It’s official. Louisville will be playing Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on December 30th. We found out this out after some weird last-minute politicking by Tennessee to go to Jacksonville instead of Nashville. This shook up some potentially awesome match-ups between Indiana and Kentucky in the Gator Bowl and Louisville and Tennessee in Nashville. While I don’t mind seeing Tennessee dispirit Kentucky for a second time this season, I can’t help but feel robbed of the fun Louisville and Tennessee fans would have had on Broadway.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, we’ll get to enjoy the gracious company of our most recent all-sport post-season rival, Mississippi State. Let’s take a look at the key numbers for this game
0 Cowbells will be going “clanga” at Nissan Stadium as these artificial noisemakers fall under the NFL’s security rules at the Titan’s Nissan Stadium. Asked on The Drive with Mark Ennis yesterday, Mississippi State beat writer Brian Hadad said it would also be unlikely that fans would try to sneak their cowbells in. He explained that many cowbells are family heirlooms and that fans would likely not risk having such an item confiscated.
No Rocky Top. No Clanga. I’m good with it.
730 days will have elapsed since Louisville’s last bowl game when the Cards kick off on Dec 30th. This will mark the same amount of time that will have passed since Louisville’s last meeting with Mississippi State.
0 times Louisville has beaten the Bulldogs. Mississippi State has won all five meetings between the teams. But in 1978, the Bulldogs had to retroactively forfeit 19 games, including two wins against Louisville, due to playing a single ineligible defensive lineman. So, the record stands 3-2 in the NCAA record books. This practice of retroactively forfeiting games was discontinued in the mid-80s and was replaced with the practice of schools in violation only having their wins vacated. Unfortunately, this is something we're too familiar with. But because we at Louisville do not observe the NCAA’s make-believe rewriting of things that actually happened, we tip our cap to MSU’s undefeated record against us.
1 player per team is currently expected to miss the bowl game. Louisville’s Russ Yeast is expected to miss the game due to injury. MSU’s LB Cam Dantzler announced last week he’d be skipping the bowl in preparation for the NFL Draft. A move that was not well-received by some of his own teammates.
10 consecutive years MSU has gone to a bowl game. The Bulldogs are one of five SEC teams to have gone bowling in every year of this decade. State currently holds a 13-9 bowl record to Louisville’s 10-11-1 record.
333 pounds is the average weight for a Bulldog starting lineman. This eclipses Clemson’s 325-pound average, which was by far the largest Louisville had faced this season. As I got into it last week, size of this magnitude could spell misery for Louisville’s front seven. *Gulp*
1,347 yards is the distance MSU’s running back Kylin Hill has rushed for this season. He sits 45 yards away from setting MSU’s all-time record for most rushing yards in a single season. He’s also collected Associated Press All-SEC first team honors and Conerly Trophy for the state of Mississippi’s best college player. Record-setting running back + an enormous o-line? *Gulp*
6 of Louisville’s opponents have rushed for 200 or more yards this season. *Gulp*
8 games MSU has rushed for 200+ yards. *Gulp*
17 is MSU’s national ranking in yards per carry. For reference, Clemson ranks #1, Kentucky #3, Notre Dame #29, and Boston College #31. *Gulp*
6.3 yards per play is what Mississippi State's defense surrenders on average. This ranks 106th in the country. For reference, Louisville ranks 116th (6.5 y/p), Boston College 115th, Syracuse 102nd, Wake Forest 77th, and N.C. State 67th.
104 is MSU’s defensive explosive drive (DED) rating. DED is a rating based on the percentage of opponent offensive drives that average at least ten yards per play. This ranks MSU 91st in the country.
130 is MSU’s ranking in explosive plays allowed. Dead last in the country. I like this number.
All these numbers are (somewhat) important. But getting to celebrate this incredible turnaround season with a bowl game after the hell Petrino put all of us through, especially the players?
Priceless.
