College football: Mississippi State lands in Music City Bowl versus Louisville

STARKVILLE – The wait is over. 

Mississippi State punched its ticket to the postseason with its win in the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night. Ten days later, the Bulldogs finally learned about the details of the program's 10th-straight bowl game.

Mississippi State (6-6) will take on Louisville (7-5) in the 2019 Music City Bowl. The game will be played at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Dec. 30 at 3 p.m. CT. 

"The Music City Bowl is the perfect destination for our Bulldog fans and team," MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen said. "Nashville has a strong Mississippi State alumni contingent and is a great city to enjoy. I am thrilled for our football program on earning a bowl berth every season this decade. We look forward to seeing a large amount of Maroon and White in Nashville and sending out our senior class with a positive experience." 

This will be the fifth time during Mississippi State's bowl streak that it will have played an ACC opponent. MSU is 3-1 in those games. Mississippi State beat Louisville in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl, 31-27. 

Then a true freshman, quarterback Keytaon Thompson started in place of injured Nick Fitzgerald in the matchup between these two teams two years ago. Thompson accounted for 274 yards and three touchdowns. 

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson had 329 yards and three total touchdowns in the game, but he was also intercepted four times in the final game of the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner's career. 

The quarterback situations will be much different for both teams this time around. Mississippi State will either start graduate senior Tommy Stevens or true freshman Garrett Shrader. Louisville trots out redshirt sophomore Micale Cunningham. 

On paper, Mississippi State has the edge defensively, while Louisville has been better offensively. MSU head coach Joe Moorhead expects a good game.

"This is a great opportunity for our football program against a very quality and well-coached Louisville team," Moorhead said. "I am very excited for our team to accept this bid to the Music City Bowl. We are fired up about the practices ahead. We have built a lot of momentum over the past month and want to ensure our senior class goes out the right way. We can't wait to see our Bulldog fans in Nashville to close the year."

Here's a quick comparison of each team's 2019 season. 

Mississippi State

Record: 6-6 overall, 3-5 in conference play 

Key wins: 28-13 over Kentucky, 21-20 over Ole Miss

Points per game: 27.6

Points allowed per game: 28.1 

Yards per game: 402.9 

Yards allowed per game: 389.8 

Louisville 

Record: 7-5 overall, 5-3 in conference play 

Key wins: 28-21 over Virginia, 62-59 over Wake Forest

Points per game: 32.7

Points allowed per game: 33.8 

Yards per game: 442.1 

Yards allowed per game: 446.1

More:Louisville earns Music City Bowl bid and will play Mississippi State

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler's work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!