Watching the replay

[TaleofTwoDogs]

For those interested the top 15 bowl games (not including playoff and the Rose Bowl)

1 Gator 67,383
2 Orange 63,912
3 Alamo 62,730
4 Sugar 60,437
5 Cheez-it 61,520
6 Cotton 55,329
7 Texas 53,251
8 Liberty 52,847
9. Celebration 49,670 (HBCU SWAC vs MEAC)
10 Citrus 42,791
11 Music City 42,312
12 Sun Bowl 41,104
13 Duke's Mayo 37,228
14 Holiday 36,242
15 ReliaQuest 35,797

If you think we don't travel well, there's North Carolina State in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. The bowl is played in Charlotte, NC. Several of the top bowls had boosted attendance because of an in-state team or a classic match-up.
Most of the other "smaller" bowls (about 25 of them) had attendance between 10K and 25K.

[Reason2succeed]

We should not be shocked or mad when nicer bowls skip us for fans that will travel better. Maybe the Outback people knew something all along.

[Tater]

Maybe having it at 11 AM on Monday after New Years was the real problem.

Bowls are designed to sell TV space time. They don't care about filling up the stands anymore. Otherwise this game would have been on 12/31 or 1/1.

I didn't go because of the date / time. Gator bowl would have been so much better just for the timing. And that's part of why it's so high.

[Todd4State]

If we go to the Sugar Bowl or probably any bowl like that there is no doubt in my mind we would travel well.

[Ranchdawg]

When we get to the Omaha Final equivalent of a bowl game, we will show up. Every single time

Truth! Who wants to go to a meaningless bowl against a team nobody or at least nobody in the south gives a turd about. On Jan. 2nd on a Monday before lunch with a work day the next day. Illinois showed up because it?s cold where they live and they haven?t been to a bowl game in awhile.

Give us a playoff game or give us a interest opponent be in playoff game be in a championship game I GUARANTEE the MSU fan base will show up in droves. See us in Omaha see Humphrey Coliseum when we are playing Kentucky with a chance to go to the NCAA tourney. Plus we are one of the least populated states in the country.

[Maroonthirteen]

Illinois had more fans at the game because Illinois has more fans.

But in regards to Mississippi and MSU, we have a tiny fan base because the state is so fragmented as far as allegiances. However State fans are definitely not showing up for games. We could do better just aren't for some reason. It's an issue the new AD will have to tackle.

[drummerdawg]

We're the best at making excuses for not attending games across all sports. Like Ranch said, we gotta play Kentucky for our fans to show up for a basketball game, and we have to play in the playoffs, etc. for fans to show up for bowls. The thing is, basketball fans show up to basketball games and football fans show up to football games regardless of opponent or time slot because they love the sport and their team. We don't have those types of fans, or at least, not nearly as many as others. We have to have everything just right and convenient or we won't show up.