and continues to encourage his team. "That's why I keep saying how proud I am of this football team," states Stockstill. "The adversity they have overcome has put them in position to win four out of the last five [games]."