Middle Tennessee, in its ninth season under coach Rick Stockstill, is still looking for its first conference title.

Whether this season proves to be the one remains to be seen, but Stockstill continues to plug along. He sits at 52-50 overall and has been to the top – and the bottom – during his tenure at the Murfreesboro school.

The Blue Raiders (1-1) tied for a Sun Belt Conference title in 2006, won 10 games in 2009 and have been to four bowl games under Stockstill, winning one of those. He also endured a 2-10 season in 2011.

Stockstill’s latest squad hopes to ride a strong running game and good defense to compete for an East Division title in Conference USA.

“I guess the big thing, I’ve been pleased with how hard we’ve played and competed, been pleased with the toughness that we’ve played with,” Stockstill said this week. “I think we’ve done some good things on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game.

“Disappointments, I guess, would be turnovers. We’ve had six turnovers now in two games. A couple of them happened Saturday against Minnesota that were very, very unfortunate. But at the end of the day they’re still turnovers. So we’ve got to get that corrected.”

Stockstill, the third-winningest coach in MTSU history, has victories over Memphis, Maryland and Georgia Tech during his career at Middle. This year’s team missed a chance to knock off Minnesota last week – but gets No. 25 BYU at home Nov. 1.

The Raiders also are trying to improve on an 8-5 season last year, their first in C-USA.

“I think they are an experienced team who has won a lot of ballgames in the past,” WKU coach Jeff Brohm said. “They came into Conference USA last year and went 6-2. They went to a bowl game, won eight games, and their defense is very sound. They try not to give up the big play. They are a veteran group. On offense, they spread the field. They have a young quarterback who has played well the first few weeks. It presents challenges for us. They know what they are doing and have a staff who has been there for a while. I just think it’s going to be a very tough ballgame for us.”

The young quarterback Brohm alluded to is Austin Grammer, a redshirt-sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Ala., in his first season as the team’s full-time starter. He played in 10 games in 2013, rushing for 169 yards and passing for 190.

In the first two games of this season, Grammer (6-2, 204) is 37-for-53 for 505 yards and two scores.

“(He’s) been very solid,” Stockstill said. “Had done a nice job protecting the ball (until) the Minnesota game. Like I said, two of his interceptions there were kind of, very unfortunate with how it happened. But he’s done a nice job running our offense. For the most part he’s kept the ball out of harm’s way. He’s extended some plays with his feet. After two games, he’s done a nice, solid job.”

Helping Grammer’s cause is MTSU’s ability to run the ball with the two-headed monster that is redshirt-senior Reggie Whatley and junior Jordan Parker. The two have combined for 259 yards on 23 carries each. Parker has led the team each of the past two seasons in rushing.

Redshirt-junior Darius Johnson (6-3, 300), a honorable mention all-conference selection in 2013, anchors the offensive line.

“You don’t really prepare differently for the backs,” Ken Delgado, WKU defensive ends coach said. “What you got to do is prepare for the blocking schemes. Once you understand the blocking schemes, where everybody fits, then you got to tackle the back.

“They have an all-conference player at their offensive left tackle, the right tackle’s a good player – they’re the experienced part of their offensive line. We’re a multiple defense and we have many fronts and we do a lot of blitzes, so really it’s kind of built in already for us to take advantage and really stress the offensive line and their blocking skills.”

The Middle Tennesse defense has only allowed a total of 151 yards after two games and junior linebacker T.T. Barber and redshirt-junior safety Kevin Byard were both preseason all-conference selections.

Where MTSU has struggled is defending the run, giving up 214.5 yards per game and 284 rushing yards total to Minnesota.

“We’re not going to really change up what we do,” redshirt-senior linebacker Leighton Gasque said. “It’s going to take playing smart, playing hard with effort and do what we do best in using our speed. We have to make sure we tackle, because like in the Minnesota game, we had bad tackling. This game, we’ll make sure we wrap up and run our feet and play the way we usually play up to our standards.”

The Blue Raiders also play at Memphis as part of their nonconference schedule and only have one stretch of consecutive road games – next week in Memphis and the following Saturday at Old Dominion. The team’s conference schedule includes home matchups with Southern Mississippi, Alabama-Birmingham and Florida Atlantic to go along with trips to ODU, Marshall, Florida International and Texas El-Paso.

For Stockstill, the road to that elusive second league title begins Saturday.

“You want to win all your conference games and you’d like to start out 1-0,” he said. “If you don’t, it’s not the end of the season. We are just worried about us. We’ve got some mistakes we’ve got to get corrected. We’ve got to worry about us. We can’t control what Western Kentucky is going to do. Obviously, you’d like to start out 1-0.”

Saturday’s game to air locally in Bowling Green

WKU-PBS in Bowling Green has been cleared to broadcast Western Kentucky’s game against Middle Tennessee.

WKU PBS airs locally in Bowling Green on channel 11 or 917 on Time Warner, or channel 24 on Dish Network. The station can also be picked up on an over-the-air antenna on channel 24.1

Produced and originated by MyNashville 30, the broadcast will have play-by-play coverage from the Middle Tennessee perspective, featuring the “Voice of the Blue Raiders,” Chip Walters and analyst Dennis Burke.

— Follow Western Kentucky University beat reporter Chad Bishop on Twitter at twitter.com/MrChadBishop or visit bgdailynews.com.