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Vanderbilt, NC State square off in Independence Bowl (Dec 26, 2016)
With late-season success against notable opponents, it seems to have perked up the motivation for Vanderbilt and North Carolina State going into Monday's Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.
"This is an opportunity for our guys to finish off exactly what we started in terms of this journey," Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason said. "This team is excited to test our mettle one more time. ... We finished the season playing some of our best ball and the season is not over."
Both teams are 6-6, so one of them will end up with a winning record.
"They are a team that finished well, and so did we," N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said of the Commodores. "When you play a team that has beat Georgia, Tennessee and Ole Miss, it's a great opponent for us. Both of us finished the season playing our butts off to get in a bowl game so both of us will be hungry."
There are similarities for these teams beyond their overall records. They both beat rivals to end the regular season, yet settled for 3-5 records in their respective conferences.
Vanderbilt defeated Mississippi and Tennessee in the final two weeks to gain bowl eligibility. Until those 38-17 and 45-34 outcomes, the Commodores had failed to reach the 20-point mark in any of their Southeastern Conference games.
"I think there are definitely building blocks for this offense," Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur said.
N.C. State had to win at North Carolina in the regular-season finale to reach six victories following a rough midseason stretch.
"North Carolina State is pretty much a mirror image of us," Mason said.
Junior running back Ralph Webb's career school-record rushing total of 3,231 yards is often the reason Vanderbilt moves the ball. With 1,272 yards on the ground this year, he's 22 yards away from the single-season school record.
Yet N.C. State's strength comes with its defensive front, so that's an area that might be most telling. That group is led by junior defensive end Bradley Chubb, whose 21 tackles of loss lead the Football Bowl Subdivision.
"(Vanderbilt is) a solid team. They beat some solid teams," N.C. State redshirt junior safety Josh Jones said. "They kind of remind me of us. They fought their way to the end of the season. They didn't give up.
"I'm looking forward to playing an SEC team, get down there and compete. ACC is pretty powerful, too. We have to go out there and show people what we're all about. We're just thankful we got an opportunity to be in the postseason."
The Commodores are aiming for a third consecutive bowl victory.
"Seven wins vs. six is huge," Shurmur said. "We're going there to win, not to just be happy to be there."
Two years ago, a Dec. 26 outing in the St. Petersburg Bowl resulted in an N.C. State victory against Central Florida.
"We're 1-0 the day after Christmas," Jones said. "We want to make that 2-0."
That 2014 outcome is the only bowl victory for the Wolfpack since 2011.
Doeren was on hand when these teams met in the 2012 Music City Bowl. He had been named coach after the firing of Tom O'Brien, but he was observing as an interim staff conducted the operations. Vanderbilt won that game.
The Commodores also won the only previous meeting in 1946.
