Middle Tennessee football dropped its first game of the season on Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, falling 52-3 to No. 6 Ole Miss.

The Blue Raiders (1-1) struggled to find rhythm in a first half that was almost all the Rebels (2-0), who were outgaining MTSU over six yards to one (357-57) before MTSU's final drive of the half, a 61-yard drive capped off by a 32-yard field goal from Zeke Rankin. Ole Miss score points on its first five drives of the game, being held to a field goal on the first drive before scoring four straight possessions on rushing touchdowns, leading at halftime 31-3.

The pace slowed only slightly in the second half, with MTSU twice getting into the red zone but were unable to convert those drives into points with a Rebel interception and failed fourth down conversion keeping the Blue Raiders off the scoreboard in the final 30 minutes. Holden Willis caught seven passes for 94 yards to lead the Blue Raiders in the air. Five Blue Raiders finished the day with at least six tackles, led by 12 from safety Brendon Harris.

By the Numbers

251: Passing yards from the Blue Raiders, 209 from Nick Vattiato and 42 from Roman Gagliano in his first collegiate appearance. Ole Miss gained more yards on the ground (258) than the Blue Raiders gained in the air.

3: Sacks for the Blue Raiders, one of a handful of stat categories MTSU beat Ole Miss in on Saturday (3-2).

70: Yards receiving from Cam'Ron Lacy, a career high for the redshirt freshman.

Blue Raider Notes

• OL Mateo Guevara, who made her first collegiate start last week, made his first-ever start at center against Ole Miss. Regular center Julius Pierce went down with a leg injury against Tennessee Tech.
• The Blue Raiders have now had 24 games (11 were Top 10) against ranked opponents since joining the FBS ranks in 1999. It also marked the seventh-straight year MTSU has faced a ranked foe.
• True freshman Zach Clayton made his first collegiate start at right tackle.
• CB Abdul Muhammad made his first FBS start against Ole Miss.

Offensive Player Notes

#5 | Myles Butler | WR | r-Jr. 

• Tallied 29 yards on three catches.

#11 | Nicholas Vattiato | QB | r-Jr. 

• Made his team-leading 14th straight start today at Ole Miss.
• With 209 passing yards today, Vattiato ran his career total to 4.851, which moved him past Teddy Morris for 8th place on the all-time list.
• Vattiato notched his 16th career 200-yard passing game in 22 games played. That ranks fifth all-time and he needs two more to tie Wes Counts and Clint Marks for third place.

#16 | Roman Gagliano | QB | Fr.

• Made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter today against Ole Miss.
• He notched 52 passing yards, going 5-8 in his first game as a Blue Raider. 

#83 | Holden Willis | TE | r-Sr. 

• Led the team in receiving yards with 94 yards on seven catches.

#86 | Cam'Ron Lacy | WR | r-Fr. 

• Set a career high in receiving yards against Ole Miss, tallying 70 yards for the second-most on the team.

Defensive Player Notes

#7 | Brendon Harris | S | Gr. 

• Played in his 50th career collegiate game today, which ranks as the most among all current Blue Raiders.
• Turned in a career-high 11 tackles by halftime and finished the game with 12 total stops to lead the Blue Raiders.

#31 | John Howse IV | S | r-Jr. 

• Coming off his best game as a collegian, Howse was sterling at Ole Miss. The junior had six tackles to go with a career-best 2.0 tackles for loss and his first career sack.

#36 | Jordan Thompson | LB | r-Fr.

• Notched his first career sack in the third quarter against Ole Miss.

Special Teams Player Notes

#7 | Zeke Rankin | PK | r-Sr. 

• Rankin's 32-yard field goal in the second quarter was the 38th of his career, which ties him with Garth Petrilli for fourth place all-time.

#97 | Grant Chadwick | P | Fr. 

• Handled kickoff duties for the first time this season, while also punting.

Thoughts from Head Coach Derek Mason 

"This football team went out and played a really good Ole Miss football team. So first of all, I've got to give credit to Ole Miss. They're good, they're physical, they're talented across the board in all three phases.

"For our football team, I thought we learned a lot about ourselves. This is a game that's got be played. With that, there's opportunities to be better. I wanted to see us withstand the first wave, because there's always that 8-to-10 minutes in a ball game where we see this wave, especially for a non-ranked team playing a ranked team, sometimes. What you have to do is swim through it. I just didn't think we handled that initially. Didn't play a great first half."

Up Next

The Blue Raiders return to Murfreesboro to renew their rivalry against Western Kentucky. Kickoff on Saturday, September 14 from Floyd Stadium is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Network.