THE Mississippi State vs. North Carolina State Game Preview

The 2015 Belk Bowl between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and North Carolina State Wolfpack is set for a 2:30 Central kickoff on Wednesday, December 30th. If you’re not going to the game it’ll be broadcast by ESPN. If you are, be sure to bring a poncho.

Statistical Match-up

MSU rushing offense: 140 YPG (103rd) vs. NCST rushing defense: 144 YPG (38th)

MSU passing offense: 311 YPG (17th) vs. NCST passing defense: 188 YPG (20th)

NCST rushing offense: 201 YPG (32nd) vs. MSU rushing defense: 172 YPG (70th)

NCST passing offense: 211 YPG (78th) vs. MSU passing defense:217 YPG (57th)

IT’S GOING TO BE A WET ONE

MSU has played in rain a couple of times this year. Once at Southern Miss and then a real big time downpour in Missouri. But both of those games were on artificial turf, and this game will be played on natural grass. So that means it could be a muddy mess. Could also be a lot of fun since temps will be in the 60s, so not too cold.

Typically rain evens the playing field…but these two teams aren’t that far apart. Overall it’s probably better for N.C. State since the Bulldogs are the team favored to win the game.

The good news is Dak Prescott has gained some experience throwing in the rain. As long as you can grip it and chuck it right, you can throw the ball successfully – even though it’s harder to run routes it’s even harder to cover a receiver who knows where he’s going and the corner doesn’t…and that may neutralize a really good Wolfpack secondary.

FORMER FLORIDA QUARTERBACKS

Mississippi State wasn’t able to beat their two Mississippi rivals in 2015, but they can defeat two former Florida quarterbacks.

Earlier in the year the Bulldogs beat Louisiana Tech, a team led by Jeff Driskel – the Gators’ QB from 2012-14.

Now they’ll face Jacoby Brissett who played at Florida in 2011 and 2012 before losing the QB battle to Driskel.

WHAT’S AT STAKE FOR THE DAWGS

This is the rubber game for bowl games against N.C. State. The Bulldogs won the 1963 Liberty Bowl and the Wolfpack won the 1994 Peach Bowl. So now we’ll find out who can win best of three (over a 50+ year period).

MSU has yet to have a year under Dan Mullen where they lost the Egg Bowl and won the bowl game. For that matter, they’ve also never won the Egg Bowl and lost a bowl game. But since they failed to win the Golden Egg this year, we’ll see if they can muster a bowl win – a much needed one to finish the year strong.

With a win, State will get to nine wins in a season for just the seventh time in program history (1940, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1999, 2010, 2014). That would be a pretty big accomplishment, especially considering they would’ve done it in back-to-back years. It would also mark the most wins over a two year period in program history with 19….one more than 1939-40, 1940-41, 1998-99, and 1999-00.