The Bulldogs' season opener is right around the corner as Mississippi State football hit practice hard in preparation for Saturday's game against Southern Miss from Conference USA. The game will mark the beginning of MSU's 115th football season and the team is surrounded with high expectations.
Head coach Dan Mullen has 30 players returning this season who started at least one game last year. MSU opens a season with a three-game winning streak for the first time since 1975 after wins in the Egg Bowl over Ole Miss and in the Liberty Bowl over Rice.
That also means the Bulldogs are riding a win streak over C-USA teams too. State's head coach touches on the topic of Conference USA opponents and more in this week's media address.
Mississippi State Head Coach Dan Mullen
Opening Statement ... "We're excited to get this season kicked off and get back out on the field and go play. Obviously, kicking the year off as the prime time Saturday night game on the new SEC Network is really exciting. Kicking the season off in our expanded stadium, we're going to have a record crowd on Saturday which is going to be pretty special for us; celebrating 100 years on Scott Field. There are a lot of neat things going on. To do that with a great rivalry game, against a team the first time we've played them since 1990 in playing Southern Miss, I know it means a lot to the people of the state. I know how a big a game it is for everybody. It was one of the first things when I was hired that was brought up, would I be interested in resuming this rivalry between the two schools. And I'm really excited to do it and be a part of this game that has a lot of tradition, has a lot of history and I know it's been on a hiatus here for quite a while."
"I know our guys are fired up about the opportunity to play against guys they played against in high school or played with in high school. We know a lot of the guys on their team from recruiting, we know most of the guys as in-state players. And it's going to be really exciting for us to get this going, get this season kicked off and play such a fun opponent in such a great rivalry game. I mean it's something special to start a season with a rivalry game like this."
On right tackle ... "They're battling it out. We're going to let all that go this week and continue to do it. You have to be prepared for all different scenarios now. That's a definite that Damien is going to be out, so now what we have to do is prepare for all the different scenarios that possibly could hit us and prepare both Justin and Rufus at that position, but also the guys that are cross-over positions now. We were starting to feel good about being able to have a two-deep, a backup at every position. Now you're going get into having to jumble everybody around at any time with another injury."
On the players finally playing an opponent ... "Well you spend almost nine months just competing against ourselves, practicing. Whether you're in the weight room, in conditioning, running sprints, at practice, everything you do has been against yourself. So I think our guys are really fired up to go play another opponent. And you get to see where you're at. You never know what type of team you have or how you're going to be because you've always gone against each other. It's how we stack up against other people and obviously playing such a big game in week one for us is going to see where we're at."
On Southern Miss ... "One, they won their last game last year. I know Todd (Monken) is trying to build the program there, from when he took over and what he took over. But like anything winning that last game I'm sure has really bolstered them going into this off-season, given them momentum going into the off-season. They've got a lot of guys back, they have a quarterback with not a lot of experience but started last year, knows the system out of Hoover High School which runs similar style stuff, very accurate, can get the ball to the receivers. They have a bunch of play-making receivers on the perimeter. Their top rusher is back, the top receiver is back on the offensive side of the ball. They scored 60 points in the last game of the season so I'm sure they're coming in with some confidence. Todd as an offensive guy in his background is going to do that."
"You look defensively, they've got some solid players on that side of the ball. And year two, they're getting used to their system and what they've run and how they're run it. Now the guys have a little bit more experience and obviously finishing last year the way they did, they are going to be playing with a lot more confidence. Coming into the season I'm sure they have really high expectations for this season, as we do, as everybody does coming into week one. It's going to be a huge challenge, obviously the rivalry aspect of it, the in-state rivalry aspect of it is going to be another huge challenge. Probably on a national level a very underrated game; but on a state-wide level a game that has been waiting since 1990 to be played. I think everybody is pretty fired-up about it."
On Brandon Holloway ... "We moved him now to more as a fulltime running back for us, which is what he was in high school. And one of the things, for not a big guy he plays bigger. He plays well off contact. One of the things we saw in high school, he plays bigger than he actually is and that's why he was able to succeed at running back, and he still does that now. He plays off of contact not like he's 160 pounds, but his athleticism with speed being that most important thing but quickness, he brings a real big changeup. Because he gets the ball in the perimeter fast, he hits a hole inside, sometimes he's hard to find because he's not real big and all of a sudden his acceleration is different than a lot of other guys out there on the field. He's a great changeup running the ball from some of the other guys we have in the backfield."
