Why 5-7 Mississippi State accepted Duke's Mayo Bowl invite vs Wake Forest
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STARKVILLE — Jeff Lebby woke up just like every other Mississippi State football fan on Dec. 7. The second-year coach wasn’t expecting his team to be in a bowl game when the selections were announced later in the day.
Dominoes began to fall when Kansas State and Iowa State declined bowl invitations. That opened the door for the Bulldogs (5-7), who accepted an invitation to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl despite not clinching bowl eligibility.
They’ll play Wake Forest (8-4) on Jan. 2 (7 p.m. CT, ESPN) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We definitely didn’t think we’d be playing in a bowl game on Sunday morning,” Lebby said on Dec. 10. “Then we get a phone call, I guess mid-morning, to talk to us about the possibility of it, and making sure we were in great alignment on what we wanted to be able to go do.”
Why Mississippi State accepted Duke’s Mayo Bowl invite
Mississippi State is one of three 5-7 teams playing in a bowl game this season, joining Rice and Appalachian State.
While Lebby called it a “no-brainer” for MSU, it wasn’t for everyone. According to On3’s Brett McMurphy, seven 5-7 teams declined bowl invitations: Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers and Temple.
Mississippi State, which is playing in its first bowl game since the 2022 season, saw it as an opportunity. The bowl doesn’t just come with an additional game, but also three weeks of additional practices besides a three-day break for Christmas.
“For us, it’s a no-brainer for our program to have these practices, to be able to be together, to lift the way we’ll be able to lift the next month and keeping these guys around us to take advantage of this great opportunity that we’re going to have on Jan. 2,” Lebby said. “Our guys in the building are incredibly excited about it. Surprised that we get to go do this, but we’re going to take advantage of it. I think it is huge for our program and development.”
One of the first steps was locating all of the players. Mississippi State is conducting its final exams this week, with graduation on Dec. 12. Some players who were done with exams already went home.
MSU held its first bowl practice on Dec. 10.
“At first, it was, OK, where are all these guys at?” Lebby said. “A bunch of these guys had finals they already had taken. A bunch of guys were off campus. So we didn’t get to team-meet initially. We ended up having to push that all the way to Monday at 4 and we still had plenty of guys traveling back. That was the first piece of it, getting all the guys back here. But great excitement and understanding what a great opportunity this is for our program.”
Will Mississippi State’s declared transfers play in bowl game?
When the season ended, some Mississippi State players began announcing that they would be transferring. The transfer portal doesn’t open until Jan. 2, the same day as the bowl game, but players can announce their intentions to enter the portal.
Lebby said it will be case-by-case whether those transfers can practice and play against Wake Forest. As of Dec. 10, 13 players have announced they are entering the portal, none of whom are starters.
“It really is specific to who it is,” Lebby said. “As we got here and back in the building on Monday, we were on the grass this morning. There was nobody that was on the grass this morning that had decided to go in and enter the portal or announced they were planning on doing it. I think some of those things will come up, but it will be case-by-case. That’s college football right now.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Why Mississippi State accepted Duke’s Mayo Bowl invite vs Wake Forest
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