A record crowd is expected in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Saturday for a game that’s been 95 years in the making.

It was 1915 the last time in-state rivals Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee played a football game in Murfreesboro, so the Blue Raiders of Conference USA are looking to make the most of the rare Homecoming opportunity against the neighboring SEC school located a little more than 30 miles away in Nashville.

“I am supposed to say it’s a huge deal, but, as a coach, you don’t look at it that way,” Blue Raiders coach Rick Stockstill said during Monday’s press conference. “We are excited that an SEC team is coming here. Yes, we are excited that Vanderbilt is coming here because they are next door. Our team doesn’t get caught up in all that stuff. We are excited about the opportunity to play another good SEC team. I hope the atmosphere will be electric and I hope our students and people from this community come. There has been a lot of talk about this game since this summer, so I hope it’s a sell-out.”

The Blue Raiders are no stranger to SEC programs, having already played at Alabama this season that resulted in a 37-10 loss. Since 1999, Middle Tennessee has faced every team in the SEC at least once except for Auburn, claiming victories over Vanderbilt in each of the last three meetings in 2001, 2002 and 2005. The Commodores last played in Murfreesboro in 1920.

Local bragging rights will again be at stake this weekend.

“It’s going to be a great experience,” safety Kevin Byard said. “Like coach Stockstill said, there have been a lot of rumors that this game is going to be sold out and we’re finally going to have a real electric crowd here in Murfreesboro, and that will be great. At the same time, we have played a lot of big schools this year, but we went into every single game expecting to win those games. We don’t go into games expecting to lose no matter who the opponent is. It’s just another game and we’re going to go into it expecting to win.”

Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2 SEC) is at last showing signs of offensive life after registering 322 yards of total offense during last Saturday’s respectable 27-16 loss at third-ranked Mississippi. Sophomore quarterback Johnny McCrary flashed some of the potential coach Derek Mason and his staff says they have seen in him after struggling for much of the season so far, completing just 23 of 42 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown without an interception.

Middle Tennessee (2-2, 1-0 CUSA) narrowly lost at Illinois last weekend after kicker Cody Clark’s potential game-winning 43-yard field goal sailed wide left in the game’s waning seconds to preserve a wild 27-25 win for the Illini.

The Blue Raiders boast a potent offense that has already exploded for at least 70 points twice this season, including a 73-14 drubbing of Charlotte two weeks ago that saw them ring up a school-record six touchdowns and 42 points in the first period alone. Middle Tennessee currently ranks 12th nationally in scoring offense at 44.5 points per game.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Brent Stockstill, the smooth left-handed son of the coach, has been outstanding in directing the offensive barrage. He torched the Illini by completing 29 of 42 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns and is on pace to break school single-season records in completions (259), attempts (399) touchdown passes (23) and passing yards per game (249.9).

For the season, the younger Stockstill has completed nearly 70 percent (98 of 141) of his attempts for 1,221 yards with 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions.

But he might be hard-pressed for gaudy numbers against a stingy Commodores defense that played admirably in last weekend’s loss at Ole Miss.

The attendance record of 30,502 at Middle Tennessee’s Floyd Stadium was set in 2011 during a visit by Georgia Tech.