Nashville, Tenn. ? The Blue Raiders will be opening for Big Boi.

Trying to boost attendance and save its Division I-A status, Middle Tennessee has scheduled a free concert immediately after its game today by rapper Big Boi, one half of the Grammy-winning duo Outkast.

Rapper Big Boi, half of the hip-hop duo Outkast, will perform after tonight's Middle Tennessee State football game in Nashville, Tenn. The concert by Big Boi, shown in New York in this file photo, is a ploy to attract attendance to the game against Idaho in hopes the school can maintain its Division I-A status.

The Blue Raiders are 2-4, and their lagging attendance could send them back to Division I-AA.

Football programs must average 15,000 fans a game to stay in the NCAA’s top division. But Middle Tennessee averaged only about 14,000 in its first two home games, and equally miserable Idaho (2-5) wasn’t expected to bring the fans out.

“It’s definitely an attempt to get people in the stands,” school spokesman Doug Williams said. “We want our students to come to games and be exposed to the MTSU experience, and we thought this would be a good way to do it.”

Anyone who wants to see the concert must attend the game.

“We certainly want to reach that threshold (of 15,000), and that’s certainly part of the motivation,” Williams said.

When the school moved up from Division I-AA in 1999, the NCAA requirement was simply to sell at least 17,000 tickets. Now the number is lower, but people actually have to attend. If the school sells 30,000 tickets, but only 14,000 show up, that’s not good enough.

Middle Tennessee, located in Murfreesboro, 30 miles southeast of Nashville, has two more home games after Saturday.

MTSU athletic director Boots Donnelly said “coming to a football game is no longer the norm. You have to have an activity.”

Those not partial to Big Boi can leave the stadium after the game, but Donnelly said he expected most to stay.

“There’s a tremendous amount of conversation about coming to the game,” he said.

Big Boi and his Outkast partner, Andre 3000, won three Grammys earlier this year, including album of the year.