On this week from last week ... "Totally different. Last week is transition week kind of, it was cleaning up a lot of things from training camp for us. Things we needed to get work on, teaching our guys how to be on the scout team. After the cut-ups these are the things we needed to practice and clean up. This week is all game-planning for us. So everything you do, basically you have cut from training camp. You have this huge menu which guys are working from every day; now you get into the game plan where we're cutting down to specific things we're going to use for this opponent."
"Always in game one the focus has to be on yourself. You have to go out there, you have to execute very, very cleanly. And everybody's team is finding their personality at that beginning part of the season. Our team, the same with Southern Miss, the teams are going to be trying to find their personality. That is a huge aspect of it. I do think game-plan wise it gets simpler now because the older guys know hey, I'm comfortable with everything but this is what I'm focusing on and what we're going to use to attack our opponent."
On if this preseason camp was different from last year's ... "I think one thing in the camp was we talk to our guys to only worry about what is important. Sometimes everybody is like I'm competing for a job in training camp and trying to compete to be a starter. I think with experience a lot of guys know they're going to play. We have I think 30 different guys that started at least one game in their career? So we have more a starter back at every position. I think guys know thought that is not as important as them competing for reps. When you have that mature team, when they view things that way, everyone knows I'm going to play so I'm competing to make sure I'm going to get the reps I want. But also, I know I'm going to play so I need to be prepared to play. A lot of times young guys, they're not sure how it's going to play out or what games are going be like. Our guys know what to expect moving forward. I think the training camp really allowed to helped them in that all preparation more than worrying about are they going to be starters, what's their role going to be on the team. Where they know if they get the job and done and prepare the right way they're going to get to play."
On the tight ends ... "Well, we love mismatches. Tight end is one of those positions. Everywhere we count on our offense what we want to try to do is find mismatches, where do we have advantage? And tight end is one of those guys. It's a miss-match style position, who are you trying to cover the tight end? If it's a skilled guy are we going to win the physical battle with the tight end? Or if it's a big guy are we going to win the skill battle with the tight end. Malcolm is a guy because as a former receiver in high school he has good ball skills, is a tough miss-match in the pass game; but has the physicality at about 235, almost 240. He's a tough physical matchup for smaller skill players within the run game, blocking."
On in-state rivalry games ... "It's huge. It's an in-state game. It's not going to be the same as that, you know what I mean? There is no game that is going to be the same as that for us, ever. The Championship Game is probably not going to have the same emphasis as that. I mean that's something that is just different as everybody knows in the state here. I think by playing those other ones our guys understand the importance of in-state rivalries.
One, they know that from the Egg Bowl. But also by playing other in-state teams, they know what it is like and what guys are bringing to the table when they show up here, how hungry this team is going to be that we're going to play. The fact that it is an in-state game and they're going against guys they've known and bragging rights back home, our guys really understand that."
"It's something that I've embraced since the day I got here, and our guys know in getting to play a team like Southern Miss how important the in-state rivalries are and how big they are for you as a player and for your bragging rights and for you to go home and for your family in their home town and at your high school. And for all our fans. Our guys understand that so that what makes it fun. That's why I'm glad we're playing this game. It's neat for me to be a part of this rivalry and it hasn't happened in 24 years. Most of these guys, the last time we played nobody playing this game was alive, right? Who, Rashun Dixon? He was one-month old! After his long baseball career."
On expectations of good to great ... "It's hard to tell because we haven't played a game yet. I'm pleased with what we've done. I'm pleased with the maturity. I'm pleased with how training camp went. I'm pleased with the attitude and the work ethic our team has brought to the table every single day. But that's all fine and good. Now to translate, this is very different now. Now we're in season. That has to translate to performance every single Saturday. Everything we've put in to this point I'm pleased with, but it means nothing if that doesn't translate to great performance on every Saturday. That's what we have to look for and that's what we're going to find out here in five days now."
On Dak Prescott calling his own plays ... "Well, a lot. We have some that are automatic so against certain looks he might see something and we might have automatic. Each game within the system, game-planning against certain looks, he's going to see, we're going to say hey when they are in this defense or they are running this blitz, this is the play we want to run against that. What he'll do is he'll have those in there that we don't have to check all of that stuff, that he has the option when he thinks he sees something out on the field he can get to it."
