Middle Tennessee football looking to return to bowl after injury-plagued 2019

How will Middle Tennessee football fare in 2020?

It should be noted, these predictions are made with the assumption of no injuries and nothing related to COVID-19 impacts the season.

• Game 1: at Duke (L) — The Blue Devils are no ACC heavyweight, but they will score at will on the Blue Raiders’ defense.
• Game 2: vs. Indiana State (W) — Blue Raiders get their first win of the season against Indiana State, a mid-level FCS program.
• Game 3: vs. Virginia Tech (L) — MTSU surprisingly get the Hokies in Murfreesboro, but that won’t make that big of a difference as the Hokies have top 20 potential this season.
• Game 4: at Old Dominion (W) — ODU only won one game last season and boast an offense that was really bad last year. MTSU gets a key road victory.
• Game 5: vs. Western Kentucky (L) — The Hilltoppers will have one of the best defenses in the group of five and that will be enough to halt a dangerous MTSU offense.
• Game 6: at Florida International (L) — FIU is missing a lot of pieces from last year’s bowl team, but the game is on the road and the Panthers should have an idea of their playmakers are at this point in the season.
• Game 7: vs. North Texas (L) — The Mean Green pull the upset on the road because of an explosive offense.
• Game 8: at Rice (W) — The Blue Raiders will go on the road and get a much-needed win against a struggling offense.
• Game 9: vs. Charlotte (W) –The 49ers will be a threat on offense, but I think the Blue Raiders can win this one in a shootout.
• Game 10: at Marshall (L) — Marshall is bringing back a lot of experience and are tough team to beat at home.
• Game 11: at UConn (W) — MTSU should be able to put enough points on a struggling Huskies program to get a win.
• Game 12: vs. Florida Atlantic (L) — FAU is one of the favorites to win the conference behind all conference QB Chris Robison and will be tough to stop.

Final Record: 5-7, 3-5 C-USA

MTSU is a bit of a hard team to project wins for because I don’t see their defense improving all that much. The offense can put points on anyone they play, aside from maybe Virginia Tech, but the defense is going to struggle to stop just about anyone. There are winnable games on the schedule however and at the very least, MTSU will be entertaining to watch.