FACTS & STATS: Site: FIU Stadium (17,000) -- Miami, Florida. Television: None. Home Record: Middle Tennessee 1-4, FIU 3-1. Away Record: Middle Tennessee 3-2, FIU 1-5. Neutral Record: Middle Tennessee 0-0, FIU 0-0. Conference Record: Middle Tennessee 3-3, FIU 2-4. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will play a football game in the city of Miami for the first time since 1932, when they invade FIU Stadium to battle the Florida International Golden Panthers in the season- finale for both squads this weekend. Andy McCollum's Blue Raiders are 4-6 on the season (3-3 in-conference) and are looking to end the year with two consecutive wins for their coach who will not be brought back next season. The team posted its fourth win of the year last week at Troy (17-7), marking the third road win of the season for Middle Tennessee. Don Strock's Golden Panthers are sporting an identical 4-6 mark, but are a mere 2-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. The team has however, won two games in a row, coming off a 52-6 rout of Florida Atlantic. This game was originally scheduled for October 29th but was rescheduled due to Hurricane Wilma. This is the first-ever meeting between these two teams on the gridiron.

The Blue Raiders put up just 271 yards of total offense, and while that doesn't usually turn into a victory, it did just that at Troy last weekend. Offense has been hard to come by in 2005 for a team that is averaging just 17.9 ppg, on under 300 yards of total offense (296.0). The ground game has shown glimpses of solid production this season (109.3 ypg), but the passing attack has been nonexistent (186.7 ypg). Tailback Eugene Gross has made the best of a bad situation in Murfreesboro, averaging 4.0 yards per carry, while leading the team with 724 yards and 13 TDs this year. He is also a capable receiver out of the backfield, with 31 receptions thus far. Quarterback Clint Marks has completed an impressive 65.5 percent of his passes, but it has only resulted in 1,786 yards, with six touchdowns and seven interceptions. Clearly Marks' target of choice downfield is senior wideout Cleannord Saintil, who paces the team in receptions (58) and receiving yards (751), with two TDs. Saintil's 5.8 receptions per game is tops in the Sun Belt in this season.

Although the team has won just four games this season, the Blue Raider defense provided ample opportunities for more victories. The team is allowing a mere 17.1 ppg this season and has done a particularly solid job against opposing passers, allowing just 186.2 yards per game through the air. The rush defense has been a little more forgiving (136.8 ypg), but it has only led to 10 rushing scored on the year. However, where this unit has lacked is in the "big play" department, where the squad has recorded just 16 sacks and 16 takeaways in 10 games. Junior linebacker J.K. Sabb is the leading tackler on the team, posting 63 stops, to go along with a team-high 11 TFLs. Sophomore linebacker Erik Walden (32 tackles, 7.5 TFLs) is the team's sack leader with three, while sophomore linebacker Bradley Robinson (37 tackles) leads the team with four interceptions from his left cornerback position.

The Golden Panthers finally put it all together in their win over Florida Atlantic last week, as they posted their biggest margin of victory ever (46 points). Tailback Ben West rushed for 140 yards and three TDs in the victory, while the defense did the rest. On the season, the FIU offense has been able to get balance between the run (122.4 ypg) and the pass (228.1 ypg), leading to a scoring average of 22.2 ppg. West erupted last week against the Owls and is now averaging a healthy 5.4 ypc, while netting 488 yards on the year, with four TDs. Quarterback Josh Padrick has been one of the more efficient passers in the Sun Belt this season, completing nearly 60 percent of his attempts (.596), for 2,147 yards, with 11 TDs and nine interceptions. He currently leads the Sun Belt in passing yards per game (214.7 ypg) and has spread the ball around with four different receivers amassing 25 catches or more. Leading the way is WRs Chandler Williams (53 receptions, for 710 yards and two TDs) and Cory McKinney (40 receptions, for 492 yards and four TDs).

The defense set a school-record with five interceptions against Florida Atlantic and tied an NCAA Division I-A single-game record by returning four of those picks for touchdowns. It was far and away FIU's best performance on the defensive side of the ball in quite some time. The Golden Panthers have certainly been suspect at times this year defensively, allowing almost 30 points per game (29.2). The team has certainly been susceptible to the run, getting pushed around to the tune of 169.5 ypg, on 4.3 ypc. Still, this is a defense with several standout performers, mostly in the linebacking corps. Junior linebacker Keyonvis Bouie leads the team by a large margin in tackles with a whopping 100 stops on the year, despite recently returning from a two- game suspension. He also has 8.5 TFLs, three interceptions, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble on the year. The defense has generated 20 sacks in 2005, with almost half of them coming from junior linebacker Antwan Barnes (eight sacks), who also leads the team with 14 TFLs.

The Blue Raiders would like nothing more than to send their coach off with one more victory and the team has actually played quite well on the road in 2005. Florida International is starting to get hot as the season comes to a close, but may have expended too much energy in last weekend's rout of Florida Atlantic.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Middle Tennessee 20, Florida Int. 17