Attention shifts for Bulldogs to Crimson Tide challenge

Southeastern Conference teams can run and as fast as it likes.

Yet there’s no hiding from the juggernaut that is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

No sooner had Mississippi State polished off a 34-23 win over UMass on Saturday afternoon when the focus for the 18th-ranked Bulldogs shifted towards the giant from Tuscaloosa.

Alabama is coming to Starkville next Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff on ESPN and already the anticipation is building.

“Honestly, these types of games, if you need a pep talk then something is wrong with you,” MSU senior left tackle Martinas Rankin said.

Like death and taxes, Alabama’s yearly dominance is a certainty. It’s no different this season. The Crimson Tide were ranked No. 2 in the country in the first College Football Playoff rankings released last week. Once again, it appears as though the road to a national championship will likely have to go through Tide head coach Nick Saban and company.

Mississippi State would love to alter that trajectory. The Bulldogs’ plan is a sound one, if it can indeed be executed. MSU’s plot is to keep calm and treat the Crimson Tide just as if they were any other football team. The Bulldogs aren’t planning to make a special event out of the matchup.

“We don’t really even think about stuff like that,” MSU senior linebacker Dez Harris said. “We just look forward to playing any game. We’ll start game planning on Alabama come (today). It’s just another game. It’s our next game. It is the biggest game of the year because it’s the next one, so we just have to go out and prepare and be ready come Saturday.”

No matter how much Harris and the Bulldogs downplay it, there’s no denying a win for the Bulldogs over Alabama would be monumental. State hasn’t toppled the Tide since former head coach Sylvester Croom’s Bulldogs beat Alabama 17-12 back in 2007. It has been nearly a decade of misery for MSU against Alabama ever since. Since the Bulldogs’ last win over the Tide, Alabama has outscored MSU 282-70. Mullen is winless against Alabama as State’s head coach. He is 0-8.

However, as the old saying goes, there is a first time for everything. MSU is hoping that first time for Mullen to beat Alabama is now.

“It’s another game to prove ourselves,” Simmons said. “It’s another game to prove we are one of the best defenses in

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