NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mississippi State head football coach Dan Mullen has stressed the goal of the next season since this New Year’s Day victory in Jacksonville.
Get to back-to-back bowl games.
Now that the goal for why the 2011 campaign was so critical has been met, what’s next when the actual game on the field against Wake Forest (6-6) needs a final result tonight?
“Always finishing the season with a win is huge for you,” Mullen said. “There’s a good nine months (from tonight) where we don’t play football. All we’ve talked about all week is winning another championship. If we could finish it off with a win, it could be a spectacular bowl trip.”
It would be hard to top the 52-14 victory over Michigan in the 2011 Gator Bowl as MSU set bowl records for points scored (52), margin of victory (38) and the Bulldogs defense limited exciting dual-threat quarterback Denard Robinson to 51 total yards.
“We’ve tried to keep our whole routine pretty similar before and once we arrive to the bowl site as we did it last year,” Mullen said. “I think the players not just in the state of Mississippi but nationally, they see we’re building the program to the point where we’re in the position to compete to go to a championship game.”
In order to accomplish that same vibe as they had leaving a National Football League stadium MSU (6-6) will need to rely on the dual-threat capability of senior quarterback Chris Relf.
Mississippi State’s only healthy active quarterback on the roster this week had 311 total yards and four touchdowns on his way to being the Gator Bowl most valuable player.
“Our guys really appreciate getting to bowl games and understand the importance of being here and can separate all of the bowl activities from the importance of actually winning the game,” Mullen said.
MSU fans should except to see the Bulldogs run game, which averaged 168 yards per game, to be utilized early and often thanks to a significant size advantage of their offensive line and Wake Forest’s undersized and youthful defensive front.
“Dan Mullen’s offenses are very similar to some of the teams that have given us problems this season because we’re not a big football team,” Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe. “I see them doing a great job running downhill an mixing in the option with the throw game. We’re more concerned about what they’re doing offensively instead of who they have doing them.”
Mullen mentioned sophomore quarterback Tyler Russell as a game-time decision today with a major sprain to the medial collateral ligament of his left knee earlier in bowl practice and it will be determined during the game if he is inserted into competition or if Relf gets every snap from behind center.
“Tyler said he felt good (Thursday) and we’ll wait to see how is to see if we rotate him,” Mullen said.
Wake Forest, who is playing in its first bowl game since 2008 but fifth postseason game under Grobe, is going to rely on a passing attack that has lit up Atlantic Coast Conference defenses for 255.6 yards per game through the air. Sophomore quarterback Tanner Price is third in the conference with 233 yards per game and this contest is likely the final game for junior wide receiver Chris Givens, who leads the ACC with 106.3 yards per game on the outside.
The issue for MSU in coverage is three different Demon Deacons receivers average more than four catches per contest and their multiple offense will spread defenders out on man-to-man island assignments in any given situation.
“They’ve got about four guys that can make plays on the outside and then you mix in their underrated run game and they’re an explosive offense,” MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson said. “We’ve got a challenge trying to figure out that sophomore quarterback.”
In a very familiar area for MSU alumni, the crowd at LP Field tonight is expected to be dominated with maroon and white fans that Grobe joked today will all have their “musical instruments” in hand for only the school’s 15th bowl appearance and fourth since 2000
“Mississippi State has been to back-to-back bowls in the 1990s,” Mullen said. “I know Coach (Jackie) Sherrill was successful in the late 90s and 2000s taking the program to bowl games and did a great job so hopefully we can continue that tradition.”
The one issue that hasn’t come up for Wake Forest even after taking a 41-7 pounding to Vanderbilt in their regular season finale at home is another opportunity at a Southeastern Conference opponent to test themselves against the perceived best league in college football.
“We haven’t brought up the ACC-SEC thing at all,” Grobe said. “Dan’s team like ours has played a brutal schedule and because of that is a reason neither of has gotten the attention they deserve. Hopefully our guys are focused not on ACC-SEC but on playing a quality opponent.”
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