Middle Tennessee Football: Can Blue Raiders return to winning ways?

After a couple of down seasons, can Rick Stockstill get Middle Tennessee Football back on the winning side?

The 2010s were a pretty good decade for the Middle Tennessee football program. The Blue Raiders had six winning seasons and six bowl appearances and turned into one of the more consistent in Conference USA, after making the jump from the Sun Belt.

Since its last bowl appearance in 2018 however, Middle Tennessee State has gone 7-14 the past two seasons, including several blowout losses in 2020. Head coach Rick Stockstill is hoping that several transfers on the offensive side of the football can rejuvenate that side of the ball and after 15 years in Murfreesboro, Stockstill has the confidence of the fanbase.

Middle Tennessee is a former FCS program that some thought made the jump to Division-I football much too soon.

The Blue Raiders struggled in their first few seasons at the highest level until they decided to hire Rick Stockstill. In his first season with the program, Stockstill went 7-6 and got Middle Tennessee to a bowl game, which was a huge surprise. After a couple of 5-7 seasons, Middle Tennessee won double-digit games by going 10-3 and winning the New Orleans bowl. Stockstill has turned this into a consistent program, but the last two seasons have been tough going.

The program has been led by a high-powered offense in recent seasons, but the surprising decision by quarterback Asher O’Hara to transfer to the FCS level after being named to the all-conference team a season ago caught the program off guard.

Middle Tennessee is relying on transfers at several positions, including quarterback, where former NC State and Florida State quarterback Bailey Hockman will be the presumed starter. This Middle Tennessee team returns loads of experience and has talented transfers coming in, making this a prime spot for a bounceback season.