Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
Ultimately, you wonder what Mississippi State has to do to get a little respect.
I'm not talking about endless accolades, or preseason No. 1 rankings. I'm just talking about some small amount of credit, enough to buy some cheese and crackers for lunch. Mississippi State, it seems, is on a strict pay-as-you-go regimen.
Last year, MSU spent a few weeks as the No. 1 team in America. They finally snapped a long streak of futility against the "best" teams in the SEC West, handling Auburn and LSU pretty impressively. The Bulldogs have the most decorated returning quarterback in the SEC in Dak Prescott. In addition to Prescott, 13 other players with starting experience return. No SEC schedule is "easy," but MSU's slate - four winnable non-conference games, all in Mississippi, and cross-divisional games against Kentucky and Missouri - seems manageable.
So where does a team coming off a 10-win season and returning its quarterback land in the media's SEC West predictions? Last, of course.
"This is my seventh year coming here, and I think all seven years, they've pretty much picked us to finish last in the West," Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen said.
"It's kind of a tradition, I guess."
In fairness, Mississippi State's perception does suffer from the recency effect. The Bulldogs were great in September and October last year, but came into Tuscaloosa with a No. 1 ranking and wasn't the same team afterwards.
"I think we started slow in that atmosphere," Mullen said. "The biggest memory for me is falling behind, 19-0, and then we came back and we came back and scored before the half. But then, talking at halftime, (we) weren't playing our style of game. We weren't doing what we'd done. I think from that point, we outscored them 20-6. I think our guys really understood that we needed to ... learn how to play in those big games."
The loss seemed to take the starch out of the Bulldogs who ended the year losing to rival Ole Miss and to a clearly more inspired Georgia Tech team in the Orange Bowl.
"The Alabama loss, that really was the one that set it off for us."
So for the moment, for all the accomplishments of a year ago, some cynics are saying "same old State."
"We don't really worry about that," Mullen said. "I look out there at the guys coming back, at the perception and the reality. We have a returning fifth-year quarterback. We have four different wide receivers that had 100-yard receiving games last year.
"I love that maybe people look past us, underestimate us, say that we don't have much of a chance this year. We kind of like that role."
Mullen acknowledged that the biggest problem might be the division itself. Whether it is Mississippi State or someone else, a pretty good football team is going to find itself in last place at the end of November.
"Look, the best team in the Pac-12, the Big 12, the ACC, the Big Ten, their top team could compete with any team in the SEC, in the West. But they could also finish fourth. You can't just play an OK game and find a way to squeak it out in the end."
It's the end - especially November - where Mississippi State needs to be better. Until then, respect - even deserved respect - will be in short supply.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1782973
TideSports.com Columnist
Ultimately, you wonder what Mississippi State has to do to get a little respect.
I'm not talking about endless accolades, or preseason No. 1 rankings. I'm just talking about some small amount of credit, enough to buy some cheese and crackers for lunch. Mississippi State, it seems, is on a strict pay-as-you-go regimen.
Last year, MSU spent a few weeks as the No. 1 team in America. They finally snapped a long streak of futility against the "best" teams in the SEC West, handling Auburn and LSU pretty impressively. The Bulldogs have the most decorated returning quarterback in the SEC in Dak Prescott. In addition to Prescott, 13 other players with starting experience return. No SEC schedule is "easy," but MSU's slate - four winnable non-conference games, all in Mississippi, and cross-divisional games against Kentucky and Missouri - seems manageable.
So where does a team coming off a 10-win season and returning its quarterback land in the media's SEC West predictions? Last, of course.
"This is my seventh year coming here, and I think all seven years, they've pretty much picked us to finish last in the West," Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen said.
"It's kind of a tradition, I guess."
In fairness, Mississippi State's perception does suffer from the recency effect. The Bulldogs were great in September and October last year, but came into Tuscaloosa with a No. 1 ranking and wasn't the same team afterwards.
"I think we started slow in that atmosphere," Mullen said. "The biggest memory for me is falling behind, 19-0, and then we came back and we came back and scored before the half. But then, talking at halftime, (we) weren't playing our style of game. We weren't doing what we'd done. I think from that point, we outscored them 20-6. I think our guys really understood that we needed to ... learn how to play in those big games."
The loss seemed to take the starch out of the Bulldogs who ended the year losing to rival Ole Miss and to a clearly more inspired Georgia Tech team in the Orange Bowl.
"The Alabama loss, that really was the one that set it off for us."
So for the moment, for all the accomplishments of a year ago, some cynics are saying "same old State."
"We don't really worry about that," Mullen said. "I look out there at the guys coming back, at the perception and the reality. We have a returning fifth-year quarterback. We have four different wide receivers that had 100-yard receiving games last year.
"I love that maybe people look past us, underestimate us, say that we don't have much of a chance this year. We kind of like that role."
Mullen acknowledged that the biggest problem might be the division itself. Whether it is Mississippi State or someone else, a pretty good football team is going to find itself in last place at the end of November.
"Look, the best team in the Pac-12, the Big 12, the ACC, the Big Ten, their top team could compete with any team in the SEC, in the West. But they could also finish fourth. You can't just play an OK game and find a way to squeak it out in the end."
It's the end - especially November - where Mississippi State needs to be better. Until then, respect - even deserved respect - will be in short supply.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1782973
