Sports - Colleges - Mississippi State

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Mullen, MSU take aim at Gators

Few can appreciate Florida’s amazing dominance in the college football world more than first-year Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen.

Of course, Mullen and the Bulldogs hope to be a fly in that ointment tonight.

Mississippi State, a three-touchdown underdog, faces defending national champion Florida tonight at MSU’s Scott Field. The Gators (6-0, 4-0 in the SEC) are ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25, trailing league brethren Alabama, but they are No. 1 in the coaches poll and the BCS standings.

Florida is still looking to get its offense, and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, on track, but the Gators have been dominant on defense. Mississippi State (3-4, 1-2) won for the first time in nearly a month last week, beating Middle Tennessee State 27-6 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Mullen, 37, spent four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Florida before becoming the Bulldogs’ coach in January. He knows what the Gators can do, and has seen it firsthand for himself.

“I can look at them on film and know what they are doing,” Mullen said, “but it is a whole different story in stopping them. They’ve got a lot of weapons and a good offensive system. They have the type of speed, if you make one mistake, it turns a 10-yard gain into a 60-yard gain.”

In the red zone, however, the Gators have had their troubles.

Florida has scored touchdowns only 50 percent of the time that it has penetrated an opponents’ 20-yard line. In SEC play, the Gators have scored just six TDs after reaching the red zone.

“We’re leading the league in offense, but turnovers and the red zone, they are critical,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said.

Since scoring 31 points in the first quarter against Kentucky, the Gators have produced 46 points in 11 quarters. They slipped past Arkansas 23-20 last week in Gainesville.

“We’ve got to execute better,” Tebow said. “We’ve got to put ourselves in better situations.”

The Bulldogs have had some success historically against Florida, winning their last four home games against the Gators. Jackie Sherrill’s MSU squad twice beat Steve Spurrier and the Gators, including a 47-35 victory in 2000, when State fans tore down the goal posts after the Bulldogs beat the nation’s third-ranked team.

In 2004, Ron Zook’s Gators lost in Starkville and he was fired two days later, effective the end of the season.

“We’re coming in planning to win the football game,” Mullen said.

It would be an upset that would send the college football world spinning on its ear.