Strengths will collide when MTSU plays North Texas

[Harry]

DENTON, TEXAS North Texas is at its best when defending its house. Middle Tennessee State seems to feel at home on the road.

The two trends clash at 6 p.m. today in a Conference USA showdown that has spanned 13 years and two leagues.

(MTSU has) won a lot of their conference road games the past couple of years, and that takes focus, belief and confidence, North Texas coach Dan McCarney said. Playing on the road usually means adversity, and (MTSU coach Rick Stockstill) has done a great job over the years with getting his team to do a good job of handling that adversity.

MTSU (3-3, 1-1) is coming off a tough 24-17 loss on homecoming to East Division favorite East Carolina. The Blue Raiders hope to head into their bye week with a winning record overall and in C-USA. They have won four of their past five conference road games since falling hard, 59-7, in their most recent trip to North Texass Apogee Stadium in 2011, when both teams were in the Sun Belt.

The road has been kind to MTSU. Stockstill has the same number of wins (23) in road/neutral site games as he does at home over the past eight seasons. And the Blue Raiders have won at least the same or more conference games on the road than at home each of the past four seasons.

Read more: www.tennessean.com/article/20131012/SPORTS06/310120023/Strengths-will-collide-when-MTSU-plays-North-Texas