Will the Blue Raiders Stay Hot against their Rivals?

By: Rickey Fuquay, Jr.

MURFREESBORO, TENN. - Middle Tennessee and North Texas will square off against each other for the 15th time overall in a rivalry game on Saturday, October 1, 2016. Kickoff at Apogee Stadium is set for 6 p.m. and will air nationally on Campus Insiders.

The Blue Raiders will be looking to keep their winning streak going after erasing a 20-point deficit to stun Louisiana Tech 38 to 34 yesterday evening at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium.

Here are three reasons why MTSU will come out on top this time in their first road contest of Conference USA play.

Ain't Worry About Nothing

Even though the Blue Raiders have lost three of the last five games against their rivals from out west since the four game-winning streak under Head Coach Rick Stockstill, there's no need for me or the rest of Blue Raider Nation to panic at all. I'm pretty confident that the offense will get off to a hot start and dominate this game from the get-go.

C-USA East Woes

The Mean Green have been ice-cold against C-USA East Division opponents having gone 0-3 since winning their first four out of five games. Of course, one of those losses came against the Blue Raiders by a final score of 41-7 last year at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium. With a first-year head coach in Seth Littrell, a first-year offensive coordinator in Graham Harrell as well as a first-year defensive coordinator in Mike Ekeler, I just don't think their offense will be able to compete against our veteran defense.

More Woes

Besides the struggles against CUSA East Division opponents, North Texas has also struggled against C-USA opponents as a whole especially at home having gone 0-3 since winning five of their first six games.