Mississippi State Football: Belk Bowl Predictions

After starting the 2015 season 7-2 after riding a 5 game win streak, Mississippi State fans faltered down the stretch to end up in the Belk Bowl. They’ll face a hungry North Carolina State team in their own backyard in the Belk Bowl.

As disappointed as many Bulldogs fans may be with the finish to their 2015 Mississippi State football season, this season has been a solid one. Many predicted that the Bulldogs, fresh off an 10-3 Orange Bowl campaign in 2014, would fall flat on their face and finish last in the SEC West.

They must not have been watching the Bulldogs in 2014 and what they had returning. Or maybe they were.

Most were predicting the Mississippi State football program to field a team that was similar to what they fielded in 2014. Arkansas, Auburn and Texas A&M were all thought to be much improved, though, and were picked to finish ahead of Mississippi State. Of those 3 teams, Mississippi State only lost to Texas A&M.

The disappointing part for many Bulldog fans is that their best win came against a 7-5 Arkansas team. They were unable to beat the top tier teams in the division: Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss. It is tough to put LSU in that category and Mississippi State was a missed 52 yard field goal as time expired away from supplanting LSU in that list.

Losing to Alabama and Ole Miss in ugly fashion, though, has put a sour feeling in gut Mississippi State football fans, though, and only a bowl win is the only available cure.

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How the Bulldogs can win: Dan Mullen has guided Mississippi State football to 6 straight bowl games, a school record. He has a 3-2 record and his experience will be helpful in guiding this team into hostile territory. The Bulldogs will need a solid performance from Dak Prescott to pull out the win here. They’ll need to score early and take the North Carolina crowd out of the game (the bowl is only a couple of hours from NC State). If they can score early, they should be able to easily salt the game away late.

How the Bulldogs can lose: If the Bulldogs try to “big time” North Carolina State and feel like this bowl is beneath them, they could quickly become the Wolfpack’s signature win of the 2015 season. Mississippi State has more talent but some of the players will have one eye on the NFL combine and draft. If they come out unprepared, watch out for the upset.

Predictions:

John: I think Dak Prescott comes out hungry to get the taste of losing to Alabama and Ole Miss out of his system. I think the Bulldogs jump out 2 or 3 scores early and take their foot off the gas. North Carolina State will make it a game late but they’ll never seriously threaten to pull of the upset. I’ll take the fighting Prescott’s 38-24.

Andrew: How can you go against Dak Prescott in his final game in maroon and white? I like the Bulldogs of Mississippi State to take it to NC State convincingly, 34-17.

Ben: Mississippi State wants to showcase Dak Prescott and send him to the NFL draft in style. I think they will win big.

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