MEXICO CITY -- Dressed in their classic silver and black uniforms, the Raiders players huddle before kickoff. After words of encouragement and a prayer, the teenagers finish with head butts, shoulder slaps and a battle cry: Uno, dos, tres... vamos!This is, after all, south of the border, where football has a century-old tradition, rivals soccer in popularity and millions of kids like the Raiders de Arboleda play futbol americano -- American football -- every weekend.The NFL returns to Mexico after an 11-year absence when the Texans face the Raiders in a regular season game on Nov. 21 in sold-out Azteca Stadium. For the Mexican Raiders and others across the country, football is part of Mexican sports tradition as much as soccer, boxing and lucha libre.Football gives you the chance to take your passion to the field, to hit people and not get fined, said Raiders quarterback Gabriel Anaya, 16. Maybe thats why its so popular.The NFL has around 25 million fans in Mexico, the biggest number outside of the U.S., and its base is still growing, said Arturo Olive, director of the NFL office in Mexico. The league sponsors 6,500 teams in youth programs in 27 of 32 Mexican states, and estimates 2.5 million kids play flag football in elementary schools.Eight years ago, we played in only six states and had 120 teams, Olive said. The growth has been exponential.In a country steeped in soccer culture, and one that has hosted two FIFA World Cups, the love affair with football might be surprising. But Mexico has two popular college leagues with 36 teams, a six-team professional league, and up to 10 NFL games are on basic cable each week.The local soccer league has nine games each week, and not all of them are on TV.Fans can even watch the Thursday and Monday night games at the movie theater. Soccer gets the big-screen treatment only for World Cup matches.I also used to play soccer, Anaya said, but preferred this sport.Football was introduced in the country in 1896 by Mexican students returning home from U.S. colleges. They brought back an oval shaped ball, said Alejandro Morales, a local football historian and founder of Mexicos football hall of fame. He said the first official match was played that year in the city of Jalapa in the Gulf state of Veracruz, where the students and their friends faced a team of American sailors from a U.S. ship anchored in the nearby port.Soon after, several teams were created in Veracruz and eventually the sport spread to Mexico City and local colleges. UNAM, the national state university with over 200,000 students, started playing in the 1920*s, and by the 50s, most of the Mexican colleges where playing the game that, at the time, rivaled soccer in popularity. UNAMs famed Estadio Olimpico, site of the 1968 Summer Olympics, was used mainly for football in the first decade after its inauguration in 1950.Back then, football used to share the spotlight with soccer, Morales said. Eventually that faded, because football was not seen as a business. It was played in college and they just wanted to help the students, while soccer was run by professionals.Although football fell behind soccer, it remained hugely popular. The NFL noticed and on Aug. 5th, 1978, the Philadelphia Eagles played the New Orleans Saints in a preseason game in Mexico City. Some 30,000 fans packed the home of the Cruz Azul soccer team to watch the Saints 14-7 win in the first NFL game south of the border, and only the second played outside of the U.S. or Canada.The NFL returned 16 years later, when the Houston Oilers played the Dallas Cowboys in Azteca Stadium in the first of six preseason American Bowls hosted by Mexico. The last was in 2001, when the Raiders played the Cowboys in the same venue.The first regular season game was played in 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals played the San Francisco 49ers in front of 103,467 fans in Azteca Stadium, then an NFL record. Since 2007, the league has held games annually in Great Britain -- including three each season since 2014 -- but never returned to Mexico, until now.We were ready when the opportunity presented itself, said Olive, who has run the NFL Mexico office since 2008. Now we have a commitment to be successful with a game of this magnitude.Azteca Stadium, built in 1966 and home to the popular soccer club America, underwent several renovations to meet NFL standards, including new locker rooms exclusive for the football teams, new ramps and improved communication systems. The size decreased from 100,000 to 84,000 to improve seating, and all tickets were sold out in less than two hours, Olive said.Most fans will be rooting for the Raiders, the fifth most-popular team in Mexico behind the Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots and 49ers, according to the NFL.Among them will be Anaya and his friends from the Raiders team in Arboleda, a suburb north of this sprawling metropolis.A lot of players on the team have been playing here since they were little kids and are Raider fans, Anaya said, so they are very excited about the game.