MTSU expects big crowd for BYU game

MURFREESBORO – Brigham Young will be the second former Football Bowl Subdivision national champion to play MTSU in Floyd Stadium on Saturday.

And one of the biggest crowds in the Blue Raiders (5-3) history is expected to be on hand when they try to become bowl eligible for the third straight season.

MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro said the number of tickets sold to BYU and other Mormon-affiliated groups is among the most ever sold to a visiting team.

“BYU has got about 4,000 tickets,” Massaro said. “They sold about 1,000 through their ticket office in Utah and there’s been probably about 3,000 through various BYU-affiliated groups.

“We’re tracking a little behind where Georgia Tech was at a similar time. ... Georgia Tech and BYU, those are going to be about the largest visitors (crowd) we’ve had in our stadium by far. Georgia Tech was close to about 4,000 tickets as well.”

The Yellow Jackets, the only other national championship-winning team to play against MTSU in Floyd Stadium, played in Murfreesboro in 2011.

The game still holds the record — 30,502 — for the largest crowd in stadium history. Capacity is 30,788.

“When you include our season ticket holders and what not, right now, we’re expecting a crowd between 22,000 to 28,000,” Massaro said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints groups from Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi and throughout Tennessee have purchased tickets.

“A lot of our sales come from walkups,” Massaro said. “Sometimes, advance sales don’t really tell you a lot.”

The advance sales could have been even higher if BYU hadn’t hit a rough patch. The Cougars (4-4) began the season 4-0 and were ranked as high as No. 18 in the Associated Press poll before losing their last four games after starting quarterback Taysom Hill suffered a season-ending leg injury.

“I have heard (BYU) will bring a lot (of fans),” MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said. “I can only appeal to our fans and our students.

“We need to make our stadium loud and we don’t need to be outnumbered by BYU. We need for our fans to show up early, buy tickets and make it difficult for them to get into the stadium.”

MTSU is averaging 18,314 fans this season.

“There will be a boisterous visitor section, so we need to make sure that the home side really gets behind their team,” Massaro said. “We’ve won seven straight home games, so we’ve really tried to make Floyd Stadium a difficult place to come in and win.”

NEXT GAME

MTSU (5-3) vs. BYU (4-4)

When: 2:30 p.m., Saturday

TV/Radio: CBS Sports Network / 102.5-FM