Dan Mullen: “With the practices we’ve had this week, our guys have done a good job of having complete focus in preparation and still be able to shut it down and turn it off and have a great time with all the great bowl events …We’ve had a lot of big wins this year and some tough losses this year, and I think our guys want to go out there and finish it off the right way and send our seniors out winning a bowl championship … When you look at our senior class and certainly their senior class, and you look at all the success they have had, they have certainly changed the cultures of the football programs at both universities … The bowl game is great reward for the student-athlete. I’m a big fan of the bowl system. It’s great in experience for these guys … With such a young team we have this year, so many of the guys weren’t involved two years ago, a lot of it is new for them. So I think our captains and all of our senior have done a good job of educating the young guys on the bowl experience of how to prepare and how to handle yourself for this game. As a coaching staff, we understand what we have to do … Our overall focus has been better this week than it was two years ago. I think our coaches and seniors have understood that and done a good job of keeping the attention of our team. When it’s time to work, we work.”
Johnthan Banks: “Their receivers are very physical, like Chris Smith … We have to get off blocks and make plays and have awareness…Do it for ourselves and our fan base. We want to go out as one of the best in Mississippi State history and win back-to-back bowl games … I hate to lose, and if I lose, it will be stuck with me for a long, long time.”
Cameron Lawrence: “Playing in the Southeastern Conference, a lot of people would see it as one of the elite conferences, but I get excited to play a new school. It’s always fun to have a new experience and a new opponent and a new challenge … Northwestern takes pride in blocking on the perimeter and helping out their running backs … Northwestern is definitely a top-ranked team and top-ranked opponent, so we know, going in there, it’s going to be a dog fight. It’s a bowl game, and anything could happen … They’re big up front with some experienced guys on the offensive line, and their running back has good vision and great speed, so when you combine those two it could be dangerous, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen.”
Tobias Smith: “We (offensive line) are starting to get back to our old self, and I think it’s going to show up … Coach tells us every day that we’re here to win a game, and they don’t want to leave the seniors without winning a game at the end of the year. They want to send the seniors out on the best note possible … With me being a captain, this goes down as a big win for us because with a captain, a lot of times you see the team record with the captain’s name on it, so I want my name to be good in the Mississippi State standings.”