STARKVILLE — For the first time this season, the Mississippi State football team must respond to a loss.
Nearly two days after a 25-20 loss at Alabama, MSU coach Dan Mullen was asked about his team’s ability to bounce back after surrendering the No. 1 ranking in the country it held for more than a month.
“I thought they did a good job at practice (Sunday), and we’ll see on Saturday how they respond to it and come out,” Mullen said. “We’ve handled winning very well this season, so we’ll see how we handle this adversity. It’s late in the year for that to happen, but we’ll see how our guys handle it.”
That adversity, brought forth by a three-turnover performance, will test MSU’s ability to respond after seeing its nine-game winning streak this season — and 12-game run dating back to last year — end at Bryant-Denny Stadium. No. 4 MSU will get that opportunity at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) against Vanderbilt (3-7, 0-6 Southeastern Conference) at Davis Wade Stadium.
“Every SEC game is a tough challenge,” Mullen said. “They have a very young team. I think they have really made some strides with (Johnny) McCrary now at quarterback where they had a bunch of issues early in the season. I think they’ve made an awful lot of improvements. They’re a tough defense, play hard, play physical and will be a huge challenge. We have to see and make sure our guys come out. We have to play better. We have to continue to improve from where we were last week.”
MSU will enter the final two games of the regular season with a chance to advance to the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. The loss to the Crimson Tide knocked the Bulldogs (9-1, 5-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten — Florida State is the nation’s only undefeated power five conference team — into a group of one-loss teams jockeying for a spot in the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s Top Four. MSU has topped the rankings in each of the past three weeks, but it will find out tonight if it still will be ahead of other one-loss teams like TCU, Baylor, and Ohio State.
Judging by MSU’s fall from No. 1 to No. 4 in The Associated Press Top 25 and the Amway Coaches Poll (USA Today), the Bulldogs could maintain a high ranking when the committee’s latest choices are announced at 6 tonight. None of that matters to Mullen.
“There is so much football still to be played this year,” Mullen said. “We have to worry about trying to beat Vanderbilt this weekend. The playoff committee has their meetings all day Monday. I’m in my game planning meetings all day Monday. I’m more focused on beating Vanderbilt, and I’m sure they’re focused on trying to analyze 128 teams and how they rank those teams.”
Any scenario that has MSU competing in the College Football Playoff will happen only if it wins its final two regular-season games. That means taking care of business against a Vanderbilt team that has been outscored by an average of 29 points per game in conference play and then beating No. 8 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2) on Nov. 29 in Oxford.
Mullen insists MSU isn’t taking anything for granted as it prepares for the first step against the Commodores.
“Go ask our team’s opinion of Arkansas, who you could have said the same thing about a couple weeks ago,” Mullen said. “You ask any of our players their opinion of Arkansas, and they’d say that they’re one of the best teams in the country. You’re watching the cut-ups, and you’re watching how Vanderbilt has some very young players that have improved throughout the season. They have won two of their last four games. They’re coming off a bye week, so they have had the extra week to get ready. They’re going to be healthier and fresher with more preparation time leading into this game.”
Vanderbilt, in its first season under former Stanford defensive coordinator Derek Mason, has topped the 20-point mark only once in league play, a 48-34 loss at home to South Carolina. In its other five SEC games, Vanderbilt has 51 points. It was held to single digits by Ole Miss (41-3) and Kentucky (17-7). In contrast, MSU’s offense, despite its struggles against Alabama, leads the SEC with 511 yards of total offense per game and is second to Georgia in the league in points per game (38).
Mullen’s challenge this week is to rebuild his team after the second-longest winning streak in school history ended at Alabama.
“All we can control is the next game,” Mullen said. “That’s been our focus all season. Our team has done a great job of that, and our leadership needs to do another great job of it this week in getting ready for Vanderbilt.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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