 The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (2–1) were relatively new to Division I-FBS having joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2000 after one year as an independent.Oklahoma and the Blue Raiders had not played against each other before.The Blue Raiders' star players (linebacker J.K. Sabb, a Butkus Award hopeful at the beginning of the season, and quarterback Clint Marks, who was on the list for the Davey O'Brien Award) had mixed results against their counterparts from Oklahoma.