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Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen keeps NH relevant in college football’s national title chase

By Staff | Nov 12, 2014

Hey, New Hampshire. It’s time to wake up. The Granite State has a national title contender to root for.

No, I’m not talking about the top-ranked University of New Hampshire football team. Sure, the Wildcats are worth following, but one would hope that they’ve been on the radar for a few years now as a Division I FCS title contender.

Southern New Hampshire has a stake in the big game this fall, as No. 1 Mississippi State University chases its first national championship in the first year of a Division I FBS four-team playoff format.

Obviously, the Granite State has had ties to national titles before – most recently with Chip Kelly as head coach at the University of Oregon leading the Ducks to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game (lost to Auburn, 22-19).

Now the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelly passes the torch to Dan Mullen as college football coaching’s shining star. Mullen is thriving on the biggest stage in college football, coaching in the Southeastern Conference.

Fittingly the two took over their respective college programs in 2009. Kelly had a head start, having been the Ducks’ offensive coordinator since 2007. The Dover-born, Manchester-raised Kelly reached that BCS title game and jumped to the NFL after the following season.

Mullen, who gained experience and notoriety as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Utah and Florida, had more work to do with his Bulldogs.

He had his hands full trying to turn around an MSU offense that ranked 114th nationally in total offense and 116th in scoring offense during the 2008 season.

Since taking over for Sylvester Croom on Dec. 10, 2008, Mullen has done just that:

In 2009, the Bulldogs went 5-7 against what the NCAA rated the toughest schedule in the nation.

In 2010, MSU went 9-4 overall and 4-4 in the SEC, including victories over Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi with their four losses coming against Top 12 teams. MSU closed out Mullen’s second season as coach with a 52-14 Gator Bowl win over Michigan and a No. 15 ranking in the final AP poll.

In 2011, Mullen’s Bulldogs were No. 19 in the preseason poll. They finished 7-6 with a 23-17 Music City Bowl win over Wake Forest.

In 2012, MSU started 7-0, including its first win over Auburn since 2007. The Bulldogs finished 8-5 after losing 34-20 to Northwestern in the Gator Bowl.

In 2013, the Bulldogs finished 7-6, with a 44-7 Liberty Bowl win over Rice.

This fall, undefeated No. 1 MSU (9-0, 5-0 SEC West) is 12th in total offense and 15th in scoring offense, heading into its Saturday showdown (3:30 p.m., CBS) with Nick Saban and No. 3 Alabama (8-1, 5-1 SEC West).

It seems the spread option made famous by Mullen and Kelly is working wonders in Starkville, Miss.

Then again, it’s worked for Mullen in other locales as well.

Guiding Meyer’s offenses, Mullen’s units averaged more than 35 points per game.

His Gators’ offense put up 41 points against top-ranked Ohio State to win the BCS championship in 2006 – a Buckeyes team that was limiting opponents to less than 11 points per game throughout the season.

He was a key sculptor in molding Alex Smith into a No. 1 NFL pick and Heisman Trophy finalist, while also tutoring Chris Leak and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow to BCS titles (2006 over Ohio State and 2008 over Oklahoma).

If you’re late to the party, this is the week to jump on the Bulldogs bandwagon. The Trinity High School football star, who has engineered some high-octane offenses is giving the Granite State something special to watch.

Somehow his top-ranked squad is a 7-point underdog at Alabama – the most points handed to the No. 1 team in the country since Notre Dame was an 81?2-point underdog to the Crimson Tide in the 2012 BCS Championship game.

Mullen may have Saban right where he wants him.

“Our guys will come in and play with great effort,” Mullen told The Clarion-Ledger of Mississippi reporter Michael Bonner on Monday. “Play with that chip on our shoulder that we try to play with every week no matter what the rankings or what everybody else is predicting.”

Led by quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Josh Robinson and linebacker Benardrick McKinney these Bulldogs aren’t all bark. They certainly bite – especially when labeled underdogs.

“Every article you read or everywhere you look, we’re the big underdog going into this game. We’ve done that before,” Mullen said. “We know that role. We’re going to be OK with that.”

The two games this season that Las Vegas gave MSU points – against LSU (plus-71?2) and Auburn (plus-21?2) – Mullen’s ’Dogs handled their business against the Tigers in both games, 34-29 and 38-23 respectively.

Now one of 2015’s potential NFL hires begins a playoff run this weekend. Official tournament game or not, that’s exactly how everyone is viewing it.

Roll ’Dogs, roll.

George Scione can be reached at
gscione@nashuatelegraph.com or 594-6520.
Also, follow Scione on Twitter (@Telegraph_BigG).

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