Dan Mullen and Mississippi State escaped tonight.
The Bulldogs defeated Louisiana Tech 26-20 in overtime, avoiding a 1-3 start in a season that started with incredibly high hopes. You can almost forgive it, as they were coming off games against Auburn and LSU, which certainly required more emotional energy than this one would have.
And with the win, Mississippi State still has the chance for a pretty special season, perhaps even 10 wins.
Dan Mullen, who was nearing “hottest coach in America” status, is going to need that. Not to keep his job — he’s remarkably safe — but in order to stay in the Rolodex (ignore the fact those are no longer used … by anyone) of athletic directors at the top schools in the country.
Maybe he wants to stay at Mississippi State. Maybe he really thinks he can win a national title there (he can’t), but there’s no question that for the past two years, he’s had all the leverage in any negotiations he would have entered. He’s in danger of losing that, now.
Losing to LSU is acceptable. There might not be a better team in the country this year. Losing to Auburn on the road isn’t horrible, but it isn’t good. The Tigers are a shell of last year’s national title team, a team that the Bulldogs very nearly beat. Going to overtime against Louisiana Tech? Now you’re screwing up.
Mullen is 16-13 at Mississippi State, a school that struggled mightily before he got there. Maybe it’s not fair to expect a team in the best conference in the country to excel despite it having next to no history of doing so. But the problem with creating expectations is, you have to meet them, especially if your name is going to come up every time a top program has a job opening.
