Mississippi State football must bounce back against Florida Gators

Dan Mullen is bringing his new team to face the Mississippi State football program that he built

The Mississippi State football team has a rather important game tonight. The Bulldogs will face their former head coach, Dan Mullen, as he comes back to Starkville but is bringing the Florida Gators right behind him.

It’s going to be one heck of a homecoming for him and Mississippi State alumnus Scott Stricklin, that’s for sure.

Mullen did a lot of good for the Mississippi State football program. He guided MSU through some difficult situations, built the program up to new heights, and set Mississippi State on a trajectory forward that Joe Moorhead has an opportunity to continue.

And then he left. He was in Starkville and then he wasn’t. And the manner in which he left MSU, after a loss in a rivalry that he helped define but could no longer control, was clearly less than ideal for fans of the Bulldogs.

Nick Fitzgerald was hurt. The guy leading MSU was gone. The Bulldogs had lost the Golden Egg.

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Fast-forward to today.

Mississippi State is the No. 23 ranked team in the AP poll and is trying to find its way back into the higher ranks after an infuriating loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. The Bulldogs repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with penalty and mistake after penalty and mistake. A lot of it was emotion driven.

Kentucky did a rather impressive job of taking advantage of the Mississippi State football team’s mistakes and beat MSU at its own game.

The Florida Gators are going to try to do the same thing.

Mullen knows Starkville. He knows this team. He knows the ins and outs and just about every weakness that there is to know about everything within the Mississippi State football program. No, he doesn’t know everything. Some things have changed with Moorhead at the helm. But he knows what makes this team and these players tick.

Moorhead and his coaching staff need to have this team prepared for whatever Florida throws at them. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if Mullen’s offense was extra aggressive tonight. It wouldn’t be all that shocking to see Todd Grantham’s defense go after MSU’s offensive line the way that Kentucky did a week ago in an attempt to nullify Nick Fitzgerald and the Bulldogs’ running game.

The Bulldogs are the more talented team right now. This is a group that can still do something special. However, if the Mississippi State football team is going to salvage its season, it starts tonight against Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators.