Players to Know: QB Jordyn Potts, DL Daniel Rickert, DL Hudson Tucker, LB Aaron Swafford, DB Tim Coutras

2023 STATISTICS:

Record: 3-7

Rushing Offense: 125.8 yards per game (80th in FCS)

Passing Offense: 176 yards per game (89th in FCS)

Scoring Offense: 17.2 points per game (106th in FCS)

Rushing Defense: 114.1 yards per game (21st in FCS)

Passing Defense: 192 yards per game (33rd in FCS)

Scoring Defense: 25.3 points per game (54th in FCS)

Turnover Margin: -5 (87th in FCS)

The Golden Eagles' biggest move of the offseason was hiring Bobby Wilder as head football coach. He most recently served as head coach at Old Dominion from 2007 until after the 2019 season. While the conference has certainly shifted in this new era of college football, the coach is no stranger to Conference-USA.

This will be his first season as coach of the Golden Eagles. While he has some promising tools to use, especially on defense, he has a rebuild set ahead of him, and this should be a game Middle Tennessee walks away from with a win.

Tech's offense last year was abysmal, but they did find some hope for the future as quarterback Jordyn Potts flashed once, earning the starting role in the back half of the season. He was a bit inconsistent, as one could expect from a young quarterback, however, leading to eight touchdowns and six interceptions on just a 53% completion rate as a thrower.

The Golden Eagles attempted to add weapons this offseason to surround the young signal-caller via New Hampshire receiver transfer D.J. Linkins and Western Illinois receiver transfer Jay Parker. Both receivers had under 500 receiving yards last season, but Linkins has good size at 6-foot-4, and the tiny (5-foot-6 and 150 pounds) showed his playmaking ability as a returner.

Up front, they will have to figure out a plan to keep Potts upright, and that took a hit when massive guard Ellis Adams made the decision to transfer to Middle Tennessee.

This is far and away the strength of this team as they head into the season. That starts with a pair of defensive ends that will both be up for Big South-OVC defensive player of the year. Daniel Rickert led the way with nine sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss, and Hudson Tucker was not far behind as he recorded six sacks and nine tackles for loss last season. Past that, the defensive line certainly lacks size, so this could be a game where running back Frank Peasant could see a significant amount of success between the tackles.

Aaron Swafford returns this season as their leader at linebacker. He led the team in tackles with 72 last year. The leader of the secondary will be safety Tim Coutras, who had an all-around pretty solid year.

Past those four big names, it's a whole lot of new for this defense. That should bode well for the bigger, stronger, and more athletic Blue Raiders offense.

Tennessee Tech will return a veteran kicker in Hayden Olsen, who has shown he can hit from deep, nailing kicks from 50+ yards multiple times. He's been perfect on extra points throughout all four years of his collegiate playing career.

At punter, Colby Bernier comes in from Divison III Nichols College after averaging 35 yards per punt over two seasons.

In the return game, Jay Parker should figure to be the kick returner after averaging 19.5 yards per return on nearly 50 returns over two seasons. Parker should compete with Torin Baker and Tremel Jones for punt-returning responsibilities.

Middle Tennessee should win this game to open the season correctly. The size and physicality up front that a Derek Mason team will have should be too much from the jump for the Golden Eagles. The defense will be the clear strength for this Tennessee Tech team, but they will still be searching for answers past their big four pieces with all-conference potential. At the end of the day, this is a rebuilding FCS program that should leave Murfreesboro with a sizable loss if the Blue Raiders take care of business.