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MURFREESBORO, TN — The BYU Cougars return to action this Friday night when they host the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The Cougars are coming off a loss to Utah and sit at 1-2, while MTSU is 3-1, coming off an overtime win on the road at Florida Atlantic.
Here's what the Blue Raiders are saying about their trip to Provo and facing the Cougars:
MTSU Head Coach Rick Stockstill on the challenge of facing BYU:
This is a big week with BYU. It's a great opportunity for us. I told our guys this is the best team we've played so far this year. They're a very physical, sound football team. I have a lot of respect for the way they play the game. They play hard in all three phases, so this is going to be a great challenge for us.
Coach Stockstill on the importance of the BYU game:
This is your next game, so it's the most important game right now. It's a great opportunity, we're going to go there four touchdown underdogs. Nobody thinks we can win it but us. Everybody's going to talk about the altitude. That doesn't mean anything. We have to go out there and play our best football game. It's a great opportunity for us to go out there, and play our best game offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. Hopefully, we'll go out there and get a win. We'll approach this game no differently than we approached FAU, Memphis, North Carolina or Western Carolina. To me, it's the next game up, let's go out there and get a win.
Coach Stockstill on BYU's offense:
Their running game is similar to a lot of what you see. There's a lot of predetermined quarterback runs, there's the zone read stuff, and there's the power game with both the running backs and the quarterback. It's nothing out of the unusual. Their quarterback is a very dynamic runner. Whenever there's a quarterback as effective at running the ball as him, it adds another element to your offense.
MTSU QB Logan Kilgore on the challenges BYU presents:
Actually, the way that they play has an interesting look as they change things up so much. Their pass defense is aimed at confusing the quarterback. They run around so much and show so many different looks, dropping guys here and brining guys here. As far as run defense, they have some really good players up front and I think they play just as hard as we do. I think most weeks, we go into a game and we just play harder than people. I would say this week they are a lot like us. They are always gang tackling and hustling around. It is going to be fun to play somebody like that.
MTSU LB Stephen Roberts on BYU's offense:
They do a little bit of everything. They do run the ball quite a bit. The quarterback can throw the ball as well. He is a big guy with a big arm. We need to be ready for anything.
Coach Stockstill on playing and beating nationally-prominent programs:
I think recruits recognize what kind of program we have established right now. We're going to get a lot of publicity because nobody thinks we can go to BYU and win. Nobody thought we could go to Georgia Tech and win. Nobody thought we would go to North Carolina and win except us. That's how we approach it. I think we've established this program now that we're past the wow factor. At least we are inside these rooms. We're disappointed not to be 4-0 right now to be honest with you.
