STARKVILLE — Members of the Mississippi State football team’s coaching staff have a new perspective five weeks into the 2011 season.
MSU head coach Dan Mullen is using words like “realistic” and “goals” after MSU (2-3, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) lost to the University of Georgia 24-10 Saturday for its third consecutive SEC defeat.
After the loss in Athens, Ga., Mullen said, “We’re trying to get six wins, get ourselves to a bowl game and continue to build this program into the future. We have to find a way.”
Those words sparked criticism among a fan base that has listened to Mullen talk for three seasons about how the Bulldogs would contend for a SEC Western Division championship.
Three weeks into conference play, Mullen and his coaches realize that dream won’t be realized this season. On Monday, Mullen clarified his comment and said bowl qualification wasn’t the goal but a baseline for expectations.
“We can still get to a Jan. 1 bowl game,” Mullen said. “That’s the picture for us — what bowl game are we going to get ourselves? To move forward as a program we have to go to a bowl game. The more wins, the higher up the bowl game and the greater your season becomes. Going into the season, I don’t set win goals. Maybe everyone took that the wrong way (Saturday).”
Mullen insisted Monday his film study Sunday still shows MSU’s offense isn’t far from clicking and propelling the team on a run. Last season, MSU started 1-2 after back-to-back losses to Auburn and LSU and then won six games in a row.
This season, though, injuries to offensive linemen have forced players to switch positions, which has affected continuity. As a result, the offensive has struggled to find consistency in the running and passing games.
“You don’t look at the film and say, ‘Boy, we can’t compete. We need different guys.’ We just need guys executing cleaner,” Mullen said. “When it’s flowing, you can see four or five moves ahead. When you’re going like this, you’re looking. ‘Hey, how can we get one play going?’ ”
Players acknowledge several other factors have contributed to MSU’s 2-3 start. They said some young players have been rushed onto the playing field and some entered the season thinking MSU experiences nine-win seasons all of the time.
MSU won at least nine games last season for the first time since 1999, when it went 10-2. The 9-4 record in 2010 was the program’s fourth winning season since ’99.
“When I came in we just struggled, had the bad years, and I was here for (a) 45-0 (loss to the University of Mississippi in the 2008 Egg Bowl) that they’ve never had to go through,” senior offensive tackle Addison Lawrence said. “Maybe it does seem a little expected to them, but it’s the SEC, and every week teams are going to compete with the best they have.”
MSU hasn’t had back-to-back winning seasons in more than a decade. It will try to get back to the .500 mark at 11 a.m. Saturday (SportSouth) when it plays at Conference USA rival University of Alabama-Birmingham.
“UAB is a tough opponent. We saw that last year,” Mullen said. “They took us right down to the wire, so we know we will have our hands full. When you look at the games they played this year, (they’ve) had the opportunity to win some tough games. They are a tough, tough football team, and we are going to have to play well to win.”
Mullen was consistent again in his criticism of the coaching staff for
its work preparing the team to play Georgia. He said Sunday certain fundamental errors were a reflection of mistakes by the coaching staff throughout the week of practices.
“We have to tweak and make sure we are putting guys in position to be successful,” Mullen said. “You have to really evaluate the talents of the younger guys and the newer guys who are playing.”
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