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Best Bet: U47.5 (-105) at DraftKings
Score Prediction: Middle Tennessee 24, Delaware 23
The Pick: Middle Tennessee 24, Delaware 23
We’ll try the Under based on both team’s 2026 stats along with Middle Tennessee home games in this specific situation.
Game Betting Analysis
We’re not overthinking this, as the data points to the Under here. Middle Tennessee has hit the Under in seven of eight home games when playing as an underdog in October. Both Delaware and Middle Tennessee also enter the game with a 1-4 O/U record in 2026 – while the Blue Raiders have hit the Under in both home games this season. Our set back is last year’s 31-28 result going Over, but the combined 2-8 O/U record that favors the Under, along with MTSU’s home data as an underdog in October will leave us camped out in the total market for this one.
Delaware-Middle Tennessee Odds (Spread, Moneyline, Over/Under)
Deciding Factor: Middle Tennessee’s Antonio Martin vs. Delaware’s Murky Quarterback Situation
Both of these Conference USA bottom-feeders arrive at Floyd Stadium reeling — Delaware off a 14-30 home loss to Liberty and Middle Tennessee fresh off a 55-0 humiliation at Kansas in which the Blue Raiders managed just 136 total yards — but Antonio Martin Jr. has been the one constant holding MTSU’s season together. The junior back has already posted three 100-yard rushing games (103 against Murray State, 104 against Nevada, 106 at Jacksonville State) and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry on 72 totes even as the rest of the Blue Raiders’ offense has cratered to a Conference USA-worst 306.6 yards per game. That kind of ground-game floor matters against a Delaware defense that’s allowing roughly 136 rushing yards, 390 total yards and 26 points per game on the season, a unit that’s repeatedly been gashed once an opponent survives the first few snaps of a possession. With Middle Tennessee 0-1 in CUSA and sitting seventh in the league standings, head coach Derek Mason has openly called the conference “more than gettable” — and Martin, not whoever starts at quarterback, is the surest way for MTSU to keep moving the chains and control a game that could otherwise devolve into another low-scoring slog.
Delaware, meanwhile, is riding into Murfreesboro with real uncertainty under center. Star senior Nick Minicucci — a preseason All-Conference USA pick who completed 57% of his throws with a 5-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio before going down — hurt his knee in the Sept. 26 blowout loss at Virginia and missed the Liberty game entirely, and coach Ryan Carty still hadn’t named a starter for Tuesday as of this week. The backup math isn’t pretty: against Liberty, EJ Archfield Jr. went 10-of-19 for 137 yards, Braden Streeter was 3-of-7 for 78 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and true freshman Tyler Bell chipped in 4-of-9 for 42 yards and a score, with Mason noting that Streeter’s game most resembles Minicucci’s while Archfield and Bell lean more dual-threat. But Minicucci isn’t just any backup story — he torched this same Middle Tennessee defense for 276 yards and four touchdowns in last season’s 31-28 Delaware win. If his knee allows him to suit up Tuesday and he looks anything close to that version of himself, Delaware has a real path to stealing a weeknight upset in Murfreesboro.
Game Information
- Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
- Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Network: CBSSN, Paramount+
- Venue: Johnny Floyd Stadium – 49.5 ppg; 0-2 O/U
- Conference: CUSA
Best Bets for College Football Week 7
- Under 47.5 (-105)
Key Players
Delaware
- LB, Colin Gallagher — Last Game: 8 tackles, 0.5 sacks
- LB, Blake Matthews — Last Game: 5 tackles, 1.5 sacks
Middle Tennessee
- QB, Roman Gagliano — Last Game: 9/26, 81 yards
- RB, Antonio Martin — Last Game: 8 carries, 40 yards
Photo Credit: REUTERS
