Reports of Mississippi State’s bowl demise, apparently, were a bit premature.

Despite finishing with a 5-7 record, the Bulldogs on Sunday received an invitation to the St. Petersburg Bowl and will face Miami of Ohio on Monday, Dec. 26 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Kickoff for the game is at 10 a.m.

Normally, six wins and a .500 record are the minimum benchmarks for bowl eligibility. Mississippi State, however, sneaked into the postseason because not enough teams reached the usual standards to fill out the entire field of 40 bowl games. When that happens the NCAA uses its Academic Progress Rate rankings to fill the remaining slots.

The Bulldogs, along with North Texas, were the teams without six bowl-eligible wins to earn a berth based on their APR.

MSU’s APR of 971 is 12 points better than the national average and second-best among the 12 teams who finished 5-7.

“We are thrilled to finish the season in St. Petersburg,” Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said in a statement. “This is a great opportunity for one of the winningest senior classes in school history and for our program to build momentum for 2017. It also speaks volumes of our student-athletes for their commitment in the classroom to qualify for a bowl based on our successful APR.”

Mississippi State earned a bowl bid for the seventh straight year, all under Mullen. It will be the school’s 20th all-time bowl appearance and the program is one of only five from the Southeastern Conference to go bowling every season this decade.

This will be the Bulldogs’ first appearance in the St. Petersburg Bowl, and the first time they’ve ever played Miami.

Miami lost its first six games of the season but turned things around with six consecutive victories to close out the season with a 6-6 record. The Redhawks reached bowl eligibility with a 21-20 victory over Ball State in their final game.

It’s Miami’s first bowl game since 2010.

“This is a great reward for our players and staff who have put in so much work and effort to build our program back to bowl eligibility,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said.

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL
Mississippi State (5-7) vs. Miami (Ohio) (6-6)
Monday, Dec. 26, 10 a.m.
TV: ESPN; Radio: 105.5 FM

Tickets: St. Petersburg Bowl Tickets