St. Petersburg Bowl

Bowl History: The St. Petersburg Bowl is the third college bowl game to be played in the Tampa Bay Area; both the long-defunct Cigar Bowl and the ongoing Outback Bowl have been held across the bay in Tamba. On April 30, 2008, the NCAA’s Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee approved a to-be-named bowl for Tropicana Field to be played after the 2008 college football season.On November 25, 2008, ESPN Regional Television, the game’s owner, announced a one-year title sponsorship agreement with MagicJack The inaugural game was played on Dec 20, 2008, between the USF and Memphis, with the South Florida winning by a score of 41–14. USF QB, Matt Grothe was named Most Outstanding Player, after throwing for 236 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 83 yards on 15 carries. Both the UCF and the Rutgers accepted bids to play in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl on December 19, 2009. On December 9, 2009, the bowl’s name was changed to the St. Petersburg Bowl Presented by Beef O’Brady’s after the restaurant chain obtained a title sponsorship. In the second St. Petersburg Bowl, Rutgers defeated Central Florida 45–24. The 2010 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s bowl pitted the Southern Miss against the Louisville on December 21, 2010. It was the 29th meeting between former C-USArivals. After falling behind 14–0 and 21–7, Louisville came back to win their sixth contest in a row against Southern Miss, 31–28! The 2011 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl featured the first Sun Belt conference team to play in the game, as Florida International lost 20–10 to Marshall (Conference USA). The restaurant stopped sponsoring the bowl in 2014. On June 18, 2014, it was announced that bitcoin payment services (BitPay) would become the new sponsor of the game under a two-year deal, renamed the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. On April 2, 2015, after one year of sponsorship, BitPay declined to renew sponsorship of the game. The bowl game features teams from the AAC against either the ACC or C-USA, unless one of the conferences does not have enough bowl Eligible teams, in which case the MAC or SBC are eligible to send a team.

Teams: Miami OH 6-6 (MAC) Mississippi State 5-7 (SEC)

Bowl Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

Day, Date & Time: Monday, December 26, 2016, 10:00 CST

Network: ESPN

Best Win(s): Miami began the season with 6 straight losses, then won 6 in a row, beating 2 bowl eligible teams, Eastern Michigan (7-5), 28-15 & Central Michigan (6-6), 37-17; Mississippi State Texas A&M (8-4), 35-28 & South Carolina (6-6), 27-14

 Worst Losses: Miami lost to Eastern Illinois, 21-17 (an FCS team from the Ohio Valley Conference), Mississippi State South Alabama (6-6) 21-20

Common Opponents: None

Vegas Hotsheets Favorite: Mississippi State -11

Offensive Team Data: Miami Ohio ;  Total Yards,  362 YPG;  Passing Yards,  228 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  134 YPG;  Scoring Average,  23 PPG, Turnovers,  1.5 TPG;  Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 38.1 %; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 83% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 56%

Offensive Team Data: Mississippi State ; Total Yards,  449 YPG; Passing Yards, 215 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 234 YPG; Scoring Average  32 PPG, Turnovers,  1.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 39.9%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 76% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 59%

Defensive Team Data: Miami Ohio ; Total Yards,  355 YPG; Passing Yards,  215 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  140 YPG; Scoring Average,  24 PPG, Turnovers,  1.75 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 39.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 80% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 60%

Defensive Team Data:  Mississippi State ; Total Yards,  461 YPG; Passing Yards,  283 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  178 YPG; Scoring Average,  33 PPG, Turnovers,  1.75 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 41.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 81% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 60%

Sully’s CFP Game Simulator is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will preform, based solely on their numbers, when they face off on the gridiron! Keep in mind, these stats were established against different teams and conferences and these differences must be taken into account to get a complete picture when attempting to predetermine a winner. If you are interested in how the Simulator works … read this part … if not … skip it! The process used is … we take Arizona’s total yards on offense, add it to what Nevada gives up on defense, …  get a total and then divide that number by 2 … to get the mean. We then invert the process by taking Nevada’s total offense, add it to what Arizona gives up on defense, get a total and divide that number by 2  to get the second mean… the greater number (with the exception of Turnovers) is then determined to have the advantage ( please note …. statistical advantage). We repeat this process in each of the eight statistical categories assessed!  That said… here are the results of the Head to Head Analysis:

Total Yards Advantage: Miami OH 411.5, Mississippi St 402

Passing Yards Advantage: Miami OH 255.5, Mississipp[ St 215

Rushing Yard Advantage: Mississippi St 187, Miami OH 156

Scoring Advantage: Tie Miami OH 28, Mississippi St 28

Turnovers Advantage: Mississippi St 1.54, Miami OH 1.625

3rd Down Conversions Advantage: Miami OH 39.75%, Mississippi St 39.65%

Red Zone All Scores Advantage: Miami OH 82%, Mississippi St. 78%

Red Zone TD’s Only Advantage: Mississippi St.59.5%, Miami Oh 58%

The Game Simulator Says: Statistically Miami wins 5 to 4 and the score is a dead heat at 28 apiece. Site says take Miami and the 11 points!

Individuals to Watch: Miss State QB Nick Fitzgerald 21/10 Ratio, 2287 passing yards; Miami QB, Gus Ragland, 15/0 Ratio, 1274 passing yards

Sully Says: 11 points is a lot of points for a team to be giving who got into the playoff with 5 wins. Miami lost its first 6 games and won its last 6. This game is an athletic mismatch, Mississippi State wins and covers the 11!