Stay in school, kids. It pays to have good grades.
Or, at the very least, it can get you a trip to south Florida in late December, which is also good.
That’s why Mississippi State’s football team, despite its 5-7 record in 2016, is playing in the St. Petersbug Bowl in sunny St. Pete, Florida on December 26. Those following MSU are likely aware by this point not just of the bowl destination itself, but the fact that MSU has the opportunity to go because it had one of the top APR scores in the country, second-highest among five-win teams and third behind 6-6 Army selected under the same criteria.