For a while, college football fans in Mississippi salivated over the possibility of a bowl season matchup between Mississippi State and Southern Miss.

As it turned out, the two in-state rivals will head to different destinations thousands of miles apart.

On Sunday, Mississippi State accepted an invitation to play Wake Forest in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 30. Southern Miss will head to Hawaii to face Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.

For 16 seasons, the Conferece USA champion has played in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and Southern Miss seemed headed there after beating Houston for the league title on Saturday. The bowl’s other tie-in is with a mid-level Southeastern Conference school, a slot Mississippi State (6-6) could have easily slid into.