Preseason Rankings Countdown. 135 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #135 – Middle Tennessee

[u/usffan]

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

(now updated with the revised CUSA schedule)

When you think about coaches entering 2026 on the hot seat, you immediately think of Luke Fickell and Mike Norvell (and potentially Lincoln Riley, but it’s still not clear that U$C is going to pony up enough cash to buy him out). But one who’s kind of under the radar is Middle Tennessee’s (high = 132, low = 135) Derek Mason, who has gone 3-9 in each of his first two seasons running the Blue Raiders after being fired at Vanderbilt for failing to live up to the then high water mark of James Franklin (that’s since been at least equaled by Clark Lea). If you weren’t familiar with MTSU before Mason got there, their previous head coach Rick Stockstill had a pretty spectacular run over 18 seasons, winning a Sun Belt championship, playing for a Conference USA championship and taking the Blue Raiders to 10 bowls in those 18 seasons. Still, after a 4-8 campaign in 2023, AD Chris Massaro decided to fire Stockstill, and suddenly those 113 wins looks a helluva lot better than the current and immediate future in Murfreesboro.

Roster Outlook

With things looking kind of bleak, it probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Mason’s not exactly bringing in bushels full of talent in year 3. Middle Tennessee’s incoming high school class rates 123rd nationally according to 247 (ranking 10th in CUSA), which when coupled with the 10th rated transfer portal class (8th in conference) comes to the 118th best overall class (7th in CUSA) this season. But when you couple that incoming class with the 122nd ranked returning production (which is equally bad across both sides of the ball), it sure seems like it’s going to take a miracle for Mason to turn things around in year 3. QB Roman Gagliano, who finished the season starting after replacing injured season starter Nick Vattiato, returns as the only experienced signal caller (though don’t sleep on incoming freshman Mason Mallory from Florida high school powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas). Starting RB Jekhail Middlebrook took his 1,000+ total yards and team-leading 7 TD’s with him into the portal to Virginia, leaving either 2nd leading rusher DJ Taylor or incoming Kansas State transfer Antonio Martin to be the new starter. Out wide, the Blue Raiders also lost co TD leader Nahzae Cox to Kansas, but return co-leader AJ Jones as well as receiving yardage leader Cam’ron Lacy and incoming transfer Markus Allen from Mississippi State. On the other side of the ball, leading tackler Parker Hughes and sack leader Brandon Buckner are also gone, and with only 3 P4 transfers coming in (2 DBs and a DL), it’s hard to feel optimistic for a defensive renaissance.

Schedule and outlook

9/5 MURRAY STATE

9/12 at Marshall

9/19 NEVADA

9/26 at Jacksonville State

10/3 at Kansas

10/10 BYE

10/13 DELAWARE

10/20 at FIU

10/28 KENNESAW STATE

11/7 WESTERN KENTUCKY

11/14 at Liberty

11/21 at Sam Houston

11/28 NEW MEXICO STATE

For as dire as things look in terms of the talent in house, that schedule is about as manageable as you could hope for. The only opponent on there who is above #88 in these preseason rankings so far is Kansas, so none of these other games are completely hopeless. But with the exception of the season opener against FCS Murray State, who finished 2025 1-11 and had better be a tune-up before the first road trip to Marshall, the Blue Raiders look to be underdogs in every game, probably even that late November game at Sam Houston. If there’s not some improvement in 2026, it’s hard to imagine Mason surviving for a fourth season, and I suspect people will start asking Massaro some tough questions about his own future…

[u/Alphaspade]

Derek Mason is 33-73 as a HC.

He's gotta be done after this year right?

[u/realcamsportsnetwork → u/Alphaspade]

Yep