By now, everyone has heard
about Ole Miss’ Top-10 ranking.
If not, it’s only a matter
of time before some Ole Miss
fan tells you all about it, especially
since Mississippi jumped
two spots in the just-released
AP Poll. The Rebels have a
high preseason ranking, but the
Mississippi State Bulldogs have
something Ole Miss doesn’t –
a strong schedule.
In fact, college football analyst
Phil Steele, on philsteele.com, ranks the Bulldogs’ schedule
as tied for the sixth-toughest
in the country, a fraction of a
percentage point behind the
SEC team with the toughest,
South Carolina. Unlike the
NCAA, Steele’s calculations are
based on this season’s opponents’
strength of schedules, not
2008. Both the Bulldogs and
the Gamecocks get Florida at
home, but State also has to play
powerful non-conference teams
Georgia Tech and Houston,
while South Carolina gets NC
State and Clemson.
In their 2009 SEC preview,
Sports Illustrated called the
Bulldogs’ schedule downright
brutal, and one of the toughest
home schedules in the country.
But therein lies the silver lining
for first-year head coach
Dan Mullen’s inaugural season:
all his toughest games will be
played in front of his own fans.
With season ticket sales already
breaking the all-time record earlier
this month and student
tickets going on sale this week,
Bulldog fans will be packed in
tight at Davis-Wade Stadium at
Scott Field.
“Nobody in the country has
a home schedule better than
the Bulldogs – it may be the
best home schedule in college
football history” Mullen said,
when asked about the strength
of the schedule. “Get your
tickets fast!”
Five top-15 teams will ride
into Starkville this season,
including Mullen’s former team
Florida, current champs and
No. 1 in both polls, on October
24. Rounding out the schedule
are No. 11 LSU on September
26, No. 15 Georgia Tech on
October 3, No. 5 Alabama on
November 14, and No. 8 Ole
Miss in the season finale. Even
projected Conference-USA
favorite Houston, with C-USA’s
2008 Offensive Player of the
Year Case Keenum (5,020 yards,
44 TDs), will be no easy task
for the Bulldogs on homecoming
night October 10.
The players, for their part, are
unfazed.
“It’s the same teams we’ve usually
been playing. It’s a tough
schedule but you know every
week, it’s the SEC,” said junior
safety Zach Smith. “They’re
supposed to be tough. It’s the
best conference in the country,
so you gotta be ready.”
Senior quarterback Tyson Lee
said he finds the schedule to be
a big opportunity.
“There are some extremely
big home games, and it’s going
to be good for our fans and
for us as a football team,” Lee
said. “Years from now you can
look back and say you played
some of the best teams in the
country.”
Lee said he thinks playing all
their toughest games at home
will be their biggest advantage
this season.
“Any time you can get any
kind of advantage, you want
that, and playing on your home
turf is probably the biggest
advantage you can have. When
they come to your place, you
have to execute,” Lee said. “The
fans will be behind us, the
coach will be behind us, and
when it comes game time we’ll
just have to execute on the football
field.”
Coach Mullen added: “When
you’re in the Southeastern
Conference you need to win
your home football games. If
we win all our home games,
at that point we’ve taken a
great step in the right direction
especially with the strength of
schedule we have at home, to
reaching our goal, which is to
get to Atlanta.”
In 2009, the road to the
championship game in Atlanta
goes through Starkville.