SE BRINGS OUT BEST IN RAIDERS

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Revenge was oh so sweet for Middle Tennessee State University's football team Saturday afternoon.

Last season, MTSU blew a 13-0 fourth-quarter lead and fell to Southeast Missouri State University 16-13 in overtime in Cape Girardeau. It was the Blue Raiders' first-ever loss to the Indians after seven straight wins.

Saturday, the Raiders paid the Indians back in a big way. They scored on their first possession less than five minutes into the game, piled up a 35-6 halftime lead and went on to a 55-6 romp at Floyd Stadium.

MTSU, having an uncharacteristic down season, improved to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast fell to 2-5 overall, 1-4 in OVC play.

"It's embarrassing," said Southeast head coach John Mumford. "Middle Tennessee has a good football team. We knew they hadn't been a typical Middle Tennessee team, but they were today.

"They dominated us in every phase. We're lucky it wasn't 100-6. We just got whipped up and down the line."

This one looked like a game the Indians would have a decent chance of winning, particularly since MTSU's porous defense was allowing an OVC-worst 449 yards per game and Southeast's offense had appeared to make great strides two weeks ago against Tennessee Tech.

But the Indians' offense couldn't take any real advantage of MTSU's previously sieve-like defense, particularly early. And, for a change, Southeast's normally stout defense was full of holes from the very beginning.

The Indians, allowing an average of only 274 yards per game to rank among the OVC's best entering the contest, surrendered yards in huge bunches against the Raiders.

By halftime, MTSU had piled up 325 yards and the Raiders finished with 539, including 270 on the ground.

MTSU quarterback Jonathan Quinn, who threw a key interception against Southeast last year that allowed the Indians to score the tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, made ammends this time.

Quinn passed for a career-high four touchowns -- all coming in the first half. He finished with nine completions in 18 attempts for 195 yards and also ran for a TD.

The Raiders' potent tailback combination of LeBrian McGill and Kelverick Green combined for 221 yards, including 157 in the first half. McGill finished with 125 and two touchdowns while Green had 96 yards.

"It was uncharacteristic of our defense," said Mumford of the Indians' dismal defensive performance. "Their running backs ran extremely hard and we missed a lot of tackles."

Southeast wound up with 333 yards of offense. Britt Mirgaux rushed for 64 yards on nine carries while Justin Martini completed 10 of 21 passes for 88 yards and backup quarterback Jeff Shaw was seven of 11 for 84 yards. Dante Bryant had seven receptions for 79 yards and Leslie Weaver caught five passes for 46 yards.

About the only statistical advantage the Indians had was in time of possession, 31:46 to 28:14 -- and that's because the Raiders were scoring so fast, they rarely held the ball very long on their drives.

After holding Southeast without a first down on the game's opening possession, the Raiders went 64 yards to take an early lead they would never relinquish. McGill did the honors on a 9-yard run just 4:34 into the contest.

MTSU would score on four of its other five first-half possessions, covering 80, 69, 29 and 66 yards. The only Raider possession that failed to produce points in the opening two quarters ended in a missed 31-yard field-goal attempt.

Quinn threw TD passes of 32 yards to Rashad Craft, 37 yards to Matt Lowe and six yards to Gary Davis in the first eight minutes of the second period as the Raiders opened up a 28-0 lead.

Southeast finally got on the board late in the first half, moving 78 yards in 11 plays. Martini hit Bryant with a 5-yard TD pass on fourth-and-goal with 2:43 left. Eric Warren's conversion attempt hit the upright.

But any momentum the Indians might have built through that score was quickly wiped out when the Raiders answered with a touchdown just 15 seconds before the intermission. Quinn hit Tri Heard with a 31-yard TD pass to cap a 66-yard drive.

With a 35-6 halftime score, the second half provided little suspense.

The Raiders made it 42-6 late in the third quarter when Quinn's 2-yard run capped an 89-yard drive.

That touchdown marked the end of a productive day for Quinn -- but not the end of the Raiders' fun.

With backup QB Judd Moore at the helm, MTSU scored twice more, on a 5-yard McGill run early in the fourth quarter and on a 26-yard Moore to Ivan Gaines pass midway through the period.

"We had some people that were questionable in their intensity today," Mumford said. "Some people played hard, but we just have to find the ones that really want to play."