With anticipation at a breaking point, the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Florida Gators will take the field Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Davis Wade Stadium.
MSU head coach Dan Mullen still maintains a relationship with the heralded Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. Mullen also coached with Florida head man Urban Meyer for eight years – a streak that began in 2001 at Bowling Green and included two national championships at Florida.
Meyer has been open but brief pertaining to the emotions generated from such a matchup.
“There’s no issue at all with coaches. There’s respect, but there’s no issues at all,” Meyer said. “Once the game starts, [Tim Tebow] has a very clear job to do.”
Mullen has not expounded on any possible emotions, but he has exhibited respect for Florida.
“I can look at them on film and know what they are doing, but it is a whole different story in stopping them,” Mullen said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons and a good offensive system.”
While it seems the head coaches are providing plenty of modest sound bites, there is no doubt the stakes are high. The game has SEC and national implications.
The Gators have plenty of pressure stemming from the nation’s longest winning streak, 16, and a No. 1 BCS ranking.
Meyer said he is well aware of the expectations at Florida.
“One of my jobs is to make sure I try to preach that to them constantly, ‘You don’t have to be perfect, you have to be the better team on the field that day,'” Meyer said.
His team has another well-documented monkey on its back: losses in the town of Starkville. Florida has not conquered the Bulldogs here since 1985. In that span of time, the Bulldogs have defeated the Gators four times, the last being in 2004.
MSU has no national winning streak or ranking. However, in the face of a reigning national champion, this game represents not only the chance to change the outcome of a season, but the image of a program.
The Bulldogs are coming off a much needed win and must continue that streak for any hopes of becoming bowl eligible.
Senior running back Anthony Dixon makes no qualms about what he wants to do over Christmas break.
“After coming up short these last three games and with us trying to get to a bowl game this year, that’s definitely where we want to be,” Dixon said. “We’re in fight mode. We’re clawing and scratching for wins.”
Glimmering bowl hopes and a visit from the No. 1 team in the country has Mississippi State expecting a new attendance record.
Mullen said he believes fan support is crucial to the game.
“We’re going to need great crowd support for this weekend,” Mullen said. “This is the game of the year in the state of Mississippi, and we’re expecting to have the whole state behind us to help us win this football game.”
There will be some spectators who will garner more attention than the average Bulldog fan. Recruiting analysts expect this to be one of MSU’s biggest recruiting weekends in recent history. Mullen has not thrown his players under the bus, but he has been clear the current roster does need some improvement.
“For us, there’s a bunch of needs. We’re going to go after the best players available that will help us become a winning program,” Mullen said.
For Bulldog fans, forgetting normal aspects of a game comes easy when trying to sort through the plethora of sideline stories. But when the hitting begins, all distractions become background noise.
The keys for MSU are to limit turnovers and control the clock. In the Bulldogs’ three wins, the team has +8 in turnovers, but they are -12 in the four losses. MSU’s best way to keep Florida from scoring is to control the clock by running the ball.
The Gators are 13th in the country in run defense and second in pass defense, meaning run defense is technically the Gator’s weakest point.
Dixon averages 116 yards per contest, good for 10th best in the country, and MSU’s offense is 11th overall in total rushing yards.
The Bulldogs defense has to try to deal with the speed of Florida’s offense.
Last week, the Bulldogs started Florida native Corey Broomfield at cornerback, and he nabbed two interceptions, earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Broomfield said he knows the Dawg defense has its hands full, giving him extra motivation.
“It’s big for me to show up for all the people back home, and they get a chance to see me play,” Broomfield said. “I get to play against the team I grew up wanting to play for. I get to prove Meyer – and everybody – was wrong about me.”
There have been other shuffles in the secondary, including Maurice Langston at cornerback and Johnathan Banks at safety, who also grabbed two interceptions last week.
Mullen said he knows the defense has to show up for the Dawgs to have a chance, but he said the best way to the top is to leapfrog a crowd.
“If you’re wanting to build a championship program, there is nowhere better to start than to face the champions,” Mullen said.