#59 Middle Tennessee State

Murfreesboro, TN

Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium

September 30, 2022

UTSA 45 - Middle Tennessee State 30 (ESPN Recap)

On 5-days notice, planned a double-header weekend to knock out a couple of sneaky good games at hard-to-reach stadiums. My close friend Sebastian was between jobs, likes to travel, and wanted to extend the current 4-season consecutive streak (and active friend record) of attending at least one game

with me to 5-seasons. Naturally, he jumped on board with 4-days notice for the ride.

Weekend plans start out great when on Thursday afternoon, our non-stop and direct flights to Nashville on Southwest are cancelled and we were rebooked on a 5:10am departure with two layovers.

We did not take that itinerary.

Pivoted to Delta through Atlanta and arrived in downtown Nash right around noon. Dropped bags and bounced around Broadway before settling in at Honky Tonk Angels bar. Spent a bunch of time there chatting life, work, football, and Jon Snow.

Grabbed a light dinner at Twelve-Thirty Club (apparently Justin Timberlake’s spot), and took a Lyft and a nap down to Murfreesboro.

Tailgating at MTSU was underwhelming to say the least. Our expectations were high since they were coming off their biggest win in program history 6 days earlier at University of Miami and were playing a quality team on a Friday night, but there was nothing. Bottom 3 in tailgates out of the 59 I’ve been to so far right there with Troy and FIU. We found no set ups, no tvs, and no cornhole, but snuck into a credential-only alumni tent area just to use the only cornhole boards we saw. Sebastian and I split games h2h and then left for the game as a kid in a hoodie started to play ninja defense on the start of our third game. Ran into Greg and Dan who are a generation older than us, but have hit 48 stadiums together and also had a double-header planned for the weekend. Great guys we hope to run into again someday.

The sunset for the game was stunning, but the in-game experience was below average and the UTSA roadrunners got out to an early 10-0 lead in Q1 and never looked back despite a -3 turnover margin. We liked WR #1 on UTSA De’Corian Clark a lot. Clark grabbed 8 for 139 but looked like he belonged as the WR1 on a Top 25 team. They didn’t have to go to him as much as they could have because the game was never really close.

Went into the game with no bets. Live bet the O58.0 early Q2 which won easily, and 2H bet the O31.0 which nearly pushed three different ways but was a loser (ended 24 and there was a pick in the end zone, a pick-6 called back for roughing QB, and a drive that ended on downs inside the 15). Sebastian liked the light show which was reminiscent of Western Michigan last year and also the opportunity of a lifetime that they offered two contestants during a timeout to kick FGs from the 10-yard line. If they made the kick: free chicken for a year!

By far the weirdest part of this game was that every time MTSU got a first down, the PA guy said “and that’s another Planet Fitness, FIRST DOWN!” Had 1st Downs been sponsored by Carl's Jr, I would look for the hidden Idiocracy 2 cameras.

Temp dropped quickly in Q4 and we were glad to head out of there back to Smashville.

Grabbed a terrible drink at a bar that had two pop-a-shot machines right next to a change machine…but the change machine only gave quarters and the pop-a-shot only accepted dollars. To make matters more interesting, the bar refused to accept the quarters as currency for drinks, claiming they didn’t have a change compartment in their cash drawer and that the quarters were only for billiards. I carried around $5 in quarters until we headed back to the hotel and got some rest for Saturday’s flight and second game.

This was the lit environment when UTSA would score:

This video of a random kickoff mid-game is another reason why CFB is the best. Look at both sidelines going crazy!

EDIT: UTSA won the Sun Belt conference championship in 2022