Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team represents Middle Tennessee State University in NCAA Division I FBS football competition. The Blue Raiders completed a 12-season tenure in Sun Belt Conference football in 2012, and will move to Conference USA for the 2013 season. They play their home games at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Rick Stockstill has finished his 5th year as head coach of the Blue Raiders.

Nickname
The nickname of the Middle Tennessee athletic teams is the Blue Raiders. Female teams were long known as the Lady Raiders, but adopted the Blue Raiders name in 2007. The nickname's origin goes back to a 1934 newspaper contest. An MTSU football player, Charles Sarver, won $5 from Murfreesboro's The Daily News Journal with his winning entry "Blue Raiders", which he later admitted borrowing from Colgate University, whose teams were known as "Raiders" at the time. No official nickname existed prior to 1934, when teams were called "Normalites", "Teachers", and "Pedagogues".

Colors and mascot
MTSU is represented by the colors white and royal blue, described as PMS 301 by the university.

Lightning is the mascot of both the Middle Tennessee men and women's sports teams.

Bowl games
MTSU appeared twice in the Tangerine Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl). The first game, played January 1, 1960, against Presbyterian College, resulted in a 21-12 win. The second game, against Lamar University on December 29, 1961, was a 21-14 loss.

The Blue Raiders were invited to the Motor City Bowl in 2006 after a shared conference title with Troy University. Troy had won the conference with a tie-breaker, but MTSU was invited due to the Big Ten having two teams in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and thus being unable to fulfill their bowl contract for the Motor City Bowl. MTSU played Central Michigan University in the game and were defeated 31-14.

MTSU finished the 2009 regular season with a 9-3 record and was invited to play in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on December 20, 2009. The team played against the University of Southern Mississippi, defeating them 42-32. This was MTSU's second bowl game and first bowl win since joining the Division I FBS. Quarterback Dwight Dasher was named as the game's MVP after rushing and passing for two touchdowns each.

MTSU was defeated in the 2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Alabama by the Miami University RedHawks.