Signing day: MTSU football coach Derek Mason discusses signing class
Middle Tennessee State football coach Derek Mason discusses the December signing class for the Blue Raiders.
- MTSU football will play at Auburn, a member of the SEC, on Sept. 11, 2027.
- This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
Middle Tennessee State football will play at Auburn on Sept. 11, 2027, according to the Blue Raiders‘ web site.
The game will be a homecoming for MTSU coach Derek Mason, who served as the SEC school’s defensive coordinator in 2021, the year after he was fired as Vanderbilt’s coach. Mason spent only one season at Auburn.
Former Auburn All-American Kendall Simmons is in his second season as MTSU’s offensive line coach. He was on Auburn’s staff from 2019-23.
It will mark the first time for MTSU and Auburn to play.
Auburn became the fourth opponent added to MTSU’s 2027 schedule. Other games include North Alabama at home on Sept. 4, at South Alabama on Sept. 18, and at home against Memphis on Sept. 28.
MTSU faced Ole Miss, another SEC opponent, in Mason’s second game in 2024. Ole Miss won 52-3.
Before that, MTSU opened the 2023 season under former coach Rick Stockstill with a 56-7 loss at Alabama and lost at Missouri 23-19 in the next game.
In 2018 MTSU faced three SEC opponents, losing to Vanderbilt 35-7, at Georgia 49-7, and at Kentucky 34-23.
MTSU’s only wins against SEC competition came in 2001 against Vanderbilt, 37-28, and again in 2002 when Blue Raiders beat the Commodores in Nashville, 21-20.
MTSU, which went 3-9 last season, opens the 2025 season at home on Aug. 30 against Austin Peay before traveling to Wisconsin on Sept. 6.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
