The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders finished last season 8-5. After a stunning 52-35 defeat at the hands of Hawaii (a 6-7 bowl qualifier) in the Hawaii Bowl, MTSU entered the offseason with a lot of questions.
Namely, how can this defense get better? How do they replace the production of I’Tavius Mathers? How do they catch Western Kentucky?
Well, 2017 is shaping up to be the perfect storm for a Blue Raider championship run. Jeff Brohm left WKU to take the Purdue job, and the Hilltoppers have lost a lot of talent. Sure, there’s still plenty of talent there, but in a transition year, the C-USA throne appears ripe for the taking.
Rick Stockstill has been the face of the Blue Raiders program for 12 years now. Of that 12, he’s only had four losing seasons (and one of those four was a 6-7 season where the seventh loss came in a bowl game). He’s taken six teams to bowl games. But, he’s only won one of those bowls. Some say the clock is starting to tick on Stockstill, but I don’t buy it. He is an underrated college football coach, and he’s still a few bad seasons away from a hot seat.
That said, he may never find a better opportunity to break through and win a conference championship than this season. Why?
Brent Stockstill and Richie James
This is a classic ‘chicken or the egg’ debate – I mean, really, you can’t go wrong calling either of these guys being the key cog on that potent vertical passing attack. Stockstill threw 31 touchdowns with only seven interceptions last year. He will be one of the elite C-USA passers next year, and could sneak into the top 10 nationally. James finished 4th in all of college football last season with 1,625 yards. His 12 touchdowns weren’t too shabby either. Forget about C-USA. This should be one of the greatest QB-WR tandems in all of college football this season.
Lest we forget, Ty Lee is coming back, too. This is going to be a formidable receiving corps. The key to this offense is going to be an offensive line with only two returning starters and replacing the production that Mathers had in the running game. But, with all of the talent around them, it doesn’t seem implausible.
New Defensive Coordinator
Hiring former Syracuse head coach, Scott Shafer, as defensive coordinator was one of the best coaching moves in the C-USA. But, the man has his work cut out for him. Last year, the Blue Raiders defense was gashed by opposing rushers, and it did little to help the secondary, too. If they can play better along the defensive front, a secondary that was decent in 2016 should play even better in 2017. High tide raises all ships, right? The defensive end transfer from Missouri, Walter Brady, should help bolster this unit.
Schedule
The C-USA schedule shouldn’t exactly be a murderer’s row, but the four games before it starts could prove tricky for MTSU. They’ll open the season against Vanderbilt on 9/2, followed by back-to-back trips to Syracuse and Minnesota. Then, they’ll return home for a game opposite Bowling Green (OH). If they can finish that stretch at least 2-2, they’ll be in good shape, and a 2-2 start doesn’t seem out of the question.
Outlook: It’s August – sure, it seems a little premature to say it all comes down to ‘one game,’ but the last two games on MTSU’s schedule could determine whether they’re playing for their first C-USA Championship or watching from home. The Blue Raiders travel to Bowling Green for a Friday night game with Western Kentucky on November 17. The season concludes with a home game against an underrated Old Dominion squad on November 25.
If MTSU can win both of those games, they have an excellent chance of winning the C-USA Championship.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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