Music City Bowl: Latest News, Notes and Analysis for Wake Forest vs. Mississippi

College football bowl games can serve a few different purposes, whether it be sending off senior players in style or helping out an athletic director pick up a nice holiday five-figure bowl bonus. But one purpose that bowls can also serve is that they sometimes allow teams to salvage an otherwise disappointing campaign with a nice postseason victory.

Even if a mediocre team trudges through a season and finishes with a less-than-stellar record, a victory in a bowl game can often give the program positive momentum heading into the offseason, and it at least gives fans some satisfaction after they suffered trough a season full of aggravation.

Well, that's the very scenario that will unfold in Nashville on Dec. 30 at the 2011 Music City Bowl, where Mississippi State and Wake Forest, two teams that both finished with disappointing 6-6 records, will battle it out for the right to finish over .500.

Yes, it's true, the tag line "The Battle to Finish Over .500" isn't exactly catchy nor is it going to draw viewers, nonetheless, for both the Bulldogs and the Demon Deacons, notching that seventh win is much more important than you might think.

You may be wondering, why should I bother tuning in for a matchup that features two BCS conference leftover teams that were barely eligible for a bowl?

And you wouldn't be wrong in doing so, but just because these two teams aren't exactly the most entertaining squads in the country, that doesn't necessarily mean that this game won't be entertaining.

All you have to do is look at a few of the under-the-radar playmakers that will be competing down in Nashville to see that this game actually could turn out to be worthwhile.

The two big names that will obviously draw the most attention are Wake Forest WR Chris Givens and Mississippi State RB Vick Ballard.

Givens and Ballard were two of the most underrated players in the country this season, and they'll finally get their chance to shine in front of a national audience on Friday.

Givens was one of the most productive receivers in the country this season, as the 6'0'', 195-pound senior really opened a lot of peoples' eyes by hauling in 74 passes for 1,276 yards and scoring nine touchdowns.

Ballard, a 5'11'', 220-pound senior, was once again the key weapon for Dan Mullen's offense in 2011, as he broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark and scored nine touchdowns.

The two offensive impact players will be the featured names of the game, but for hardcore NFL draft fans, the two players to watch closely will be Mississippi State defenders, DT Fletcher Cox and CB Jonathan Banks.

Banks and Cox, who are both juniors, really caught the attention of NFL scouts in 2011, and both of them must decide after the bowl game whether to turn pro or not.

Still, probably the most interesting storyline to follow in the Music City Bowl will be the play of Mississippi State QB Chris Relf, who will be filling in for a banged-up Tyler Russell, the QB who took his job midway through the season.

Relf showed a lot of promise as a junior in 2010, but he failed to live up to his potential early in the season, and Mullen ended up ultimately yanking him in favor of Russell.

Now, with Russell battling an injury, Relf will have one last shot to finish off his disappointing college career in positive fashion.

The senior signal-caller will be one of the true pivotal players in the Music City Bowl, and the outcome of the game will likely come down to the QB battle between Relf and Wake Forest's Tanner Price.

These two teams are fairly evenly matched on both sides of the ball, with no team holding any distinct advantage in any particular facet of the game. The two main factors that will likely decide this game will be consistency at the QB position and motivation.

If the Bulldogs come to play, they have enough of an advantage in overall talent to make the key plays needed to win the game, just as long as QB Chris Relf handles his role as a starter properly.

Prediction: Mississippi State 30, Wake Forest 21