LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen admits he didn’t give his best halftime speech Saturday before his team went on to defeat Kentucky 45-31 at Commonwealth Stadium.
Then again, he didn’t have to.
Instead, Mullen said he had to get the team together midway through its first game as the No. 1 team in the country to eliminate lingering jitters.
“Everybody expects some great, dramatic second-half speech,” Mullen said. “I just stood in the front of the locker room and gathered the guys up, then I said, ‘Everybody take a deep breath.’ That’s what the whole team did. Once we got that out of the way, I said, ‘Now let’s go play football.’ ”
The result, following a first half in which MSU led 17-10, was a second-half effort that lifted the Bulldogs to their 10th-consecutive victory, and seventh straight to open the season.
But it wasn’t easy.
MSU started slowly against the Wildcats (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference), as the defense allowed its second first-quarter touchdown of the year. Meanwhile, the offense managed a little more than 200 yards in the first half.
“We dropped some balls on offense, missed some blocks on offense,” Mullen said. “Sometimes we were overcommunicating out there, sometimes we were undercommunicating. On defense, we missed some tackles and we weren’t getting a lot of pressure. We were just reacting and we weren’t attacking. Once we came together at halftime, I thought our guys relaxed and played a lot better.”
Junior tailback Josh Robinson rushed for 156 of his career-high 198 yards in the second half to lead the surge. That total included a career-long 73-yard touchdown run that gave the Bulldogs a 38-24 early in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs needed every big play by Robinson, who scored two touchdowns, because the Wildcats used a 390-yard passing performance from quarterback Patrick Towles to stay in the game. The Wildcats never let the Bulldogs build a lead of more than 14 points, marking the first time this season MSU hasn’t owned a lead of at least 20 points at some juncture.
Mullen said Kentucky had a lot to do with MSU’s inability to break away.
“They are a very dangerous team,” Mullen said of Kentucky. “I like how we played, don’t think we ever flinched. I think we were a little tight, but I don’t think we ever flinched. We knew they were going to continue to make plays, knew we were going to have to play for four quarters. In this league, you have to play four quarters every game.”
MSU quarterback Dak Prescott had his lowest offensive output of the season, a telling statistic considering how much production the Bulldogs have received from the redshirt junior. Entering the game averaging 342 yards per game, Prescott put up 304 against the Wildcats — 216 passing, 88 rushing — and scored three touchdowns. Prescott has at least three touchdowns in all seven games this season, and 26 scores overall.
“They are a good team. We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Prescott said. “It was a good team victory. All that matters is we are 7-0 and 4-0 in the league.”
Bulldogs still on top
Less than 24 hours after the win, MSU remained atop both major polls. On Sunday morning, it was announced the Bulldogs remained No. 1 in the Amway Coaches Poll (USA Today) for the third-straight week. Less than two hours later, the Bulldogs retained the same spot in The Associated Press Top 25.
Asked about his team’s chances at staying on top of the college football world for another week, Mullen seemed unconcerned late Saturday night.
“Hopefully this ranking stuff is behind us,” Mullen said. “I don’t know where we’ll rank. You can drop us if you want. I don’t really care on any of that. It’s been rally neat, but I think our kids are over it as well. Bottom line is we are 4-0 in the SEC West after winning a tough road game in a tough environment.”
MSU leads a contingent of five Southeastern Conference teams in the top 10. In The AP poll, Alabama (No. 3), Auburn (No. 4), Georgia (No. 8), and Ole Miss (No. 9) round out the top 10.
MSU also is one of two remaining unbeaten teams from a power five conference, joining 7-0 Florida State, the defending national champion. As a result, MSU is expected to contend for the top spot in the College Football Playoff rankings, which will be announced at 6:30 Tuesday night.
Asked if he planned to watch the release of the College Football Playoff rankings, Mullen had fun with the question.
“You look at that stuff, and trust me, it’s neat,” Mullen said. “Talk radio Wednesday morning is going to be absolutely amazing When you guys go write that story on your blogs Wednesday morning, you’re going to have 5,000 comments on that story. Our focus is completely on Arkansas and trying to get one more win in the SEC. That’s the world and reality we have to live in.”
Mississippi State-Arkansas game time set
Prior to MSU’s win at Kentucky on Saturday, the Southeastern Conference had announced the MSU’s game against Arkansas, set for this Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium, would kick off at 6 or 6:15 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2. On Sunday, the league announced ESPN2 will broadcast the game, which will start at 6:15 p.m.
No. 9 Ole Miss will play host to No. 4 Auburn at 6 p.m. on ESPN, while No. 8 Georgia will meet unranked Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, at 2:30 p.m. (WCBI).
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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