Middle Tennessee dominated in the trenches on the road in New England, riding a balanced offensive performance and 11 tackles for loss to a 44-13 victory over UConn at Rentschler Field at Pratt & Whitney Stadium Friday night.

The Blue Raiders opened the scoring after recovering a Husky fumble in UConn territory. Zeke Rankin chipped in a 20-yard field goal to give MT a 3-0 lead with 2:46 to go in the first quarter.
 
Jimmy Marshall kept the good vibes going out of the quarter break, boxing out the Husky defensive back for a 14-yard touchdown catch just four seconds into the second quarter. Rankin's PAT was good to give MT a 10-0 lead.
 
After UConn responded with two drives to tie the game, the Blue Raiders put together a methodical, seven play, 75-yard drive, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown catch from Izaiah Gathings. The wideout caught a quick screen on the edge and made his man miss for the easy six points.
 
After a strong defensive stop on the ensuing drive, the Blue Raiders once again drove down the field for the score, with Chase Cunningham finding Marshall out of the slot. The signal caller was forced to his right by the pressure but kept his cool as Marshall streaked open across the back corner to give MT a 24-10 lead.
 
The Huskies would get a last second field goal at the end of the second quarter to cut the Blue Raiders' lead to 24-13 at halftime.
 
On the first drive of the second half, Rankin expanded the Blue Raider's lead with a 32-yard field goal for a 27-13 advantage.
 
The Blue Raiders expanded the lead late in the third quarter with another grind-it-out drive, going 71 yards in 12 plays, capped off by Martell Pettaway's 1-yard touchdown run. Pettaway rushed for 31 yards on the drive, while Cunningham rushed for 16 yards and Mobley 13 yards on the drive.
 
Quincy Riley snared his third interception of the season late in the third, hauling in the tip drill off the hands of Reed Blankenship and returning it 26 yards to the MT 44, ensuring the Huskies would not put points on the board in the third quarter.
 
Middle Tennessee continued their second half dominance in the fourth quarter, with Cunningham finding Jarrin Pierce for the quarterback's fourth touchdown pass of the evening. The senior wideout went out and got the ball in the left side of the endzone, a nice full extension catch to give MT a 41-13 lead.
 
Cunningham made way for Mike DiLiello at quarterback early in the fourth quarter after a Gregory Grate interception, as Rick Stockstill rotated his squad with the game well in hand. The Knoxville, Tenn. native finished his evening with 25 completions on 36 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns. Rankin would boot through his third field goal of the evening to stretch MT's lead to 44-13, which would prove to be the final margin of the game.

POSTGAME NOTES
CAPTAINS: Today's game captains were Reed Blankenship, Jordan Ferguson, DQ Thomas, Jarrin Pierce and CJ Windham.PIERCE PASSES BATTIES: WR Jarrin Pierce registered three receptions against UConn Friday night to move past Ed Batties (2014-15) for seventh place on the Blue Raiders' all-time receptions list. Pierce now has 129 career receptions and needs just three more to take over sixth place from Tavarres Jefferson.

STREAK STAYS ALIVE: WR Jarrin Pierce had three catches against UConn to extend his streak of consecutive games with at least one reception to 28 games, which is tied for the 12th longest such streak nationally and the sixth longest all time at Middle Tennessee. Pierce has caught at least one pass in every game of his Blue Raider career.

'CHASE'ING RECORDS: With four touchdown passes vs. UConn, QB Chase Cunningham tied Wes Counts for ninth on the single-season TD list with 17. Making Cunningham's ascent up the single-season list more impressive is the fact he did not take over the starting role until week four against Charlotte. Cunningham has thrown at least one TD pass in six straight games.

ONE OF 12: Chase Cunningham joined an elite list of Blue Raider quarterbacks with his strong showing vs. UConn. Cunningham became just the 12th MT quarterback to throw four TDs in a single game. The single-game record is six TDs by Counts against Idaho in 2001.

RANKIN STRONG IN WIN: Redshirt freshman placekicker Zeke Rankin accounted for 14 points in the win at UConn. The 14 points kicking tied for sixth on the MT single-game list. Rankin kicked three field goals and added five extra points. He is 4-of-5 on field goal tries this season. The single game record for points scored by kicking is 17.

MORE TAKEAWAYS: The Blue Raider defense has been one of the nation's best at forcing turnovers this season, entering the UConn game ranked third nationally with 17 takeaways. They added to that with three against UConn to push the total to 20. Reed Blankenship recovered a first-quarter fumble against the Huskies for the 18th takeaway of the season. Deidrick Stanley II forced the fumble. Quincy Riley added a third-quarter interception, his third of the season. Gregory Grate added a fourth-quarter interception, which was the seventh of his career.  The Blue Raiders have recovered 10 fumbles and hauled in 10 interceptions this season. The blue-clad stop squad has had at least one takeaway in all seven games.

STRONG IN RED ZONE: MT continued its season-long success in the red zone against UConn, scoring on each of its six trips inside the 20 Friday. The Blue Raiders scored three touchdowns and kicked three field goals inside the red zone vs. UConn. The Blue Raiders have scored on 20-of-22 red zone chances for a 91 percent success rate.  MT has scored 16 touchdowns in the red zone and added four field goals. The Blue Raiders have scored on 14 consecutive red zone trips.

PUSH THEM BACK: MT's defense entered the UConn game averaging 7.7 negative plays with 34 tackles and 12 sacks. The unit continued to wreak havoc in the opposition's offensive backfield with 13 takedowns behind the line of scrimmage against the Huskies. MT totaled 11 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. DQ Thomas led the way with 2.5 tackles for loss, while Jordan Ferguson and Reed Blankenship each had two. 

QUICK HITTERS: WR Jarrin Pierce and safety Greg Grate made their team-leading 17th consecutive start today against UConn… MT has now forced a turnover in five straight games … WR Izaiah Gathings registered his first receiving TD as a Blue Raider with his 25-yard grab in the second quarter …  QB Chase Cunningham had his third 200-yard passing game of the season … The 16 plays on the scoring drive to open the second half was the most plays on a drive this season.