When talk swirled about the possibility of bowl-bound Mississippi State making the short trip to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Bowl, Vicksburg’s Walter Hallberg had at least 10 folks wanting to join him.

Now that the Bulldogs are instead headed to Jacksonville, Fla., for today’s nationally televised Gator Bowl against Michigan, Hallberg is making the trip alone.

He hopes it goes better than the last time he followed the Bulldogs to a New Year’s Day bowl, the 1999 Cotton Bowl. He was on the sidelines for this year’s Egg Bowl, a 31-27 victory for his beloved Bulldogs, and saw first-hand how much improved the team is this season.