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLShai Gilgeous-Alexander Jersey . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Womens Clippers Jerseys . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. 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Authentic Clippers Jerseys . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste.The popular refrain is that Oklahoma has nothing to play for after losing two of its first three games.Sooners coach Bob Stoops isnt the least bit interested in advancing that theory.Stoops feels winning the Big 12 title would rate as a big accomplishment and Oklahoma begins its hunt for the conference crown when it visits No. 21 TCU on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, FOX) at Fort Worth, Texas.Weve won a lot of championships around here with a couple losses, said Stoops, who has won or shared nine conference titles since becoming coach in 1999. Keep fighting, keep improving. The better teams improve through the year and thats what we have to do. We have to keep improving this week to next week.The Horned Frogs (2-1, 1-0) also find themselves in must-win mode if they want to have a chance at becoming part of the College Football Playoff discussion.TCU suffered a home loss to Arkansas earlier this season and there isnt any remaining wiggle room.Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson has been selling his team on the importance of the Big 12 title since the nonconference loss to the Razorbacks and his message only increased this week.There is also the matter of starting a new home venue winning streak. TCU had won 14 straight at home prior to the Arkansas loss.One of the things you cant take for granted, the home crowd can give you emotion, but it cant be your emotion, Patterson said. Thats one thing as a young football team youve got to learn. You can feed off of it, but you already have to have it.The Horned Frogs certainly are proficient on offense again this season -- averaging 42.8 points per game -- and junior quarterback Kenny Hill has led the way.The Texas A&M transfer has been a solid passer by completing 66.1 percent of his throws for 1,487 yards and six touchdowns. He has topped 400 yards passing in two of his four games for TCU.Hill also has been a potent force in the running game with 166 yards and six touchdowns. His rushing yards are second behind junior Kyle Hicks (314).Another SEC transfer, junior John Diarse, has also made an impact. TThe former LSU wideout caught six passes for a career-high 139 yards in last Fridays victory over SMU, including a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown.ddddddddddddHe has caught 16 passes already this season after totaling 28 in two seasons at LSU.Diarse has been in big ballgames at LSU, and he transferred here because he wanted to catch more balls, Patterson said. The bottom line is hes done a great job.The Sooners have also been productive offensively while averaging 35.3 points. Junior quarterback Baker Mayfield has passed for 793 yards and seven touchdowns against two interceptions.Mayfield sees the potential to do more individually. Hes also got the same view as Stoops when hearing all the naysayers pontificating about how Oklahoma has nothing to play for.I mean, we can still end up playing in a New Years Day bowl in one of the big-time bowl games, Mayfield said. Its not discouraging at all. If you can go end up and play in something like the Rose Bowl or the Orange Bowl again -- I mean, I know the playoffs are in Atlanta and Arizona -- but other than that, yeah, one of the other big-time bowl games is obviously a big accomplishment that we can go do.The Sooners have been suspect on defense and are one of seven teams nationally without an interception. Oklahoma is allowing 31.7 points and was drilled for 33 and 45 points in losses to Houston and Ohio State, respectively.TCUs defense just got its first two interceptions of the campaign in the 33-3 rout of SMU. The Horned Frogs have allowed just 23 points over their last two games and getting torched for 82 over their first two.Sophomore outside linebacker Ty Summers leads TCU with 39 tackles after recording a combined 29 over the past two games.Oklahoma leads the series 10-5 and has won five of the six previous matchups in Fort Worth.The Sooners won 30-29 at home last season and led by 17 points in the fourth quarter before the Horned Frogs staged a rally. ' ' '