Middle Tennessee Football falls 42-10 to Wisconsin
The Blue Raiders couldn’t come up with a result for the second week in a row, and now the Blue Raiders are heading into week three with a 0-2 record, a -52 point differential, and a matchup against the Wolfpack in Nevada. On Saturday afternoon, the Badgers took down the Blue Raiders in Camp Randall Stadium, 42-10, after scoring 28 unanswered points to finish the game.
Hot Start
Middle Tennessee was in the game more times than they weren’t. After a 27-yarder from graduate transfer Jacob Hathaway, the Blue Raiders pulled away with a 3-0 lead, and they would keep this lead for the majority of the second quarter as well. As soon as it seemed like Wisconsin was just about to pull away right before the half, Wisconsin quarterback Danny O’Neil gifted the Blue Raiders the football on a busted screen pass, which allowed the Raiders to start in the red zone, capping off the drive with a touchdown to Hunter Tipton. The score was just 14-10 Wisconsin at halftime, indicating that Middle Tennessee was certainly still in the game, and Wisconsin could possibly be on an early upset alert.
Middle Tennessee’s chance to capture Big Momentum
Image Courtesy of HELEN COMER/The Daily News Journal
The second half didn’t end that way, however. Middle Tennessee was driving to start the half, and apparently had a first down at the Wisconsin 23-yard line, setting up for what could be a huge scoring drive if they got in the end zone. Anyway, the Blue Raiders’ first-down conversion was overturned, and head coach Derek Mason decided to go for it on 4th and 1, deep into Wisconsin’s territory. The Wisconsin defense would quickly thwart this attempt, as the Badgers caught MTSU running back Jekail Middlebrook in the backfield, ending what was the Blue Jackets’ longest drive of the night, a play that turned into a huge momentum shift for Wisconsin.
“This is a game of momentum and mistakes,” head coach Derek Mason said, “and tonight our mistakes hurt us.” That momentum shift would then lead to Wisconsin getting in the end zone on four consecutive drives, as Middle Tennessee would punt on four straight drives.
The late third quarter and the entire fourth quarter felt like a different game alongside the previous happenings. Middle Tennessee, before that costly turnover, was able to drive down the field fairly consistently and get the ball back to its offense at a good rate. “You can’t play for two and a half quarters and expect to have a win,” said Middle Tennessee head coach Derek Mason following the loss.
Where does this loss fit into the big picture?
The Blue Raiders drop to 0-2 on the season, 3-11 under Derek Mason, and 2-8 in the non-conference in the past three years, meaning the Blue Raiders are 0-7 against non-conference FBS opponents in the past three years.
MTSU’s last FBS non-conference win came just 988 days ago, when they took down San Diego State in the Hawaii Bowl on December 24th of 2022. Now, you may ask when MTSU’s last FBS non-conference regular-season win was. Funny you should ask, because that win was the infamous 45-31 win against No. 25 Miami (FL), a game that occurred 1,079 days ago. The Blue Raiders have struggled in the non-conference in recent history, and this is no different.
In Blue Raider football history, MSTU has still never taken down a Big Ten opponent. Also, important to note here that MTSU does have two wins against Maryland in 2008 and 2009, but those wins came before the Terrapins officially joined the conference in 2014. As of September 7th, 2025, Middle Tennessee has no future games planned against Big Ten opponents, so the Raiders’ drought might last just a little longer.
Middle Tennessee football has a few negative streaks it would like to erase, but the biggest one is the current streak of five losses. The Blue Raiders are set to face off next week against the Nevada Wolfpack on Sept. 13th, hoping to reverse their downward trend.