Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview 2022: Season Prediction, Breakdown, Key Games, Players
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Middle Tennessee season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview
Head Coach: Rick Stockstill
17th year at Middle Tennessee, 101-98
2021 Preview: Overall: 7-6, Conference: 4-4
Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Middle Tennessee Top 10 Players | Schedule
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview 2022
It got bleak for a little while.
Middle Tennessee had been chugging along under longtime head coach Rick Stockstill with winning seasons and bowl games the norm. And then came an off year in 2019 going 4-8, followed up by an 0-4 start in a 3-6 2020.
2-4 to start 2021, the program was saved by a lovely run of some of the easiest teams in the FBS to play, and the season turned around, there was a bowl appearance, and a slightly-stunning win over Toledo made it a 7-6 season with things starting to look back to normal.
But now it’s time to start doing more.
Conference USA was gutted by the Sun Belt – losing Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss. More will be bolting next year to the American Athletic Conference – Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA – and that leaves the league a shell of its former self for the 2023 season.
Middle Tennessee was on the verge of leaving for the MAC, but it’s staying around, and so is FIU, Louisiana Tech, UTEP, and WKU, to go along with the addition of Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State, and Sam Houston State.
What does this mean? It makes this a make-or-break season for the program.
Conference USA will be there for the taking, and Stockstill has to prove after 16 seasons going into 2022 that everything is on track for his Blue Raiders to be the star.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview 2022: Offense
The offense has to be far, far better. 12th in Conference USA and 96th overall, the Blue Raiders averaged just 362 yards per game, but cranked up the points against the bad teams averaging 30 per game. There was no running game, and the downfield passing attack didn’t exist. However …
The offense gets its guy back. Chase Cunningham was having a nice season throwing for over 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns with just three picks in eight games, but he was knocked out with a leg injury.
Nicholas Vattiato balled out and won three of the last four games – including the bowl – after giving up five picks in the loss to WKU. Now the Blue Raiders have a strong QB situation.
Leading receiver Jaylin Lane returns after rolling for 528 yards and four touchdowns on 42 catches, and Yusuf Ali is a nice midrange receiver who made 45 grabs. The transfer portal is bringing in help at tight end, and again, getting Cunningham back will make everyone better.
The Blue Raiders used a whole lot of parts for the running game, but leading rusher Martell Pettaway only gained 372 yards. He’s done, but sophomore Frank Peasant is experienced enough to take over. It’ll be a rotation of young, quick backs behind him.
The offensive line was decent in pass protection but now it has to start doing more for the ground attack. The problem is that the front five is all but starting over. There’s bulk around all-star center Jordan Palmer, but it’s going to take a little while.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Preview 2022: Defense
The defense might not have always been great, but that thing took the ball away in bunches. Middle Tennessee led the nation with 32 takeaways, led Conference USA in tackles for loss, and was decent enough to save the season.
However, there are some massive talent losses losing mainstay star safety Reed Blankenship, heart-and-soul LB DQ Thomas, and second-leading tackler Greg Grate. In all, the top four tacklers are gone and five-pick corner Quincy Riley is off to Louisville, but …
The defensive front should be okay on the inside. All four starters are expected back on the line – starting with all-star pass rusher Jordan Ferguson – and with a nice rotation at tackle.
The back seven will need more time. There’s no replacing what Blankenship and Thomas brought, but Johnathan Butler is a good tackler in the middle of the linebacking corps and Teldrick Ross should be among the best defensive backs in the conference when he comes back healthy.
Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Middle Tennessee Top 10 Players | Schedule
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Key To The 2022 Offense
Be a whole lot better on third downs.
Middle Tennessee struggled too much to keep the chains moving. Not having a steady running game was part of it, not being able to hit the downfield throw didn’t help, and simply not coming up clutch on big down after big down mattered.
The offense was 125th in the nation on third downs converting just 31% of the time, killing a whole lot of momentum created by a defense that kept taking the ball away.
The team was at 30% or under eight times. To be fair, the program hasn’t been great on third downs for years – other than a tick up in 2020. It still needs to improve.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Key To The 2022 Defense
Keep taking the ball away.
Yeah, Middle Tennessee lost a ton of talent, but the systems work. The program has been great over the years at forcing takeaways, but nothing could match what the 2021 group did.
The defense led the nation in takeaways with 17 picks and 15 fumble recoveries. Not surprisingly, most of the games with tons of turnovers led to wins, shocking Marshall with six takeaways and getting by Southern Miss with five.
They came up with multiple takeaways eight times and three or more times in seven games. This all came off a great stretch to close 2020, and now the D is on a run of three or more takeaways nine times in 17 games.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Key Player To The 2022 Season
LB Raquon Hartley, Soph.
All DQ Thomas did was make 309 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 53 tackles for loss, force eight fumbles, pick off two passes, and score a touchdown in his five years as the Middle Tennessee weakside linebacker.
All Raquon Hartley has done is make 34 tackles with 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss in two seasons. He’s a defensive back playing weakside linebacker, but he needs to somehow try to match what Thomas brought to the position.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Key Transfer
RB Joe Ervin, Soph.
Or redshirt freshman Avarius Sparrow. Both players need to help boost up the production of a running game that hasn’t gone anywhere for a while.
Frank Peasant is a good back, but Sparrow is a speedster from West Virginia, and the 5-8, 179-pound Ervin from Kansas State might be a difference maker with his quickness.
Middle Tennessee Key Game To The 2022 Season
at James Madison, Sept. 3
The Blue Raiders have to steal a few road wins from somewhere.
They start the season with three of the first four games on the road, and they’re probably not going to beat Miami or Colorado State. James Madison is going to be jacked up for its first game in the FBS world, and it’s got the talent and upside to pull off the win even without the emotional element.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Middle Tennessee might need this in the opener to get to six wins and a bowl.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: 2021 Fun Stats
– MT 1st Quarter Scoring: 59 – MT 2nd Quarter Scoring: 141
– Takeaways: Middle Tennessee 32 – Opponents 21
– Passing Yards: Middle Tennessee 3,100 – Opponents 3,075
Offense, Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Middle Tennessee Top 10 Players | Schedule
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Season Prediction, What Will Happen NEXT
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Season Prediction, What Will Happen
It’s going to take a lot of smoke and mirrors to pull this off.
The defense is going to have to take the ball away a bajillion times again, the offense has to be more consistent and explosive, and the sneaky-nasty schedule with too many losable road games can’t get overwhelming.
At Miami is a loss, and if there’s not a big upset, road games at Colorado State, UAB, and Louisiana Tech should go the wrong way, too.
Home dates with UTSA, WKU, and Florida Atlantic don’t help, but at least those are in Murfreesboro.
Set The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Regular Season Win Total At … 6
There won’t be fewer than four losses, and there won’t be fewer than four wins. It’s going to be all of those 50/50 games against teams like UTEP on the road and Charlotte at home that Middle Tennessee has to find a way to pull out of the fire.
Whether or not it’ll be a bowl year will probably come down to the road trip to FIU to close out the regular season.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Middle Tennessee Top 10 Players | Schedule
