Raiders have annual Beanie Bowl

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - With the season opener against McNeese State only 10 days away, Middle Tennessee seventh-year head football coach Rick Stockstill put his team through a dress rehearsal of sorts at Floyd Stadium Monday afternoon.

Middle Tennessee will kick off the 2012 campaign when it hosts McNeese State Aug. 30 at 6:30 p.m., and the Blue Raiders were put through every situation possibly imagined during the scripted scrimmage.

"It was a scripted practice where we went through different kicking plays that can occur in a game from onsides to hands teams to kick after a safety, a return after a safety, a regular kickoff, kickoff return punt safe and punt block," said Stockstill. "Then we put the first-team offense against the second-team defense in certain situations during a 10-play drive."

Not only did players go through the pregame and various situations created by the coaching staff but the Blue Raider offensive and defensive scout teams represented the Cowboys' offense and defense, respectively.

Attention to detail was prevalent throughout the scrimmage, from prior to kick-off when Stockstill addressed where players would be on the sideline, to the flip of the coin and other various situations throughout the nearly three-hour workout. Coaches wore headsets and relayed the plays onto the field from the press box. Officials were working the field and replay officials were in the booth.

As important as the run-through is for the players, Stockstill says it is equally important for the coaches.

As important as the run-through is for the players, Stockstill says it is equally important for the coaches and everyone who is involved with the program during the course of the game.

"A lot of times people think this is just for the players but this is a very valuable practice for our coaches as well," said Stockstill. "We work on everything from the pregame warm-up to the coin toss. It's all very important and we want to make sure everybody knows what to do during any type of situation."

Plays went according to a pre-determined script regardless of what the outcome of a particular play may have been.

"No matter what happened on the play, whether it was a 40-yard gain or a 10-yard sack, we moved the ball on the next play to a different situation," said Stockstill. "We did this so our coaches can call a game with 2nd-and-5, 3rd-and-2 or whatever, while also working in various kicking situations. Everybody had to be alert and attentive on the sidelines with our substitutions."

The Blue Raiders will practice again Tuesday at 7:10 PM and it will be closed.

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