STARKVILLE — A day most Mississippi State fans thought they would never see has arrived.
Less than 24 hours after dispatching No. 2 Auburn before the largest crowd in school history, No. 3 MSU’s football team watched and waited for college football’s primary rankings — the Amway Coaches Poll (USA Today) and The Associated Press Top 25 — hoping the Bulldogs would climb atop the sport’s landscape for the first time in school history.
Late Sunday morning, that hope became reality.
At 11:50 a.m., the Amway poll was released, and for the first time, MSU was voted as the No. 1 team in the country. A little more than an hour later, MSU claimed the same spot in The AP poll.
“It’s exciting for our school, our team, and our fans,” said MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin early Sunday afternoon.
Calling it exciting barely captured the feeling in Starkville this weekend. Starting with ESPN’s College GameDay, the network’s weekly college football lead-in show, emanating from MSU’s tailgating area, The Junction, at 8 a.m. Saturday, the Bulldogs enjoyed one of the best sports-related 24-hour periods in school history. MSU kicked it all off with a 38-23 victory against No. 2 Auburn on Saturday afternoon in a nationally televised CBS game. The celebration continued into Sunday, when the Bulldogs were named No. 1.
The ranking completed a meteoric rise for MSU, which became the fastest team in history to reach No. 1 after being unranked. Less than a month ago, MSU was unranked before heading to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face then-No. 8 LSU. After a 34-29 win in Death Valley, the Bulldogs jumped into the Amway poll at 16 and The AP poll at No. 14. After a bye week, the Bulldogs moved up to No. 12. Last week, MSU climbed nine spots following a 48-31 dismantling of then-No. 6 Texas A&M.
But that all paled in comparison to Saturday, when MSU jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter before posting the 15-point win.
In his Saturday post-game press conference, MSU coach Dan Mullen indicated he wasn’t taking too much time to celebrate.
“They don’t give out trophies at the halfway point. They give them out at the end of the season. That’s our focus, getting better every week. In this league, if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse,” Mullen said.
MSU edged No. 2 Florida State for the top spot in the Amway poll. The Bulldogs, just the fifth team in modern football history to beat three-consecutive top-10 opponents, received one more point than the Seminoles, the defending national champions. FSU had five more first-place votes, 31 to 26, than MSU, but more voters dropped FSU behind MSU and Ole Miss for the No. 3 spot, opening the door for the Bulldogs to claim top billing.
Ole Miss, which received five first-place votes, is No. 3.
In The AP poll, MSU leapfrogged FSU on the strength of an avalanche of support from national sports writers. Of the 60 AP voters, 45 voted for MSU as the country’s best team, compared to 12 for Florida State.
Ole Miss, which nearly passed FSU as well, is ranked third with three first-place votes.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.