Tulsa vs Mississippi State 12/31/20 - NCAA Football Picks & Predictions

The No. 24 ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane will play the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Thursday December 31st in the Armed Forces Bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium and Fort Worth, Texas home of the TCU Horned Frogs. Tulsa finished the regular season 6-2 overall 6-0 in the American Athletic Conference but lost the AAC championship game to Cincinnati 27-24. Nevertheless, this is the first winning season for Tulsa since 2016.

The Tulsa offense has not been spectacular, ranking 51st in passing and 69th in rushing but a three-headed running attack of TK Wilkerson, Deneric Prince and Corey Taylor II combined to rush for 1,177 yards and 10 touchdowns. Quarterback Zach Smith passed for 1,600 yards, 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions. On defense, safety Kendarin Ray was the leading tackler with 57 and linebacker Zaven Collins was the leader in quarterback sacks with 4.0.

Mississippi State finished its regular season 3-7 and was last in the West division of the SEC. The Bulldogs defeated Arkansas, Kentucky and Vanderbilt but each of those opponents finished the season below .500. This is the first bowl appearance for Mississippi State since 2017.The Bulldogs ended the regular season with an impressive 51-32 victory over Missouri but lost three of their last four games overall.

Will Rogers took over for starting quarterback KJ Costello and passed for 1,828 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Rogers was sacked 16 times. The less than stellar running game for Mississippi State was led by Jo’Quavious Marks with 240 yards and two touchdowns. The leading receiver for Mississippi State is Jaden Walley with 691 yards receiving and two touchdown receptions. On defense, linebacker Erroll Thompson was the leading tackler with 87 and linebacker Tyrus Wheat was the leader in quarterback sacks with 4.5.