Bowl games are frequently about contrast. The largely intersectional matchups pit styles of football that have often been decades in the making, defining the schools and even their conferences.
But with the exception of a modest difference in run-to-pass ratio, the offenses that Northwestern and Mississippi State will put on EverBank Field Tuesday for the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl (noon, ESPN2) are strikingly similar - both in style (the spread) and production (the differences in scoring and total offense are insignificant).
The game won't be a high-flying passing attack vs. a grind-it-out running scheme. Put both teams in the same uniforms and their own fans might not be able to pick them out.
"There are a lot of similarities in what we do," said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen also said both teams possess a certain mentality.
"They're a very physical team," he said. "You see a team that gives effort, intensity and toughness with every snap. They try to impose their will on whoever they're playing and in that way our programs have the same characteristics."
While the Bulldogs pass the ball more (248.8 yards per game to Northwestern's 166.8) and the Wildcats are more prolific running (230.9 yards per game to MSU's 140.7), they've ended the regular season with nearly the same numbers in the categories that count the most: total offense and scoring.
The Wildcats average 31.5 points per game and 397.8 total yards per game. The Bulldogs score at a 30.2 per game clip and average 389.4 yards per game.
"They try to spread you out and create mismatches," Mullen said. "It's very high-tempo offense."
Each team has one feature back, Venric Mark for Northwestern (1,310 yards, 11 touchdowns) and LaDarius Perkins for Mississippi State (940 yards and eight TDs).
Both teams spread the ball around with the passing attack. Northwestern has seven receivers who have caught double-digit passes and nine who have caught touchdown passes. The top four receivers have stats in remarkable symmetry: Rashad Lawrence leads the team with 32 receptions, Demetrius Fields has 31, Christian Jones has 30 and Tony Jones has 29.
Mississippi State has seven receivers in double-digit receptions, led by Chad Bumphis with 55 catches for 904 yards and 12 TDs. Six other players have touchdown receptions.
The offensive lines are both massive - and almost identical in size across the board. Mississippi State's two-deep offensive line averages 303 pounds and Northwestern's only a pound less at 302.
The main difference will be at quarterback.
For the Bulldogs, junior Tyler Russell has been the man. He has thrown for 2,791 yards and 22 touchdowns (and only six interceptions) and has taken the vast majority of the offensive snaps.
Northwestern has used two quarterbacks. Junior Kain Colter is more of a runner. Sophomore Trevor Siemian is the better passer.
However, Fitzgerald tries to get them on the field at the same time: In a 44-29 victory over Indiana in which the Wildcats set the school record with 704 total yards, Colter played wide receiver and caught nine passes for 131 yards from Siemian. Colter also rushed for 161 yards and four touchdowns in that game and for the season has 820 yards and 12 TDs on the ground, has thrown for 796 yards and eight TDs and caught 16 passes for 169 yards.
Of that kind of versatility, Mullen said simply: "They cause you issues."
It's no accident that both teams run the spread. Since they crossed paths on the recruiting trails years ago as assistant coaches (Mullen was at Utah and Fitzgerald at Northwestern), they've become friends and frequently have compared notes and philosophies.
The two have been friendly enough that Fitzgerald and his wife, Stacy, hosted Mullen and his wife, Megan, two summers ago in Chicago. The women went shopping. The men went to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game and talked football.
"A lot of times you'll come in with one thought, bounce an idea off and [Fitzgerald] has an idea on it," Mullen said. "It might change how you think."
Fitzgerald said the feeling is mutual but said there's no danger of either leaking information that could help the other one.
"When I'm thinking about making some decisions or tweaks or changes, Dan's one of the guys I'm going to reach out to," he said. "It's been less about schematics and more about how we manage and lead."