Middle Tennessee State wasn’t supposed to have much of a chance in its last game against a Power 5 opponent either. For its fourth game of the 2022 season, Alabama football’s season-opener foe headed to Corral Gables, Fla. to play Miami.

Then ranked in the top 25, the Hurricanes were 26-point favorites, with the Blue Raiders expected to be a mere table-setter for a bye week and the beginning of ACC play against North Carolina.

“Not a lot of people know who Middle Tennessee is,” Blue Raider safety Tra Fluellen said this week.

Then, MTSU won 45-31.

“The only time that people really understood what Middle Tennessee is is after the Miami game,” Fluellen continued.

On paper, Alabama this season is far better than last year’s Miami team. The Hurricanes ended up 5-7, finishing out of a bowl game and well outside the top 25.

The Crimson Tide are ranked No. 4 on the AP poll entering the season. UA comes in as a 39.5-point favorite.

Still, head coach Rick Stockstill isn’t just coming to Tuscaloosa to fund his athletic department through college football’s annual paycheck bowl tradition. He and his team are going to try and give the Crimson Tide all it can handle.

“We expect to play well,” Stockstill said Monday. “Just looking forward to getting down there and starting this season off. They’ve got a lot of good players, but we’ve got a lot of good players too. I believe in our team.”

The 2022 MTSU team had Chase Cunningham at quarterback, and he threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns against the Hurricanes. Cunningham is gone now, with Nick Vattiato assuming the starting role.

Even without last year’s QB, not to mention several of their top wide receivers, the Blue Raiders still figure to be a pass-heavy offense in 2023. Vattiato acknowledged the challenge of the unit facing Alabama’s defense, but expressed confidence that MTSU can figure it out, so long as it avoids mistakes.

“I think it’s just more about not shooting ourselves in the foot,” Vattiato said. “We have to go down there, do what we do, do what we’ve been doing all throughout training camp and put ourselves in the best position to win.”

Alabama will face MTSU at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be aired on the SEC Network.