Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen smiles when he thinks about what his program accomplished in the last eight years.
The Bulldogs have competed for the Southeastern Conference Western Division title. In 2014, they started the season with nine-straight wins and were ranked No. 1 for five-straight weeks.
MSU also has been a regular at bowl games in Mullen’s tenure.
But the Bulldogs encountered some hard times on the field this season and Mullen felt like his team wasn’t going to receive an invitation to a bowl game. Finishing 5-7, MSU fell one win short of qualifying for a bowl under the traditional standards. Without enough six-win teams to fill all of the bowl slots, MSU received a bowl invitation because of a 971 Academic Progress Rate (APR) score, something Mullen is very proud of. MSU will play Miami University (6-6) in the St. Petersburg Bowl at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 26 (ESPN), at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“You say, ‘Hey, we’re getting an opportunity to go to a bowl game because of what you all have done in the classroom, not just the guys that are here, but the guys before you. Over the last couple of years, how we’ve worked, what we’ve been able to do in the classroom for our players, that work has now paid off,’ ” Mullen said Thursday during a question-and-answer session with ESPN college football analyst Anthony Becht at the bowl’s introductory press conference in St. Petersburg.
MSU is one of two teams at 5-7 to qualify for a bowl game because of good grades. North Texas, which has an APR score of 984, will play Army in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.
MSU had a chance to finish 6-6, but a 58-42 home loss to Arkansas on Nov. 19 derailed those plans. MSU rallied with a 55-20 victory against Ole Miss in the Battle for the Golden Egg to stay alive for a school-record seventh-straight bowl appearance.
“The bowl system’s so special for what it does in providing an educational opportunity for all of these young men from both schools to come down and get to see a city and enjoy a city and see an atmosphere they may have never seen before in their life,” Mullen said.
Sophomore quarterback Nick Fitzgerald is 183 of 335 for 2,287 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He broke Dak Prescott’s record for most yards rushing by a quarterback with a team-high 1,243 yards on 177 carries and 14 touchdowns. His 3,539 yards of total offense are the most in the SEC.
“If we can somehow tackle their quarterback, which SEC teams are having a hard time doing, we might actually have a chance to do something,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said. “He’s fast and elusive. I like watching him, outside of one day. If you like football, he’s a fun guy to watch.”
Miami began the season 0-6 and lost several close games. Martin said his team deserved to lose those games because it “played poorly when the game was on the line.”
Martin told his team he didn’t think a bowl game was possible, so the Redhawks treated the final six games like a bowl game and finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak to make a bowl game for the first time since 2010.
“Our kids kept believing,” Martin said. “They kept fighting, they kept trying to get better, and they kept thinking we were close and we can do this. I really can’t explain either part of it.”
Sophomore quarterback Billy Bahl began the season as the starter, but he suffered an injury five games in. Sophomore Gus Ragland, who suffered a knee injury in the spring, took over in the final six games and is 93 of 149 for 1,274 yards and 15 touchdowns. He has 151 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
“He is as competitive a leader as there’ll ever be,” Martin said. “He loves to have the ball in his hands. Our team was close, but we were obviously having a very difficult time getting over the hump, and his leadership, competitiveness, and confidence really came at the right place and right time. He pushed us over.”
Although MSU doesn’t have a chance to finish the year with a winning record — the first time that has happened since MSU went 5-7 in Mullen’s first season in 2009 — everyone is excited about the finale.
“You look at our guys and the opportunity, not just to come to a bowl game, but to come to Florida and to come to a beautiful city with unbelievable weather, there’s a lot of excitement in our locker room,” Mullen said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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