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Conference USA is going to be the hardest one to completely get used to this football season. They lost a whack of their “brand name” schools to the American Athletic Conference to the point that nearly half the conference are new programs, with additions from the Sun Belt and the Western Athletic Conferences.
Expectations were high for Mike Price at UTEP, but the program just never got going under Price. He retired at the end of last season, and Sean Kugler is now the head man of the Miners football program. Kugler is a 1989 graduate of UTEP.
There is no doubt that Middle Tennessee State University will be up against a tougher class of opponents this year in Conference USA. The Sun Belt improved while MTSU was there, but Conference USA has more depth and a lot more very good offenses. The Blue Raiders will have to raise their level of play in 2013. The Blue Raiders won eight games a year ago, but weren’t invited to a bowl game. The team is still upset about that snub.
Conference USA 2013 College Football Previews: MTSU Blue Raiders (Team Link)
Head Coach: Rick Stockstill
2012 Record: 8-5
MTSU Gambling Odds to win BCS Championship: +2,000 (Part of Field)
MTSU Gambling Odds to win Conference USA East Division: +410
MTSU Gambling Odds to win Conference USA: +875
MTSU returns nine starters on the offensive side of the ball. They also return seven starters from a defense that was much improved in 2012. The defense in particular will be tested much more in this conference, and they’ll need to be ready for a heavy dose of lots of passing from just about every team in this league. How will MTSU fare in its first year in Conference USA?
Logan Kilgore is a talented senior quarterback leading the show for the Blue Raiders. Kilgore is an athletic quarterback who makes plays happen at the right time.
He doesn’t have the huge statistics that some other quarterbacks in this conference have, but he is a great leader for this offense. Kilgore is one of those guys with the “it” factor.
Kevin Byard and Jimmy Staten give the team star power on the defense. Byard is only a sophomore, but he was amazing in his freshman season last year at strong safety. Staten is a big defensive tackle who does a great job plugging up the running lanes.
Jordan Parker was the team’s leading rusher as a freshman last year, and he could easily have a breakout season as a sophomore. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
MTSU doesn’t have any real play makers at the linebacker spot on the defense. Because of this, the Blue Raiders aren’t able to stop their opponent in the backfield very often or get a very good pass rush on the quarterback without committing players from their secondary. MTSU was one of the worst teams in the nation at getting sacks last year, and that will need to change if they are going to have any success in Conference USA.
The Blue Raiders offense racked up a lot of yardage last season, but they have to improve when it comes to finishing off drives. MTSU can’t continue to settle for field goals in a very high scoring conference where a lot of points will be required each week.
The cornerbacks have been beaten deep a lot in the past, and they’ll be tested even more this season. Team depth in the secondary is very poor. MTSU’s secondary is going to have to find a way to keep the plays in front of them.
2013-2014 MTSU Football Prediction: 5-7
The move to a better conference will likely be too much for this team. MTSU’s defense has a couple of stars, but there are far too many holes here for them to slow down many of the teams in this league. Kicking field goals won’t be enough this season. Look for them to fall short of a bowl bid.
8/29/13 7:30 PM ET WCAR
9/7/13 12:30 PM ET @NCAR
9/14/13 TBD MEM
9/21/13 TBD @FLATL
9/27/13 9:00 PM ET @BYU
10/5/13 TBD ECAR
10/12/13 TBD @NOTEX
10/24/13 7:30 PM ET MARSH
11/2/13 1:00 PM ET @UAB
11/9/13 4:00 PM ET FLINT
11/23/13 TBD @SOMIS
11/30/13 TBD UTEP
East Carolina was highly successful under Skip Holtz during his time at the school, but they have been unable to match that success since he left. Last year’s team went 8-5 and showed lots of promise. With 8 starters returning on each side of the ball, expectations are high for this squad.
The Mountain West Conference was on the verge of becoming irrelevant but saved itself by welcoming back Boise State and San Diego State and opening their arms for the next round of WAC defectors like Utah State and San Jose State.
The Big 12 should offer an exciting conference race this year, the kind that just when you think you know who the winner will be they lose and you have to think about somebody else. There is talent in the league for sure but only one of the ten teams (Texas) is returning their primary starting QB from a year ago.
Marshall went just 5-7 last year, but their explosiveness has led oddsmakers to make them co-favorites in the Conference USA East Division heading into 2013. Rakeem Cato is probably the best player in the entire conference, and he really came into his own during the 2012 season.
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane have a nice history in college football. Tulsa hasn’t necessarily gotten a lot of attention because of their competition, but this is a program that just constantly puts up impressive seasons. They went 11-3 last year and won Conference USA.
The UCF Knights are moving to a new conference and I think they are really going to thrive in the American Athletic Conference. With experienced coach George O’Leary’s defense first approach they were kind of like the anti-Conference USA team and the success speaks for itself – twice in the last three seasons they have won 10 or more games and they have won their last two bowl games.
After some nice years in the Mid American Conference, Temple returned to the Big East last season and was welcomed with a two win conference season. Now they are in the American Athletic Conference and the prospects don’t look much better under new coach Matt Rhule.
The consensus is that this year’s Big Ten should be better than last year’s. Sure the Ohio State Buckeyes had a perfect season but it might have been the least impressive one in recent memory, and their inability compete in the Championship game or BCS allowed some other teams to step forward who really didn’t deserve it – we are looking at you Wisconsin.
The Big 12 should be one of the most competitive conferences in the nation this season. Usually a conference has one or maybe two legit contenders but this year in the B12 there are 4 programs that could reasonably walk away with the title.
Urban Meyer was the massive pickup for Ohio State before the 2012 season, and man did he have a great first season in Columbus. The Buckeyes went unbeaten and would have played in the title game if they weren’t ineligible due to NCAA sanctions. Ohio State is eligible again this year, and expectations are higher than ever in Columbus.
Penn State’s 2012 football season was as successful on the field as anyone could have imagined. After losing their home opener to the Ohio Bobcats, Penn State won eight of their last 11 games to finish off a very tough season with an 8-4 record. Bill O’Brien did nothing short of a masterful job with this team in his first year at the school.
The Pac-12 has been a top-heavy conference during the past few seasons, and while that theme should hold true in 2013, the middle-of-the-pack squads have started to close the gap just a bit. Last year’s Pac-12 champs were the Stanford Cardinal from the North Division.
The brand new American Athletic Conference should be pretty competitive in its first season. I see a couple of teams that could finish 11-1, with the favourite Louisville Cardinals reaching that record and possibly being joined by Cincinnati too.
