St. Petersburg Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Miami (OH) Predictions

In SEC Football by Blake Lovell

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Location: Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL

Date and Time: December 26, 11 AM ET (ESPN)

Talk about a game that features two teams with strange seasons under their belt.

Let’s start with Miami of Ohio. After starting the season 0-6, the RedHawks won six straight games to finish 6-6. That’s never happened before.

And then there’s Mississippi State. The Bulldogs finished at 5-7 on the year, but still made a bowl thanks to their APR score. Their season started with an unpredictable loss to South Alabama and ended with unpredictable blowout win at Ole Miss.

And given how both teams’ seasons unfolded, it’s safe to say that “unpredictable” is the right word in trying to describe this game.

The good news for Mississippi State is that it has a quarterback in Nick Fitzgerald that has been pretty predictable. And that’s a good thing.

In taking over for Dak Prescott, Fitzgerald racked up nearly 2,300 yards through the air to go along with 21 touchdowns. He also added 1,243 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns in the ground game. Those aren’t bad numbers.

But Fitzgerald and company won’t face an easy task in going up against a Miami defense that ranked 26th in the country in total defense this season. Defense is certainly the strong point of this Miami squad, and it’ll need to be as good as it has been for the second half of the season if it wants to stop the Mississippi State offense.

On the bright side, the Bulldogs gave up 461.3 yards per game this season. That should be helpful for a RedHawk offense that has struggled to score points (110th in the nation at 23.4 PPG).

However, sophomore quarterback Gus Ragland hasn’t thrown a single interception in throwing for 15 touchdowns after his return from an ACL tear.

From a purely motivational standpoint, the edge lies with Miami. Mississippi State just finished destroying its biggest rival by 35 points, so spirits may not be as high in a morning bowl game against a .500 MAC team.

Meanwhile, the RedHawks’ spirits are as high as ever thanks to the improbable six-game winning streak. Going from winless midseason to finishing with a winning record would simply be incredible.

But all things considered, it’s hard to pick against Mississippi State here.

Fitzgerald has been fantastic, and his strong play will continue in leading the Bulldogs to a win at Tropicana Field.

St. Petersburg Bowl Prediction: Mississippi State 30, Miami (OH) 20

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