Middle Tennessee head coach Derek Mason didn't wait for a quiet phone call with the league office. He took his frustration with Conference USA officiating straight to the podium on Monday.
Mason told reporters he sent in what he believes were 17 missed holding calls against Jacksonville State following the Blue Raiders' 23-13 loss to the Gamecocks on Saturday in Jacksonville, Alabama.
"I'm tired of the bullshit. Excuse my French. I'm tired."
"At the end of the day man, we've got to get to a point where these damn referees show up and do their damn job," Mason said.
Jacksonville State piled up 517 yards of total offense to Middle Tennessee's 319, according to the Associated Press. Quarterback Caden Creel threw for 241 yards and ran for 119 more, and the Gamecocks averaged 7.1 yards per carry as a team. Lucas Farrington added 94 yards on the ground and Garrison Rippa kicked three field goals.
"I thought this was straight-up bull.
Seventeen holds in one game would be a staggering number. If even a handful of those are legit, it's easy to see why a coach watching his defense get gashed on the ground would be steaming by Monday.
On the other side, Roman Gagliano completed 18 of 28 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns for MTSU, with Cam'Ron Lacy catching six balls for 88 yards and a score.
The loss dropped Middle Tennessee to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in league play. Jax State moved to 3-2 and 1-0, extending its streak to 11 straight home conference wins and seven straight conference openers. The Gamecocks have now beaten MTSU five straight times, including a 24-21 win in Murfreesboro last fall.
The Blue Raiders came into the weekend at 2-1 off a 27-20 win over Nevada, a better start than a year ago. MTSU went 3-9 in each of Mason's first two seasons, and the school announced last November that he would be retained for 2026, his third year of a five-year deal.
Mason is in his second go-round as an FBS head coach. He went 27-55 over seven seasons at Vanderbilt from 2014 to 2020, reaching bowl games in 2016 and 2018. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Stanford, and he spent three seasons coaching defensive backs with the Minnesota Vikings. After Vanderbilt, he coordinated defenses at Auburn in 2021 and Oklahoma State in 2022 before landing in Murfreesboro.
"I'm not one to get in front of the media and talk about these types of things, but at the end of the day these referees have to be better. They've got to do their damn job and be better. That's a message that goes out to everyone that refs these damn games."
Leagues typically don't take kindly to public criticism of officials, and CUSA has fined a head coach for it before, disciplining Lane Kiffin while he was at FAU for a tweet ripping league officials.
I'd guess the 17 clips Mason sent in get a close look in the league office this week. The press conference will likely get the same type of attention.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
@MT_FB head coach Derek Mason SOUNDED OFF on @ConferenceUSA officiating during his Monday press conference.
— Brett Walker (@bwalker2004) September 28, 2026
Mason said he reported what he believed to be 17 missed holding calls against Jax State following the Blue Raiders 23-13 loss to the Gamecocks.
“At the end of the day… pic.twitter.com/CXOKziZKbO