STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University football Dan Mullen was caught off guard Monday when asked if he felt his program was helping a start-up program like the University of South Alabama.
The Bulldogs’ fourth-year coach doesn’t see it that way, or at least he doesn’t wish to say it publicly.
“I don’t know if we’re helping them out. They’re a tough opponent,” Mullen said of the Jaguars (1-2), who are a 34 1/2-point underdog for the game against No. 23 MSU at 6 p.m. Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
MSU (3-0) will try for its first four-game winning streak to open the season since 1999. A victory would help MSU get to 4-0 to open the season for only the sixth time in the history of the program. To accomplish that feat, MSU will try to beat a mid-major opponent that fits the mold Mullen started to schedule when he became the program’s coach in 2009. MSU has a 13-game winning streak against non-conference opponents. That streak includes victories against teams from Conference USA (University of Memphis, University of Houston, and University of Alabama at Birmingham), the Sun Belt Conference (Troy University and Middle Tennessee State University), the Western Athletic Conference (Louisiana Tech University), and the Football Championship Subdivision (Jackson State University and Alcorn State
University). In future schedules, MSU will add mid-major opponents like Bowling Green State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.
“I think scheduling-wise it’s beneficial for us because it plays into what we look for within being able to schedule locally,” Mullen said Monday.
The only Bowl Championship Series school a Mullen-coached MSU has played in its non-conference slate is Georgia Tech University (a 42-31 loss at Davis Wade Stadium in 2009). That game was the back end of a home-and-home contract signed under former MSU coach Sylvester Croom.
Under the leadership of Mullen and Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin, MSU has established three scheduling principles that have been followed the past four years. MSU’s goal is to play seven home games per season at Davis Wade Stadium, to have a schedule that guarantees a bowl berth at the end of the season, and to try not to have guaranteed payouts of more than $1 million per year. Scheduling a FBS transitional school like USA, which is in its fourth year, follows that plan. Like North Carolina State University, MSU had reservations about scheduling USA until it could be guaranteed it could count the game as a FBS victory toward bowl eligibility. South Alabama will be a full member of the Sun Belt Conference as early as next season. It received full FBS status in 2012.
“A couple of years ago it was different,” Mullen said. “They’re a little bit more of an established program. I know they’re trying to build it from scratch, but it’s not like this is their first year in football.”
MSU will travel to USA in 2014. USA will play in 2016 in Starkville to complete the two-for-one contract. MSU is paying USA $400,000 for the three games.
“You always prepare to win,” South Alabama coach Joey Jones said. “If you’re an odds maker you might not pick us to win, but there is somebody who gets beat every week who isn’t supposed to. That’s the way I look at it.”
In 2010, Stricklin said the ultra-popular phrase of “we’ll play them in December or January” when asked if MSU would consider playing a BCS school in its non-league slate, suggesting MSU’s main concern is getting to the highest possible bowl game.
“We’ve got to be smart with the way we put together our football schedule,” Stricklin said. “I know Dan and I myself understand and value the importance of going to a bowl game every season.”
Recent reports have surfaced that provide a different feel to MSU’s scheduling philosophy. Multiple reports have MSU agreeing to start the 2013 schedule in Reliant Stadium in Houston against the Big 12 Conference’s Oklahoma State University, but neither school has confirmed or commented on the negotiations.
A week after losing to N.C. State 31-7 in the second game of a three-game contract, USA understands it needs to play schools like MSU to get established.
“We look forward to ballgames like this,” Jones said last week to the Mobile Press Register. “Last year, N.C. State was our first (FBS) game. I thought we went out there and went toe to toe with them. Our kids are very competitive and want to be in these types of situations. I’ll never forget walking out onto the field last year and how exciting it was to be in that atmosphere. Our kids are looking forward to it.”
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