Mississippi State a slight underdog in early Armed Forces Bowl line
It's still about 10 days before Mississippi State takes on No. 22 Tulsa in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, but the early line says the Bulldogs are underdogs to the Golden Hurricane on New Year's Eve.
MSU is a 2.5-point underdog to Tulsa as of midday Monday. That line comes courtesy of the Caesar's Sportsbook.
It likely shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that the odds have State facing a slight uphill battle. Tulsa has put together an impressive 6-2 season and nearly won the American Athletic Conference championship. The Hurricane fell 27-24 to No. 6 Cincinnati in the league's title game last Saturday.
Meanwhile Mississippi State had an up-and-down 2020 regular season that began with a bang when the Bulldogs upset defending-national-champion LSU back in September. However the following eight games saw MSU battle offensive inconsistency and record only one victory over that stretch – a narrow triumph over winless Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs did show improvement over the last few weeks with strong, competitive showings at Georgia and at Ole Miss. That preceded MSU closing out the regular season slate by topping Missouri 51-32 this past Saturday.
Despite just a 3-7 record, MSU was able to advance to a bowl game for the 11th consecutive season as the NCAA had already waived the win requirement to qualify for bowl games in this COVID-19-impacted season. As a result, the Bulldogs are now one of only four SEC programs to go to a bowl each of the last 11 seasons, joining Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M.
The Armed Forces Bowl is set for an 11 a.m. central kickoff on December 31. The contest will be televised by ESPN. The Bulldogs are looking for their first victory in a postseason game since winning the Gator Bowl over Louisville following the 2017 season.
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