Raiders face seven bowl teams in 2018

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee football will face seven 2017 bowl teams, including three SEC East members to highlight the 2018 schedule.

The Blue Raiders' 2018 slate is being jointly announced today by Conference USA and Director of Athletics Chris Massaro.

The Blue Raiders' 104th season of football will include home dates against UT-Martin, FAU, Charlotte, WKU and UAB. The road contests will see the Blue Raiders facing Vanderbilt, Georgia, Marshall, FIU, Old Dominion, UTEP and Kentucky.

The 2018 alignment will feature seven teams in the East Division and seven teams in the West Division. Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion and WKU comprise the East Division, while Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP and UTSA make up the West Division.

Each school will play every team in its division once for six games, while playing two cross-over opponents from the opposite division. Each team will reverse the location of its 2017 opponents, both inter-division opponents and intra-division foes. The conference is in the second year of a rotation between cross-division opponents that will rotate every two years until 2024, when each school has played every opponent in the opposite division once home and away.

The league will have six guaranteed bowl spots and two secondary agreements in 2018. The guaranteed bowls are the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla, Bahamas, Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton, Gildan New Mexico, R+L Carriers New Orleans, and Zaxby's Heart of Dallas. The secondary agreements will be with the DXL Frisco Bowl and the Walk-On's Independence Bowl.

It is important to note that all games are subject to date changes and some dates are expected to move in the coming weeks in order to accommodate national television.

2017 BOWL TEAMS: The Blue Raiders will face seven teams who appeared in bowl games in 2017, including National Championship runner-up Georgia. Along with the Bulldogs, the Raiders will face FAU, Marshall, FIU, WKU, Kentucky and UAB. FAU, WKU and UAB will all be at home.

POWER 5: The Blue Raiders were the only C-USA team in 2017 to face three Power 5 teams but they have some company in 2018. MT and UTSA will be the only C-USA teams to tangle with three Power 5 programs in 2018. The Blue Raiders face Vanderbilt, Georgia and Kentucky, while UTSA takes on Arizona State, Baylor and Kansas State.

REVENGE AT FLOYD: It will be the revenge season at home against conference foes in 2018. Three of the four C-USA opponents defeated the Blue Raiders in 2017. The conference opener will be on Sept. 29 at home against defending champ FAU who downed MT a year ago in Boca Raton, then old rival WKU comes calling on Nov. 3. Four of the last six meetings between MT and WKU have gone to overtime. The regular season finale has UAB coming to Floyd Stadium for the first time since 2014. UAB squeaked out a 25-23 win over the Raiders in 2017.

SEC EAST: The Blue Raiders will face three of the seven SEC East members in 2018, which is their most since 2002. That year the Raiders played Tennessee, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt to go along with Alabama.

OTHER TIDBITS: All Blue Raider games are on Saturday in 2018 for the second time in the last three years ... This will mark the third straight year MT has played at home on Thanksgiving weekend (2-0 in previous two outings) ... MT's non-conference game at Kentucky on Nov. 17 will be the first non-conference contest in November since facing BYU in 2014 ... It will also be the latest date for a non-conference game since 2006 when MT headed to South Carolina on Nov. 18 ... This marks the fourth time in the last five years MT opens conference play at home (3-0 in previous three years).

2018 MIDDLE TENNESSEE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 1 at Vanderbilt
Sept. 8 UT-MARTIN
Sept. 15 at Georgia
Sept. 22 Open Date
Sept. 29 *FAU
Oct. 6 *at Marshall
Oct. 13 *at FIU
Oct. 20 *CHARLOTTE
Oct. 27 *at Old Dominion
Nov. 3 *WKU
Nov. 10 *at UTEP
Nov. 17 at Kentucky
Nov. 24 *UAB

*Conference USA Game