NEW ORLEANS – For the program-record fourth year in a row, Middle Tennessee's football season will end with a bowl game when the Blue Raiders battle Appalachian State Saturday in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
It's been a season with plenty of firsts in Murfreesboro, as the Raiders (8-5) reached their first Conference USA Championship and captured the first C-USA East Division title in program history.
The Mountaineers (10-2), the three-time defending champion of the Sun Belt Conference, won't provide an easy opponent for MT to end the season with, though.
Even though six-year head coach Scott Satterfield departed for the vacant Louisville job and won't be on the sidelines Saturday, interim coach Mark Ivey has a talented squad that won 10 games and has the Raiders' full attention.