Even though Mississippi State didn’t win enough games to earn bowl-eligibility in the conventional way, the Bulldogs were included in Sunday’s postseason roll-out after other teams that reached the six-win threshold decided to opt out.
Mississippi State (5-7, 1-7 SEC) was picked to play Wake Forest (8-4, 4-4 ACC) in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which will be played in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. CT.
The Bulldogs qualified for the postseason after Iowa State and Kansas State saw players vote to not participate. Mississippi State was selected amongst other 5-7 teams based on the ranking of their Academic Progress Rate, a measure used by the NCAA to track if student-athletes are on pace to graduate through GPA, credit hours, and other factors.
It will be the first chance for Jeff Lebby to win a bowl game since taking over as the Bulldogs’ head coach two offseasons ago. Lebby inherited an otherwise historic program as of late that plummeted into disarray following the passing of head coach Mike Leach in 2022. For 13 consecutive seasons between 2010 and 2022, Mississippi State made a bowl game – one of the longest streaks in the nation at the time – before the streak was snapped during the 2023 season.
Lebby took over in November 2023 and has worked to return the program to where it was with sizable improvement between years one and two. After going 2-10 with no SEC wins in 2024, the Bulldogs went 5-7 this season with a conference win over Arkansas and one-score losses coming against Texas, Tennessee, and Florida.
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While senior Blake Shapen took most of the snaps from behind center through 11 games, Lebby decided to move to freshman quarterback Kamario Taylor going into the regular-season finale against rival Ole Miss. The Bulldogs could not manage a win, but Taylor had a solid outing with 178 passing yards and 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He was subsequently named SEC Freshman of the Week.
Other stat leaders for Mississippi State include wide receivers Brenen Thompson (948 yards, 6 touchdowns) and Anthony Evans III (751 yards, 4 touchdowns), running backs Fluff Bothwell (639 yards, 6 touchdowns) and Davon Booth (553 yards, 7 touchdowns), safeties Jahron Manning (85 tackles) and linebacker Nic Mitchell (77 tackles, 2.5 sacks).
For Wake Forest, the offense is led by quarterback Robby Ashford, who’s compiled 2,169 passing yards and 504 rushing yards with 16 total touchdowns. Chris Barnes (547 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Carlos Hernandez (538 yards, 3 touchdowns) are amongst Ashford’s favorite receivers. Other stat leaders include running back Demond Claiborne (907 yards, 10 touchdowns), defensive back Nick Anderson (95 tackles), and defensive lineman Langston Hardy (7 sacks).