STARKVILLE — Mike Schulze remembers Mississippi State fans being excited for their trip to Tampa, Florida, for the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day in 2019.
He hopes the Bulldogs faithful will be just as pumped to come back four years later.
Schulze, the director of communications and sponsorships for the Tampa Bay Bowl Association, is ready to welcome MSU back to Raymond James Stadium on Jan. 2 for what is now called the ReliaQuest Bowl.
The Bulldogs (8-4, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) will face Illinois (8-4, 5-4 Big Ten) in their 13th straight bowl game.
“We’re very excited about this matchup,” Schulze said. “It’s going to be a tremendous matchup. Both teams bring some great players at a lot of different positions.
“It’s going to be a great show on Jan. 2.”
Mississippi State learned its postseason slot and matchup Sunday afternoon, but it was the SEC — not the ReliaQuest Bowl — pulling the strings.
Schulze said bowl officials had to wait for college football’s premier conference to determine which team it would send to Tampa to match up with a Big Ten foe — in this case, the Illini.
“When we saw Mississippi State there, we were very excited that we were going to have a quality team in our game to match up against Illinois,” Schulze said.
He said ReliaQuest bowl officials do their best to keep up with SEC and Big Ten teams during the season, with the College Football Playoff and the CFP rankings playing big roles in bowl selection.
Schulze praised MSU coach Mike Leach’s ability after the Bulldogs finished 8-4 and earned the No. 22 CFP ranking Sunday.
“Coach Leach has done a great job with the program, bringing it back to where it should be,” Schulze said.
Leach replaced Joe Moorhead after the 2019 season, so it was Moorhead who led the Bulldogs to Tampa on their one previous trip.
Mississippi State suffered a 27-22 loss to Iowa to cap its 2018 campaign with an 8-5 record.
Apart from the outcome, perhaps, Schulze said Bulldogs fans who made the trip “sure had a great time here” in Tampa.
The bowl, of course, has a new sponsor: cybersecurity company ReliaQuest, headquartered in Tampa. Schulze said the bowl association “couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
And now, he said, there are even more attractions related to the game — including a day at Clearwater Beach on Dec. 30, a New Year’s Eve parade in nearby Ybor City and a pregame bowl bash Jan. 2.
“There’s always great events down here and activities that we do around the game, and it’s just a tremendous bowl destination,” Schulze said. “We’re hopeful that Mississippi State fans remember what a great time they had last time they were here and want to come back.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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