"My biggest question I give to quarterbacks is why, why did you do that? He said hey, this is what I saw, this is why I got us to this play. Because watching film this is what we want to do. And it's not always right but I'm fine as long as he has a good answer to why he's getting us into the situations he get into. I think the more mature, the older the quarterback is, the more you see that. And not just because of their ability, just the confidence they have. He's going to be confident right now in saying hey I wanted to run this play right here in this time because this is what I saw. I love this one-on-one matchup so I took a shot. I might say hey in this game situation we'd rather do something different but I can see why you would get to that check and that play and try to take that opportunity."
On Evan Sobiesk and Westin Graves at place kicker ... "They're about a kickoff from each other. We'll keep going, I'll keep trying to create more pressure situations this week to see. But like I said, they might both kick in the opener, Evan and Westin might both kick in the opener for us. Unless we can create a situation where we get 60-some thousand people to show up at the stadium Wednesday afternoon and yelling and screaming out there and I'll put them out there and we'll try a couple of kicks! We can't simulate that situation for them to see how they're going to perform in the deal. If it is still basically dead-even we might rotate them for that first series to start the game off, and see who is going to perform in that stadium when that pressure hits."
On the three team captains (Jay Hughes, Dillon Day and Malcolm Johnson) ... "One of the amazing things, I think we had 26 different guys get votes for captain from their teammates. Which shows the amount of leadership that is on this team. I thought that was pretty special. Those three had the most votes, and look at what they've done in the program; Malcolm Johnson, Dillon Day, Jay Hughes, all fifth-year seniors, all committed to the program. It just shows they are what our program is all about in the complete development of the individual. It also shows the respect their teammates have for them in that here's guys that have done things right throughout their career. They're not all three household names or they wouldn't be considered the biggest superstars on their team. I think within our program when guys look at those guys and say this is what our program stands for, this is what we're looking for in guys in our program. They kind of fit that mode and it's great that our team recognizes that."
On the hype surrounding the season-opener ... "I think the benefits of maturity with our guys. I mean they've played games before. Friday night everyone is going to be fired-up, but when you have a veteran team they're fired up to get back into their game preparation more than fired-up into holy cow I get to play in a game tomorrow. They get into that different game-week routine. I think a lot of our guys are ready to get into this game week routine right now, and not just get into game week and go play a game; get into their routine. The maturity of the older guys helping the young guys get through that, not panicking, not over-hyping, just preparing like a pro at everything you do so you're ready to perform at an extremely high level come Saturday night. And we're counting on our maturity to do help us do that."
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Coach Todd Monken was the receivers coach and passing game coordinator at LSU in 2005 and 2006. In his first season with the Tigers, Monken helped LSU to a 37-7 victory at Mississippi State.
But he doesn’t view that as an advantage.
“You talk about the last four years — attendance, bowl games, facility upgrades, the excitement of that program — it’s a lot different going in there now than it was, say, 10 years ago,” Monken said.
Mississippi State has developed a reputation for creating one of the more hostile, noisy environments of any venue in the country. The cowbell-toting fans, and the loud clanging they create, have become a staple in Starkville, giving Davis-Wade Stadium one of the more unique home-field advantages in college football.
But Monken said despite the noisemakers, it’s no different than many other venues with passionate fan bases.
“What makes an environment tough to play in is if their crowd is into it,” he said. “Regardless of whether it’s a cowbell or it’s screaming and yelling. And it’s your job to try as best you can to take them out of it. It’s hard to play anywhere on the road when it’s loud.
“The bottom line is we’ve got to play well and find a way to do our best to take their crowd out of it.”
Tentative depth chart released
Southern Miss released its two-deep depth chart — which is always subject to change at a moment’s notice — on Monday.
Outside of the wide receiver slots, most of it has been settled for some time.
Markese Triplett and D.J. Thompson were listed as starters at receiver, which comes as no surprise. But Mike Thomas and James Cox edged Jarell Aaron and Casey Martin respectively at the other two receiver spots.
However, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said most of the eight receivers that make up the two-deep depth chart are mostly interchangeable.
“We’ve got, I would say, eight guys who are capable of playing a lot,” he said. “I know we put out a depth chart and we say, ‘This guy is the starter and this guy may not be.’ But we’re going to play a lot of guys. I think they’ll all have some opportunities to make some plays down the field.”
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Griff, it seems that Monken has already conceded this game. ??