STARKVILLE — Bowl games have become expected at Mississippi State.
Seventh-year coach Dan Mullen took over the school’s football program in 2009 and finished 5-7 in his first season. Since that season, the Bulldogs have qualified for a school-record six-straight bowl games. MSU earned another bowl appearance Saturday with a 42-16 victory against Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium.
Before Mullen arrived, MSU had appeared in 13 bowl games.
“When I got here, I had people patting me on the back saying if we could get to a bowl game every once in a while, that’d be fantastic,” Mullen said. “But (Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin) and (MSU President Mark Keenum), they kind of expect that now, and our fans expect that, too. I love it. That’s the expectations we wanted to build in this program.”
Jackie Sherrill led MSU to six bowl games in his 13-year tenure. He was 2-4 in those games. He also is MSU’s all-time winningest coach with 75 victories.
After dropping out of The Associated Press poll with a loss to Texas A&M in early October, the Bulldogs (6-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) re-entered Sunday as No. 25. MSU is still unranked in the Amway Coaches poll, but it received 70 votes, the second most by any unranked team.
MSU, which is 10-8 in bowl games, is 3-2 in its five bowl games with Mullen as its coach. It beat Michigan in the 2011 Gator Bowl, Wake Forest in the 2011 Music City Bowl, and Rice in the 2013 Liberty Bowl. It lost to Northwestern in the 2013 Gator Bowl and to Georgia Tech in last season’s Orange Bowl.
“It’s definitely expected here,” MSU senior quarterback Dak Prescott said. “I don’t think anybody on this team expects not to go to one, so it’s nothing new. We’re excited about it.”
Prescott was responsible for six touchdowns against Kentucky. He threw for 348 yards and rushed for 117 yards. The Haughton, Louisiana, native is 173 of 260 for 2,048 yards and 14 touchdowns. He threw his first interception against Kentucky. He also has rushed for team-high 371 yards and seven touchdowns.
Securing an invitation to a bowl game is one step in the type of program Mullen is trying to build. While as an assistant at Florida (2005-08), Mullen helped the Gators win two SEC championships and two national championships.
Winning championships at MSU is the ultimate goal for Mullen and the Bulldogs.
“We really want more than a bowl game,” junior running back Brandon Holloway said. “We’re looking for SEC championships.”
Holloway has rushed for 196 yards and caught 14 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
MSU’s only SEC championship came in 1941, when Allen McKeen led MSU to an 8-1-1 record and a 4-0-1 record in conference play.
Since the SEC split into two divisions in 1992, the Bulldogs have won the Western Division once. In 1998, Sherrill led the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record and a 6-2 mark in SEC play. After losing at LSU and at Kentucky, MSU beat Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss to end the regular season and get into the SEC championship game, where it lost to No. 1 Tennessee. It then lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
“Now we’ve raised the standard of the level that we want to go to a good bowl game,” MSU senior cornerback Taveze Calhoun said. “We’re not stopping here. The rest of our games are very important, and this is just the beginning.”
Calhoun had two interceptions against Kentucky and will be looked to as a bigger leader for the secondary and defense with Will Redmond done for the season (torn anterior cruciate ligament).
The SEC West is far from decided with one month remaining in the season. LSU is unbeaten at 4-0, while Alabama is 4-1 and Ole Miss is 3-1. MSU, Texas A&M, and Arkansas are all 2-2, while Auburn is 1-2.
After a three-game homestand, MSU enters its only bye of the season on a three-game winning streak. MSU will travel to Missouri on Thursday, Nov. 5. ESPN will broadcast the game at 8 p.m. After that, MSU will play host to Alabama, travel to Arkansas, and end the regular season at home against Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.
“Coming into the three weeks after the Texas A&M loss, we knew we were coming home for three-straight games, winnable games,” Prescott said. “If we could win them, win them big, get momentum going, get that confidence going, we’d put ourselves in a good position to finish the season out.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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