Dan Mullen, capstonereport.com's Peep of the Week
Congratulations Coach Mullen!

If you’re looking for a barometer of how good Mississippi State is, here’s what you need to know:

The Bulldogs flexed their muscles against Memphis in the opening weekend, winning by 45.

Arkansas State then turned around and did the same thing in week two, winning by 44.

Dan Mullen, Mississippi State’s head coach, is often credited as being the architect behind Florida’s offensive success while serving as offensive coordinator there. Mullen is now in his third season at State.

For some reason, Mullen has been regarded as a guru, a sure-fire short-timer in Starkville until a bigger job comes open.

But here’s a shocking stat for you. In his time there, his teams have yet to beat an SEC West opponent other than Ole Miss. He is 0-9 collectively against Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Arkansas. That mark will be 0-10 in just three days when LSU comes a’callin’.

Now don’t get me wrong; he owns impressive wins over Jackson State, Memphis, Alcorn State and UAB…juggernauts in the world of college football. And he’s also benefitted from the luck of the SEC draw, landing Kentucky and Vandy in each of his first two seasons.

But in two tries Mullen’s firecracker offense has mustered one touchdown against Nick Saban’s Alabama.

And in predictable fashion, though they managed 34 against Auburn’s porous defense (27 if you take away the pick six), his Bulldogs folded under pressure down on the plains…subsequently still looking for an SEC West win against a foe that doesn’t share the same state income tax forms.

But as pitiful as they are, they came the width of a dime from sending their game with Auburn into overtime, with nowhere near the quality of recruits on their maroon and white clad sidelines. Let that sink in for a moment.

Still, capstonereport.com is proud to present Dan Mullen as this week’s winner of the Peep of the Week award!

Peeps are a light, fluffy, tasty marshmallow treat guaranteed not to fill you up if eaten, or hurt you if dropped directly on your head from the top of the Empire State Building.

And like Mississippi State’s head man, and subsequently, his teams, Peeps are soft. Congratulations coach!

Don’t worry. The Egg Bowl is just ten games away.


(Follow me on Twitter for capstonereport.com news, commentary and smack.)

15 thoughts on “How good is Mississippi State? Not very.”

  1. When you depend on Miss St to to flex their muscle, this is exactly what you get. Don’t hate mullen for not finishing the deal… Miss State is…….. and always has been…… Miss State.

    1. Mullen’s teams have only played Vandy once genius. MSU did NOT play Vandy last year. Mississippi State’s SEC victories were against OM, Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky. Obviously, some of those teams were not all that great last year, but 3 were in bowl games, for what it’s worth. Of course, so was Michigan. OM also had a nine win season in 2009, but they lost to MSU. This article sounds like it’s written by a jealous OM fan.

  2. Well, it looks like a 2 team race in the west, Bama and LSU. LSU may be the best team in the conference this year, unless Bama’s o-line improves. Arkansas doesn’t play anyone till they play Bama, so I’ll have to reserve judgement. Anyone can look good playing Missouri State, New Mexico, and Troy for the first 3 games.

  3. Wow, Mississippi State must be bad because they can’t get a win against the top 5 top 15 teams in the country. What a brilliant observer of the facts you are. I don’t think anyone measures the yearly power of their team based on the first non-conference game of the season (unless you lose it of course), or play Oregon out the gate. But saying that Mississippi State is a bad team because they can’t beat Alabama or LSU is saying that 98% of the teams in the country are bad teams.

    I’ll just take this to mean that you don’t consider a school to be “good” unless they are ranked in the top 5 BCS.

    1. So I take this to mean that you consider a team “good” even if they get beat year after year by those that they are competing against within their conference division. Interesting.

      1. Maybe M State should switch to a conference without competition and win every game instead of playing in the most difficult Conference in their division.

        Boise State seems to enjoy their position. Maybe Mississippi State should follow their model to be a top 10 team.

    2. No. You’re a bad team if you aren’t from the North end of Alabama. Too bad the fans and writers have nothing left of what Bear Bryant showed to others, class.

      1. Bear never said to give a team credit that didn’t deserve it. Alabama will show MSU class this year as it always does, taking a knee inside the 10 in the final two minutes of the game to prevent from scoring on their sorry defense again.

  4. “also benefitted from the luck of the SEC draw, landing Kentucky and Vandy in each of his first two seasons.”

    Kentucky is the permanent inter-divisional opponent. Vandy was played in Mullen’s first year only.

    research much?

    1. You don’t consider having Kentucky as a permanent inter-divisional opponent lucky? I think most coaches would view that as an incentive to take the job.

      New to college football, are you?

        1. When Auburn plays a really good defense, let me know what you think then. But right now, the only game being played by Auburn is ‘last team scores wins.’ One play in either game could make Auburn easily 0-2. Just about everyone left on Auburns schedule will put up 30+ points on Auburn. Y’all should be proud of that D. I wonder just where that defense ranks in the NCAA after week two? We know where Bama stands on defense, and we know Bamas offense can score a lot on Auburns D. But the stretch coming up for Auburn:
          AT Clemson = last team scores wins?
          FL Atlantic = onside kick to win?
          AT South Carolina = loss
          AT Arkansas = loss
          Florida = loss
          AT LSU = loss
          You will likely be 2-4 in these games, possibly 1-5, and that first loss is going to sting SO bad…

        2. That didn’t even make sense. I’m sure you saw that quip on a message board somewhere and thought to yourself “I’m’a gonna use that’un some day!”

          Context, friend. Learn what it means.

  5. Late on this one-BUT- I think everyone will see just how good MSU isThursday night-NOT-got a felling LSU will really bowl them over.

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