Rutherford Times

Middle Tennessee football fought and clawed back into the game at the EasyPost Hawai'i Bowl, securing the win behind the clutch foot of Zeke Rankin, as the sophomore kicker's 37-yard field goal pushed MTSU to a 25-25 win over San Diego State Saturday night at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex. 
 
Trailing 14-0 after the first quarter, MTSU (8-5, 4-4 C-USA) caught a spark on defense, taking advantage of two SDSU (7-6, 5-3 MW) turnovers to regain momentum. Decorian Patterson secured his seventh interception of the season and Christian Dixon ripped the ball right out of Jalen Mayden's hands to set up MTSU's first touchdown of the game, a 8-yard strike from Chase Cunningham to Jordan Ferguson. Zeke Rankin added two field goals to take MTSU into the locker room down just one point, 14-13. 
 
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter to push the score to 17-16, the Blue Raider defense came up big again, with Ferguson securing an interception off a tipped pass by Parker Hughes, setting up a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jaylin Lane two plays later to take a 22-17 lead. But two fourth quarter Jack Browning field goals, the final of which coming from 52-yards out, would give SDSU the 23-22 lead with 5:43 to play.  
 
But Zeke Rankin's clutch boot from 37-yards out with 2:09 to play retook the lead for MTSU, 25-22. A big sack from Zaylin Wood pushed SDSU into a 4th and 24, and Teldrick Ross picked up the fumble of the hook and ladder to secure the win.  
 
By the Numbers  
49: Zeke Rankin's 49-yard field goal late in the second half was the longest of Rankin's career and the longest field goal in the history of the Hawaii Bowl until SDSU's Jack Browning broke the record with a 52-yarder later in the game. Rankin's 49-yarder was the longest field goal in Blue Raider Bowl history, besting a 43-yarder by Cody Clark in the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl.  
 
5: Number of Turnovers forced by the Blue Raiders, with three interceptions and one fumble recovery. The three interceptions are the most forced by MTSU in a bowl game, with the previous high of two INTs from Southern Miss in the 2009 New Orleans Bowl.  
 
54.7: Kyle Ulbrich's punting average on Saturday night, breaking a Hawai'i Bowl record for punting average, which was previous set by Mat McBriar of Hawai'i in 2002 (53.8 yards). The punting average was also an MTSU best in a bowl game, surpassing the 44.7 yard average set by Matt Bonadies vs Hawaii in the 2016 Hawaii Bowl 
 
Blue Raider Notes  
CAPTAINS: Today's game captains were Yusuf Ali, Chase Cunningham, Jordan Ferguson, Jaylin Lane, and Ja'Kerrius Wyatt. 
 
PATTERSON GETS 7TH: Decorian Patterson came up with his seventh interception of the year in the second quarter. The seven picks equals the second most in a single-season in MTSU history. Marcus Udell had seven interceptions in 2009. The record is eight held by James Griffin in 1982. 
 
FERGUSON SCORES … AGAIN: Defensive end Jordan Ferguson scored his third career touchdown and his first on offense today against SDSU. Ferguson hauled in an 8-yard pass in the end zone on fourth down to bring life to the Blue Raider offense. The senior scored earlier this season on a blocked punt return and in 2021 he scored on a 71-yard fumble return. 
 
BIG DAY FOR ZEKE: Sophomore kicker Zeke Rankin enjoyed a big day at the Hawaii Bowl. He got the Blue Raiders on the board with a season long 44-yard field goal then before the half he nailed a career long 49 yarder to pull the visitors to within one point. He finished with seven total points in the first half. The 49 yarder was also the longest in MTSU's bowl history, besting the previous mark of 43 yards by Cody Clark against Navy in the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl.  He went on to hit an MTSU bowl record four field goals, including the game-winner. His 13 points went down as a personal best.
 
QUICK HITTERS: Jordan Ferguson made his 35th consecutive start against SDSU today while Kyle Ulbrich made his 39th start in a row … Ferguson also played in his team-leading 5th career game which ranks third most all-time … J'Shun Bodiford made his first career start … Teldrick Ross came up with his third career interception today and second of the season … The four made field goals by Zeke Rankin goes down as the most ever by an MTSU player in a bowl game (previous record was two) … WR Jaylin Lane had his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season and his 10 catches equaled his career-best and matched the most ever in a bowl game for MTSU.
 
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Stockstill  
"I told our team before the game that toughness is what got us here this year. We were just so resilient, competitive, and persistent in everything we did. I told them at halftime, toughness got us back in the game and toughness would finish it. To me that was the bottom line." 

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