Aggies Fall Apart

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Dwone Hicks ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns to lead Middle Tennessee to a 45-28 victory over Utah State on Saturday.

Hicks surpassed the 100-yard mark for the fifth straight game. He also went over 1,000 yards rushing (1,011) for the third straight season.

The Blue Raiders (4-8) took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and held on despite 426 yards passing by Jose Fuentes, who led the comeback for Utah State (4-7).

Fuentes completed a 16-yard pass to Kevin Curtis, setting up James Samuel's 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down. Utah State took advantage of a 10-yard punt to cut the lead to 17-14 with 1:47 left in the half. Fuentes connected with Curtis for a 3-yard touchdown.

The Blue Raiders put the game away in the second half with 21 unanswered points. Andrico Hines threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Chris Henry with 9:04 left in the third quarter. Hicks added a 6-yard touchdown with 3:17 left in the quarter, capping a drive which included a 69-yard shuttle pass from Hines to Hicks.

Hines scored from 4 yards out with 13:28 remaining.

Fuentes, who completed 31 of 53 passes for 426 yards and three touchdowns, threw a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter, 79 yards to Curtis and 5 yards to Chris Cooley.

Middle Tennessee also scored in the fourth quarter when Dennis Burke ran 61 yards with a recovered fumble.

Scoring Summary

1st QUARTER		SCORE
10:10	TD Middle Tennessee State DWONE HICKS 4 YD RUN (BRIAN KELLY KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 58 yards	7-0, Middle Tennessee State
7:33	TD Middle Tennessee State DON CALLOWAY 63 YD RUN (BRIAN KELLY KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 93 yards	14-0, Middle Tennessee State
2nd QUARTER		SCORE
11:34	TD Utah State JAMES SAMUEL 1 YD RUN (DANE KIDMAN KICK) Drive info: 14 plays, 75 yards	14-7, Middle Tennessee State
5:20	FG Middle Tennessee State BRIAN KELLY 20 YD FG Drive info: 4 plays, 8 yards	17-7, Middle Tennessee State
1:47	TD Utah State KEVIN CURTIS 3 YD PASS FROM JOSE FUENTES (DANE KIDMAN KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 25 yards	17-14, Middle Tennessee State
3rd QUARTER		SCORE
9:04	TD Middle Tennessee State CHRIS HENRY 44 YD PASS FROM ANDRICO HINES (BRIAN KELLY KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 55 yards	24-14, Middle Tennessee State
3:17	TD Middle Tennessee State DWONE HICKS 6 YD RUN (BRIAN KELLY KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 79 yards	31-14, Middle Tennessee State
4th QUARTER		SCORE
13:20	TD Middle Tennessee State ANDRICO HINES 4 YD RUN (BRIAN KELLY KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 72 yards	38-14, Middle Tennessee State
12:28	TD Utah State KEVIN CURTIS 79 YD PASS FROM JOSE FUENTES (FAILED 2PT PASS) Drive info: 2 plays, 85 yards	38-20, Middle Tennessee State
9:42	TD Middle Tennessee State DENNIS BURKE 61 YD DEFENSIVE FUMBLE RETURN (BRIAN KELLY KICK)	45-20, Middle Tennessee State
5:02	TD Utah State CHRIS COOLEY 5 YD PASS FROM JOSE FUENTES (CASEY POPPINGA 2PT PASS FROM JOSE FUENTES) Drive info: 11 plays, 46 yards	45-28, Middle Tennessee State

TEAM STATISTICS
	Utah State	Middle Tenn. St.

TOTAL FIRST DOWNS	18	18
Passing	14	5
Rushing	1	12
Penalty	3	1
3rd-Down Efficiency	6-16	7-16
4th-Down Efficiency	1-3	0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS	453	492
Total plays	80	75
Average gain	5.7	6.6
NET YARDS RUSHING	11	316
Rushes	23	53
Average per rush	0.5	6.0
NET YARDS PASSING	442	176
Completion-attempted	32-54	11-20
Yards per pass	7.8	8.0
Sacked-yards lost	3-21	2-9
Had intercepted	1	1
PUNTS-AVERAGE	6-46.2	6-34.5
RETURN YARDAGE	45	71
Punts-yards	5-45	1-1
Kickoffs-yards	3-39	4-24
Interceptions-yards	1-0	1-0
PENALTIES-YARDS	13-115	9-55
FUMBLES-LOST	5-3	2-0
TIME OF POSSESSION	28:59	31:01

Passing

UTAH STATE	CMP	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Jose Fuentes	31	53	426	3	1
Kevin Curtis	1	1	16	0	0
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	CMP	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Andrico Hines	11	20	176	1	1

Rushing

UTAH STATE	ATT	YDS	TD
James Samuel	14	29	1
Richard Watson	2	8	0
Kevin Curtis	1	3	0
Jose Fuentes	4	-15	0
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	ATT	YDS	TD
Dwone Hicks	27	169	2
Don Calloway	9	86	1
Andrico Hines	12	59	1
Rashard Lee	2	5	0
Wardell Alsup	1	-1	0

Receiving

UTAH STATE	REC	YDS	TD
Kevin Curtis	13	177	2
Chris Cooley	5	105	1
Gary Coleman	5	83	0
Casey Poppinga	2	29	0
James Samuel	2	9	0
Chris Stallworth	2	8	0
Jose Fuentes	1	16	0
Donta' Candler	1	9	0
Derek Jeffery	1	6	0
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	REC	YDS	TD
Tyrone Calico	4	32	0
Chris Henry	3	57	1
Dwone Hicks	1	69	0
Wardell Alsup	1	9	0
John Madrick	1	5	0
Nick McAfee	1	4	0

Punting

UTAH STATE	PUNTS	YDS	LONG
Steve Mullins	6	277	67
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	PUNTS	YDS	LONG
Robert Billings	6	207	47

Kick Returns

UTAH STATE	RET	YDS	LONG
David Fiefia	1	42	42
Jerome Dennis	1	0	0
Nick George	1	-3	-3
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	RET	YDS	LONG
Kerry Wright	1	16	16
Dennis Burke	1	8	8
David Youell	1	0	0
Quan Domineck	1	0	0

Punt Returns

UTAH STATE	RET	YDS	LONG
David Fiefia	4	37	13
Kevin Curtis	1	8	8
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	RET	YDS	LONG
David Youell	1	1	1

Interceptions

UTAH STATE	INT	YDS
Derrek Shank	1	0
MIDDLE TENN. ST.	INT	YDS
Muhammad Rashada	1	0

ATTENDANCE: 3,418