Georgia Football 2018 Preview: Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

Who were they in 2017?

The Raiders started their season with three straight power 5 teams in Vanderbilt, Syracuse, and Minnesota. They lost two of those but managed to pull off a surprise 30-23 win over a Syracuse team that famously beat playoff team Clemson in October. That was a really good win and showed the football world that these guys are not to ignored.

As their season went on, Middle Tennessee ended up putting together a pretty decent season. They ended up winning 7 games including a bowl game victory over Arkansas State. That was probably the high point of their season other than the Syracuse win. Of their 6 losses, 2 were to FAU and UAB, two of the better lower level teams last year. They also did this without their 2 best players for much of the season. QB Brent Stockstill and WR Richie James both missed half of the season with injuries.

The Bowl game victory was a big deal for the Blue Raiders. It was only their 2nd since 1964 and their 4th in school history. Traditionally, this is not a power program. Head coach Rick Stockstill has been with the team for 14 seasons and half of those had winning records. He has put together one double-digit winning season and that was back in 2009.

That being said, they remain competitive. Back in 2011, they won just 2 games, but since then, they have always won at least 6. While they don’t tend to compete for the Conference USA title, they are by no means the walkover of the division.