MTSU football coach Rick Stockstill made what he was a necessary change in the offseason, replacing defensive coordinator Tryone Nix with former Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer.
"I felt we underachieved defensively last year," Stockstill said. "When you give up 40 points a game in conference play, it is hard to win games. If we can just get a little bit better defensively and you can knock that down to just one less touchdown a game, then you are giving up 33 points a game. How much better can we be? Can you knock that down to 27?