MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — For the Middle Tennessee State University football team, big plays brought the biggest win in program history.
And for Miami, there are big problems.
Chase Cunningham passed for 408 yards and three touchdowns, including a 98-yarder to DJ England-Chisholm, and the Blue Raiders stunned No. 25 Miami, 45-31, for their first win in 21 tries against ranked opponents.
"It was a butt kicking from the very beginning," MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said.
He wasn't wrong. MTSU (3-1) never trailed, forced turnovers on Miami's first three possessions, stopped the Atlantic Coast Conference's Hurricanes (2-2) on downs on three other occasions, and scored on passes of 69, 71 and 98 yards — and had another 89-yard completion that wasn't a touchdown.
Those four plays alone added up to 327 yards, or 63 more than Miami allowed in its entire game last weekend in a loss to Southeastern Conference opponent Texas A&M.
"They coached better than us, they played better than us," Miami first-year coach Mario Cristobal said. "They were better. We didn't do a good enough job. There's no excuse. Real men look in the mirror and do something about it and don't allow any cracks to happen from the inside. We all came here for a purpose and a reason. We've got a lot of work to do."
England-Chisholm caught two passes: a 71-yard touchdown in the first quarter and the 98-yarder to help seal the upset for the Conference USA program from Murfreesboro.
Cunningham was 16-of-25 passing, including a 69-yard touchdown to Elijah Metcalf. Cunningham and Frank Peasant also ran for scores for the Blue Raiders, and defensive end Zaylin Wood returned an interception for a touchdown.
"I trust my guys to the end, and they won every single time," Cunningham said.
Key'Shawn Smith returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown for Miami, which never escaped the early hole it dug. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke — the ACC rookie of the year last season — was pulled in the third quarter and replaced by Jake Garcia.
Van Dyke was 16-of-32 for 138 yards, with a touchdown to Henry Parrish Jr. and interceptions on Miami's first and third plays from scrimmage. Garcia was 10-of-19 for 161 yards for the Hurricanes, who heard plenty of boos from the fans who showed up to what was not even a half-filled stadium. Most were long gone before the final whistle.
"We looked at that team, 'Oh, we're going to win this game,'" Miami offensive lineman Jalen Rivers said. "So we came in obviously unmotivated ... and we got punched in the mouth."
Defensive back Kam Kinchens was more direct: "Everybody played horrible."
Garcia entered midway through the third quarter and brought an immediate spark. He engineered a five-play, 72-yard touchdown drive — fueled by passes of 39 and 23 yards, Miami's two biggest gains of the day to that point — and got the Hurricanes within 31-17 on a 1-yard rush by Thad Franklin, the first of his two scores.
The win was a long time coming for Stockstill, who played his college football at Florida State, Miami's big rival even before both were ACC programs. The Seminoles went 0-2 in games that Stockstill played against the Hurricanes in 1980 and 1981.
Those games were close. This one wasn't.
And while a blowout might have been expected with Miami entering as a 25.5-point favorite, few people, if anyone, would have dared to say it would be the Blue Raiders doing the romping. They even had oddsmakers scrambling; MTSU actually became the betting favorite to win by the midpoint of the second quarter, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
"We came down here, and I told them Michael Irvin and Ray Lewis and those guys weren't coming out of that tunnel," said Stockstill, who had some family, friends and former Florida State teammates on the trip. "We came down here with a strong belief and just a great, great competitive spirit."
It was 10-0 before Miami got on the board, then 24-3 early in the second quarter when Cunningham scored on a 9-yard rush. The Hurricanes never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Miami had a chance to get within a touchdown on fourth-and-goal at the 1 on the opening play of the fourth quarter, but Garcia's pass couldn't be controlled by tight end Will Mallory, causing a turnover on downs. The next play, England-Chisolm got loose down the left sideline for the second-longest pass ever allowed by the Hurricanes. (Jamison Crowder had a 99-yard TD reception for Duke in a loss to Miami in 2012.)
It was only a matter of time before MTSU could truly start the celebration.
"A lot of people doubted us," said receiver Jaylin Lane, who had the 89-yard catch. "But this shows all about our perseverance."
The Blue Raiders went to the upper level of college football, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, in 1999. Entering Saturday, they were 0-20 against opponents that were ranked in the AP Top 25 when those games were played and had been outscored by 585 points (868-283).
However, MTSU is now 3-0 against Miami, with the other wins coming in 1931 and 1932. The Hurricanes never held the lead in any of those games.