Cowbell chorus to witness Bama-MSU game

Mississippi State season-ticket holders have seen some excellent football this fall.

What Bulldog fans haven’t seen, other than a season-opening win over Jackson State, is a home victory. State’s home schedule has included No. 9 LSU, No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 13 Houston and top-ranked Florida. Arch-rival Ole Miss comes to Starkville to end the season on Nov.28.

Third-ranked and undefeated Alabama visits tonight at Davis Wade Stadium, which holds 55,082 and about that many cowbells.

First-year State head coach Dan Mullen has enlisted the help of Bulldog Nation for tonight’s showdown. Put another way, with apologies to Saturday Night Live, Mullen needs more cowbell.

“We’re expecting a great crowd, for the whole state to get behind us and support us and have a great atmosphere for a nationally televised game,” Mullen said.

The Bulldogs (4-5 overall, 2-3 SEC) are way past moral victories. They’ve been competitive in every one of those home games. They lost by four points to LSU, which needed a goal-line stand to preserve the win. Tech beat them by 11, Houston won by a touchdown and Florida won by 10 although it was a one-score game in the fourth quarter.

“I think our fans have bought in to what we are doing here, just like our team has,” Mullen said. “They see a team that is going to go out there and fight with great effort for four quarters, so they’re going to give us the same effort for four quarters. They’ve realized they’ve got an extremely important role in our football program, and they want to be a part of that.”

Only Auburn blew out the Bulldogs, and that was in the second game of the season.

Alabama coach Nick Saban has seen the improvement.

“Mississippi State is a very good team, a very challenging team, a very different kind of offense to prepare for,” Saban said. “They are very aggressive and play hard on defense. … They’ve played really well this year and are very much improved.”

State will not be a typical underdog since it has defeated Alabama two of the last three seasons.

“Even though we’ve clinched the West, we’ve still got a lot to prove,” Crimson Tide linebacker Rolando McClain said. “I think it’s still stuck in our mind when we lost to them two years ago. We are playing a very good team.”

Mississippi State’s Anthony Dixon said a game against Alabama is always a physical test.

“I’m just looking for a tough, physical game — one of those woodshed games,” Dixon said. “They know it and we know it. … It’s been knockout. They knocked us out last year, though. They’re up right now. We’re just trying to defend our turf, protect our house and make it happen.”

In order to do that, State wants to control the ball on the ground and shorten the game. The Bulldogs run on nearly 65 percent of their plays (404 rushes in 623 total plays). Dixon leads an offense that ranks third in the SEC and 12th in the nation in rushing yardage (219 per game).

Alabama leads the SEC and is second in the nation in rushing defense, giving up just 68 yards per game on the ground.

“You’re going to have to take advantage of the opportunities you get going against a defense like this,” Mullen said about the Tide. “They have a lot of speed, and they don’t give up many big plays. They’re pretty solid top to bottom, so if you have the opportunity to score some points, you’d better score because you’re not going to get lots of opportunities.”

Saban said the challenge for his players remains on staying focused and getting better, even after clinching the SEC West last week in an emotional win over LSU.
“Take care of your business and your business will take care of you,” Saban said as his team prepares for a big business trip in a hostile environment.