CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dan Mullen has come to expect fans in the stands for bowl games.
The Mississippi State coach has led the Bulldogs to six-straight bowl games and has seen fans follow the team to either Tennessee or Florida for postseason football in the last five bowl games. In those games, MSU had something of a home field advantage with the close proximity of the bowl site to Starkville and the state of Mississippi.
But not this year.
The Bulldogs are playing in a bowl game located outside of the Southeastern Conference footprint. MSU on Wednesday plays North Caroline State, an Atlantic Coast Conference team, in their own backyard: at the Belk Bowl in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPN.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for our fanbase,” Mullen said. “Just about every bowl game we’ve gone to, I’ve felt we’ve had the home field advantage over the last six years. It’s a huge challenge for our fans.”
NC State’s campus is located in Raleigh, North Carolina, about 170 miles from Charlotte (that’s a three-hour car ride). There are many Wolfpack fans in the Charlotte and surrounding areas, so they should have no problem creating a home field advantage for their team. Starkville is roughly 530 miles from Charlotte.
MSU was given an allotment of 8,000 tickets to sell and had sold over 5,000 before the university closed for the Christmas holiday. In years past, MSU sold out of bowl tickets quickly.
Still, many from MSU expect Bulldog fans to show up in good numbers to create a good atmosphere for the Bulldogs.
“I think we’ll have a great crowd there,” MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said. “I’m excited about going to a different place. Charlotte’s a great city by all accounts, NFL stadium and it’s a bowl we’ve never been to.”
In the six-straight bowl games, two of those were to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, the Orange Bowl in Miami last year, the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. All five bowls had a good turnout by Bulldog fans, mainly because the sights were accessible and fans were excited about the progress of the program.
MSU has never played a bowl game in the state of North Carolina and has only played two games ever in North Carolina.
“I think variety is always important in bowl season,” Stricklin said. “It’s not just going to the same bowl over and over, which I think is really important.”
MSU fan Chris Zumwalt is attending the Belk Bowl with two of his brothers. He said if MSU was selected to the Gator Bowl again he was not going to go. Zumwalt, who is from Ellisville, plans to tour the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on the way to Charlotte.
Ken Holmes and his wife, who have not missed the last six bowl games, will be traveling from Kosciusko to see the game. They went to Auburn, Alabama, and College Station, Texas, this season to see the Bulldogs play. Holmes did not want to go back to the Gator Bowl, but was just happy MSU made another bowl game.
“We’re glad to have a new location, but we would have gone anywhere,” Holmes said. “We just enjoy traveling to watch our Bulldogs play.”
Chad Herrington, who will be leaving from Pachuta with his parents and fiance, has heard good things about Charlotte and the surrounding area. He said the proximity to the Smoky Mountains made the decision easy for him.
Many other Bulldog fans from Mississippi will likely show up at the game, too.
“We’re going to challenge our fans to show up and try to match or give us even close to the balance of the home field advantage that NC State’s going to have,” Mullen said.
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.