Photo by Tyler Lamb / Sports Editor
Conference-USA released their 2017 football schedule earlier today. Middle Tennessee is set to play eight conference games and four non-conference games.
Middle Tennessee will open the season at home against cross-city rival Vanderbilt. The Blue Raiders will get an early chance to avenge their 47-24 loss when they visited the Commodores this past season. Middle Tennessee will then hit the road for a two-game road stint as they take on the Syracuse University Orange and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Blue Raiders return home to take on Bowling Green University on Saturday, September 23, before opening their conference schedule with a game at Florida Atlantic University the following week.
Middle Tennessee will play three games in October. beginning with a home matchup against Florida International University. The Blue Raiders will follow that up with a game at University Of Alabama at Birmingham, before returning home for a showdown against the Marshall Thundering Herd. The Blue Raiders will end the month with a bye week.
In November, the Blue Raiders will take on University of Texas El Paso at home, before they take their final road trips of the season with games against Charlotte and rival Western Kentucky. Middle Tennessee lost a heartbreaker to WKU, losing 44-43 in double overtime in the annual homecoming game. The Blue Raiders conclude the regular season at home against Old Dominion University, the school’s ever first meeting in Murfreesboro
The Conference-USA Championship game is scheduled for Saturday, December 2.
The Blue Raiders are coming off a year in which they finished the regular season 8-4 before falling in the Hawaii bowl to the University of Hawaii 52-35. Expectations will be high for this team, as it posted the 11th-best offense in the country.
For more sports stories, follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on Twitter and Periscope at @Sidelines_Sport.
To contact Sports Editor Tyler Lamb (@Tlamb35), email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
