NO. 7 MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (10-2) vs. NO. 12 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (10-3)

DEC. 31, 8 P.M. ET, MIAMI GARDENS, FLA., SUN LIFE STADIUM (ESPN)

MISSISSIPPI STATE BREAKDOWN

Season highlights: It’s not a stretch to call this the most successful season in the program’s history. That’s a hard pill to swallow considering how it ended, but you don’t reach No. 1 in the polls and go 9-0 for the first time ever without doing something right. Quarterback Dak Prescott threw for nearly 3,000 yards and rushed for nearly 1,000, hanging in the Heisman Trophy race for the better part of the season. Wideout De’Runnya Wilson developed into a playmaker, averaging at least 90 yards and a touchdown in games against LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss. And the defense, while it bent plenty between the 20s, was stout in the red zone and played with a zeal rarely seen in Starkville.

Season lowlights: There was a point after reaching No. 1 that Mississippi State lost its edge. The team that loved the role of underdog could no longer play it, and it showed, first in close games against Kentucky and Arkansas and then in a narrow loss to Alabama. Dropping to No. 4 was supposed to be a wake-up call, but judging by a lackluster showing in the Egg Bowl against rival Ole Miss, it wasn’t. The offense stopped being explosive, Prescott turned the ball over too many times, and the defense didn’t have its usual juice of forcing turnovers and creating negative plays. It wasn’t the two losses that was so difficult for fans to swallow, it was the way the mood turned after things had gone so well the first half of the season.

Player to watch: Want to know how Prescott feels about next year? Just watch him in this game. The former Heisman contender took a significant step back the second half of the season, but he never lost what made him special. He’s still a big, strong, mobile quarterback who can throw the deep ball and run between the tackles. But if he wants to begin next year as a Heisman hopeful and put himself in serious first-round NFL draft consideration, he needs to start with some momentum in the bowl game. Prescott needs to take care of the football and show once again that he’s a quarterback capable of taking over and winning football games. Last year he got the ball rolling with five touchdowns against Rice. Can he do it again?

Motivation factor: As we saw throughout the season, Mississippi State’s psyche does make a difference. It did in the run-up to being ranked No. 1, and it did on the downslide out of the playoff picture. So which team will show up in the bowl game? Will it be the one full of two-star recruits doing everything it can to prove itself? Or will it be the team that thinks it should be in a bigger, better game? That’s up to coach Dan Mullen and the rest of the staff to decide. After losing so badly to Ole Miss, there should be a sense of wanting to show that they are better than that. But that was the case entering the Egg Bowl too.

-- Alex Scarborough

vs.

GEORGIA TECH BREAKDOWN

Season highlights: There were plenty of big plays along the way this year, from Justin Thomas’ touchdown pass with 23 seconds remaining to beat Georgia Southern to D.J. White’s fourth-quarter interception vs. Virginia Tech to the defense’s two pick-sixes against Clemson. But the plays Tech will remember the most are Harrison Butker’s 53-yard kick as time expired to send the game against Georgia to overtime and White’s interception on the Bulldogs’ next drive to win it. It was the first time Tech had beaten its in-state rival since 2008.

Season lowlights: A few close calls in nonconference play early in the year were hardly standout performances, but it was the two-game losing streak to Duke and North Carolina that really sticks with Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils were the only team this year to slow Paul Johnson’s offense, holding Tech to just 12 points until the final five minutes of the game. Tech led UNC late, but the Tar Heels scored with 11 seconds remaining to win. Players point to that latter loss as a turning point in the season, when the team realized what it needed to do to win.

Players to watch: Thomas has sparked the Georgia Tech offense all season, throwing for 17 touchdowns and running for five more, but he will be without leading receiver DeAndre Smelter, who suffered a torn ACL against Georgia. Linebacker Quayshawn Nealy has been the leader of a ball hawking defense. B-backs Zach Laskey and Synjyn Days are the forces behind Tech’s ground game.

Motivation factor: Georgia Tech always plays with a bit of a chip on its shoulder. Johnson has prodded critics of his “high school offense” since the day he arrived on campus in 2008, and he relishes every opportunity to prove how tough the Tech option really is to slow down. The defense has been looked at as a weakness through much of the year, but it’s a group that already has done an excellent job of proving critics wrong. Then there’s the ACC factor. While Florida State steals headlines, the rest of the league has been largely undervalued. Georgia Tech would love to shed some spotlight on how good the rest of the ACC really is.

-- David Hale