Conference USA was introduced to a new champion last season when Jacksonville State defeated Western Kentucky in the league title game. The Gamecocks took a first quarter lead and never looked back in the 52-12 victory.
Now there are only three current members of the league that have won a CUSA title — Jax State, Liberty, and WKU.
College football betting odds have Liberty (-115) and WKU (+300) as the two favorites to win the league this fall. At +1600, Jax State is tied with Sam Houston and Middle Tennessee with the fifth-shortest odds.
Could one of these two teams emerge and be the next program to win its first CUSA crown?
MTSU Football Has Chance To Win Conference USA
I believe there’s a legitimate opportunity for MTSU to start its conference slate 5-0. The Blue Raiders play at Kennesaw State, host Missouri State, and then visit Delaware for their first three CUSA matchups. Each game has a bye week in between.
After the Delaware contest comes a home game against Jax State, which is likely to be the toughest conference test to that point, but I think MTSU could get a win here. With that game being on a Wednesday — along with the games against MSU and UD — MTSU will have 10 days until its next contest against FIU (which falls on a Saturday). I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blue Raiders are favored in all five of these games.
They close out the season by visiting WKU, hosting Sam Houston, and going to New Mexico State. The WKU contest may be the most important regular season game for MTSU. If the Blue Raiders are able to take advantage of their light slate early on and build some momentum, then whoever wins the matchup with WKU could hold the tiebreaker if they were to finish tied near the top of the conference standings.
I also think the games against SHSU and NMSU could go either way, and hosting FIU will be key. The Panthers could be another dangerous team to look out for with quarterback Keyone Jenkins and an explosive offense.
The Blue Raiders also have a dangerous QB returning in Nicholas Vattiato, who led the league in passing last season. He headlines a ton of returning production from last year as they enter Year 2 of the Derek Mason era and should be much improved after last year’s 3-9 finish.
MTSU avoids playing Liberty, Louisiana Tech, and UTEP, which are three of the top four favorites to win the conference, and I think have the easiest conference schedule in CUSA. I believe +1600 to win CUSA is interesting for a team with a lot of returning production and this favorable of a schedule.
The only time the Blue Raiders have made it to the CUSA Championship was in 2018 when they fell 27-25 to UAB after the Blazers kicked a go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter.
For most of the time they’ve been in Conference USA, the Blue Raiders have been competitive. It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise if they’re back near the top of the league standings when December rolls around.
