Mississippi State bowl game history: Every bowl game the Bulldogs have played in
By Ethan Lee
2013 Gator Bowl: MSU Bulldogs fall short vs. Northwestern Wildcats for Dan Mullen’s first bowl loss
The 2012 Mississippi State football season got off to a really solid start. Although the Bulldogs did show some flaws here and there, State won its first seven games and was heading into Tuscaloosa, Alabama looking to upend Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide.
That didn’t happen, for what that’s worth, and the Bulldogs ended up losing four of their last five games of the regular season, including the Egg Bowl to an upstart coach by the name of Hugh Freeze.
And so, Dan Mullen’s team wasn’t having much fun by the time bowl season came around. And when the Bulldogs took another trip to Jacksonville, Florida on January 1, 2013, MSU football fans simply didn’t have much fun either.
This trip to the Gator Bowl ended a lot differently than the one a couple seasons prior did.
The Northwestern Wildcats put an end to Mississippi State’s streak of bowl wins (though the Bulldogs’ impressive streak of bowl appearances certainly continued on). Northwestern held on to a 13-10 lead by halftime, but Tyler Russell clearly wasn’t comfortable trying to operate the Bulldogs’ offense against Northwestern’s defense.
Which, you know, Russell completed 12 of 28 passes for 106 yards and threw four interceptions. He wasn’t having any fun.
Meanwhile, Wildcats quarterbacks Trevor Siemian and Kain Colter ended up punishing the Bulldogs. By the time it was all said and done, MSU fell 34-20 in an uninspiring end to what was once a promising season that ended up simply spiraling out of control.
There were a few bright spots for MSU that signaled things might be better at some point in the future. Josh Robinson and LaDarius Perkins each ran for 91 yards and both would play key roles in helping the Bulldogs make it to a bowl game in 2013.