Coach David Elson made a pretty simple statement following Western’s 21-10 loss to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday.

“It’s beginning to be a broken record,” Elson said.

If things truly have become a broken record, the record player is probably tripped up on the song about defensive struggles on third down and troubles rushing the ball on offense.

Saturday’s game was more of the same for Western.

A Western run game that accumulated just 68 yards and a defense that couldn’t seem to find a way to slow down MTSU on third down.

The Blue Raiders converted nine of 17 times on third down, seemingly always finding a way to get MTSU a first down.

“We just didn’t come up with the play on third and long,” Elson said. “They did a good job, and you’ve got to give them credit.”

Of those nine times, the Blue Raiders converted five times on third down and 10-yard plus situations.

“It’s just a call here or there or better pressure or coverage,” Elson said. “For some reason, we can’t get that right rhythm going, and it starts with me.”

And after each conversion, the season-low 11,817 crowd found themselves without a lot to cheer for.

Elson said that nothing changed schematically on third down for Western.

“We mixed it up pretty good,” Elson said. “A couple three-man rushes, couple four-man rushes. We pressured on that touchdown pass.”

While Western wasn’t credited for any hurries on MTSU quarterback Joe Craddock, the team was credited with five pass break-ups.

“We had quite a few third and tens, third and longs, and we didn’t do a good job of executing our defense,” freshman free safety Mark Santoro said. “We preach trying to get the ball back to the offense with a short field.”

On average, Western started at its own 27-yard line in the game.

The loss came in Western’s final home game this season. The Topper’s 20 seniors were honored before the game as well but didn’t leave with a win.

“I apologized to (the seniors),” Elson said. “There’s not a better group, man. I’m telling you. They’ve been unbelievable with the way that they have persevered and endured through this from day one.”

Senior quarterback David Wolke said that if he could figure Western’s problems out the team would probably win.

“I really don’t know,” Wolke said. “I do a lot of soul searching a lot of times, along with the rest of the team. People need to understand that we all care and we all want to win. We put a lot of work into this game, and I just really couldn’t tell you.”

Wolke completed 18 of 30 passes for 213 yards and one touchdown, a 31-yard pass to junior wide receiver Jake Gaebler.

“The most important thing we haven’t done is win enough,” Wolke said.

The Toppers have somewhat of a scheduling oddity as they take a break for three weeks before playing Florida International at 6 p.m. on Dec. 6 in Miami, Fla.