Mississippi State (No. 7) and Georgia Tech. (No. 12) will meet at Sun Life Stadium on Dec. 31 to face off in the 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl.

Georgia Tech from the Atlantic Coast Conference secured a reputation of one of the best rushing offenses in college football this season. Quarterback Justin Thomas leads an offense ranked third nationally in rushing yards (333.6 ypg) and first in third down efficiency (57%). Thomas is ranked fourth in the nation among quarterbacks with 965 rushing yards and 17 passing touchdowns. Synjyn Days and Zach Laskey both ranked in the top eight in conference rushing. Days has averaged 110.7 yards over the last 6 games.

Quayshawn Nealy has led a defense ranked second in the nation with six defensive touchdowns. Nealy also secures second on the team in tackles and has had two touchdowns himself.

Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference made history in 2014 with the first 10-win regular season. Coach Dan Mullen has led an offense that broke school single-season records for total points and total yards.  Their offense is ranked fifth in the nation with 506.2 ypg and 15th in scoring offense with 37.2 ppg.

Dak Prescott ranks in the top 5 in the SEC in passing yards and passing touchdowns.  He is ranked fifth in the nation in rushing yards and leads the conference in rushing touchdowns with a total of 13. Josh Robinson ranks third in the conference with 1,128 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.

The Bulldogs’ defense is ranked tenth in the nation with a total of 19.4 ppg.  Preston Smith leads the defense with 9 sacks and ranks fifth in the SEC.

Benardrick McKinney leads the team with 61 tackles and 3 fumble recoveries.

Georgia Tech visits the Orange Bowl for the seventh time in history. They hold a record of 3-3 in the Bowl game. Mississippi State has not seen the Orange Bowl since 1941 and holds a record of 1-1 for this game.  The teams have previously met four times with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets holding a strong 4-0 record over the Bulldogs.  The last meeting was in 2009 and ended with a win for Paul Johnson and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

About the 2014 Orange Bowl

The 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl will be played on December 31 at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida, is part of the New Year’s Six Bowls and pits the ACC Champion (or highest ranking ACC team if the champion goes to the College Football Playoff) against the highest ranked available non-champion from the Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame.