GAME NOTES (from NC State Media)

NC State vs. Mississippi State
3:30pm | Charlotte, NC  | ESPN

BOWLED OVER

The Belk Bowl marks NC State’s 29th postseason appearance and its 11th bowl game since 2000. The Wolfpack posts a 15-12-1 overall record in post-season bowls and is 7-3 in its last 10 outings.

THE PACK IN THE BELK BOWL

T.J. Graham had 7 catches for 116 yards and 2 TDs against Louisville in the 2011 Belk Bowl This season marks the third time NC State has played a bowl game in Bank of America Stadium. The Wolfpack won the 2011 Belk Bowl, 31-24, vs. Louisville and defeated South Florida there in 2005 in what was then called the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

In 2005, NC State turned in a storybook ending to a rollercoaster season with a 14-0 victory over South Florida on New Year’s Eve. The defense, led by bowl MVP Stephen Tulloch (Detroit Lions), shut out the Bulls in USF’s first bowl game appearance in school history. It marked the only shutout in a bowl that year and the first ever by the Wolfpack. NC State scored 24 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to overwhelm Louisville in the 2011 win. Quarterback Mike Glennon (Tampa Bay Bucs), who completed 21 of 33 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns, was named the MVP of the game.

STATE VS. STATE

It’s been 20 years since the Wolfpack and the Bulldogs met on the gridiron, however the 2015 Belk Bowl will mark the first of three matchups between the two teams in the next six years. NC State and Mississippi State have scheduled a home and home series in the next few years. The Bulldogs will visit Raleigh in 2020 and the Wolfpack will travel to Starkville in 2021.

The 2015 Belk Bowl will mark the third time the two teams have faced off in a postseason bowl. The Wolfpack defeated the Bulldogs 28-24 in the 1994 Peach Bowl in the last meeting and lost to MSU in the 1963 Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia (that weather for that contest was 19o with a 17 mile-per-hour wind!).

KEYS TO THE GAME

Stopping Prescott

Dak Prescott is playing in his final college game and he’s going to do his best to go out on top. This is a kid who has 110 career touchdowns and owns 38 school records. He can beat you in the air and beat you on the ground when he has to. He is coming off his best year passing, going for 3,413 yards with 25 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He has good receivers and their offense as a whole is dangerous. State’s defense will need to have one of it’s best performances of the season.

Brissett (and the offense) needs to play big

Jacoby is also playing his final collegiate game and while the Pack didn’t exactly shock the ACC this year, Brissett has been above average (2,400 yards and 24 total TDs). He is going to have to have a big game if State is going to go blow for blow with the Bulldogs.

The main thing this offense is going to need to do is to stay on the field. They are going to need an accurate Brissett, a tough, grind-it-out kind of day for Gallasby and some supreme ball security. State has been one of the best teams in the nation at not turning it over, and keeping that trend going could be the difference in a win or a loss today.