Mullen returns to face ex-team
GAINESVILLE – One program took coach Dan Mullen nine years to build. The other has been under his watch for barely nine months.
Today, Mullen will find out where his surging Florida Gators (3-1, 1-1 SEC) stack up against the No. 23 Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-1, 0-1), the school he left behind and stocked with talent.
The game will pit Mississippi State’s physicality, cultivated by Mullen, against the athleticism he inherited in Gainesville. But while the two teams square off on the field, much of the focus will be on Mullen pacing the opposing sideline.
“I guess that takes pressure off everyone else,” Mullen said. “Our guys can focus on the opponent, beating an excellent team. One of the deepest, most veteran teams out there, a team that everybody expects to be a top-10 team by the end of the season.”
The fact Mullen built the Bulldogs into a competitive program earned him plenty of praise in college football circles. The fact he left behind his handiwork to coach the Gators after last season has earned Mullen his share of scorn around Starkville.
Mullen expects a passionate Mississippi State fan base to unleash its animosity tonight. To beat the Bulldogs to the punch on game week, Mullen helped assure an acrimonious reception.
Asked how he adjusted to life in Mississippi upon his 2009 arrival, the 46-year-old threw a little shade the way of the Magnolia State.
“I guess, for me, I don’t know ... I go to work,” Mullen said. “I get up and I go to work and I go home. For my wife, probably a lot of online shopping. There wasn’t, like, a Target or a lot of stores close to Starkville.”
Mullen has been a target since he left for Gainesville three days after a seasonending loss at home to rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. Mullen then lured most of his staff to UF while Mississippi State was left with a bare-bones staff to prepare for the Taxslayer Bowl. Later, Mullen flipped a pair of Bulldogs’ commitments, notably top-ranked kicker Evan McPherson.
Mullen now looks to prove his decision to leave the program he built to rebuild an SEC blue blood was the right move. Beating the Bulldogs would be a big step.
TALLAHASSEE Louisville’s Cardinal Stadium hasn’t be kind to Florida State recently. The Seminoles were humbled during a painful 62-20 road loss to the Cardinals in 2016.
FSU (2-2, 0-2 ACC) will return to the same stage Saturday in search of a win over Louisville (2-2, 0-1 ACC).
“We’re hoping that we can build off what we did last week and put together a complete ballgame, something we hadn’t done yet, and we’re eager to do it,” FSU coach Willie Taggart said, alluding to the Seminoles’ win last week over Northern Illinois. “And it will be a perfect time to go on the road and to do that up in Louisville, a team that’s beat us two years in a row.”
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN2.
Florida State’s upperclassmen remember how the Cardinals suffocated them by posting a combined 93 points during the past two meetings.
Senior defensive back A.J. Westbrook made his first career start against Louisville in 2016. He didn’t do so well, but neither did the No. 2-ranked Florida State team that suffered a blowout loss.
“It is something I always think about because it was when I first got out there and felt very embarrassed,” Westbrook said. “Just embarrassed. I always think