MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee ensured that history wouldn’t repeat itself against geographic rival Western on Saturday.

The Blue Raiders (4-3, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference) scored 31 straight points in the first half and defeated Western (0-7, 0-3 Sun Belt Conference) 62-24 in front of an announced crowd of 17,787 at Floyd Stadium.

Head Coach David Elson said the Blue Raiders’ second-quarter onslaught could be partially attributed to penalties and the poor field position that resulted from them.

“Bottom line is, they hit some big pass plays and we kept three-and-outing,” Elson said. “Every time we felt like we were starting to gain on them, we made a mistake.”

Western’s last and only  victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent came in Murfreesboro in 2007. The Toppers leave MTSU with a 15-game losing streak.

Aided by 30 penalty yards against the Blue Raiders, Western broke out to an early 3-0 lead on a field goal by sophomore Casey Tinius. MTSU matched with a field goal less than three minutes later and took a 31-10 lead into halftime.

The Toppers scored on the final play of the first half with a 42-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Kawaun Jakes to senior receiver Jake Gaebler, who marked his third score in three games against MTSU.

Gaebler found the end zone again in the second half and became Western’s first 100-yard receiver of the season in his first-ever multi-touchdown game. Gaebler said the effort isn’t lacking from the Toppers – just the execution.

“It’s not like guys aren’t working hard and we don’t care,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can. Eventually it will click for us, and right now it’s not.”

One play before Gaebler’s first touchdown reception, Jakes scrambled for 36 yards in MTSU territory. Minus those two long plays, Western totalled 28 total yards of offense in the first half. Quarterbacking duties were split between Jakes and senior Brandon Smith, who led the Toppers with 34 yards rushing.

For the game, MTSU junior quarterback Dwight  Dasher threw for a career-high 355 yards, accounting for more than half of the Blue Raiders’ 646 yards of total offense.

Blue Raiders senior receiver Patrick Honeycutt caught three passes in the first half for 49 yards – all of which came on third-down conversions. According to sophomore defensive end Jared Clendenin, the defensive breakdowns came when the Toppers gave Dasher too much time to throw.

“They caught us on a couple of long passes, and we had a hard time containing Dwight Dasher, so that’s pretty much all there is with that,” Clendenin said. “We didn’t get enough pressure on them with our three-man rush. Our (defensive backs) did a pretty good job on them, but they can’t cover them forever.”

The defeat was Western’s worst since losing 63-7 at Tennessee on Sept. 5, when Elson attributed the loss to a difference in personnel. This time, he said the Toppers don’t have any excuses.

“They just beat us,” Elson said. “Our guys fought until the bitter end, but the score says it well enough. It got away from us.”