Coaches and players said all the right things in press conferences in the days following last weekend’s game, but Mississippi State needed a lot more than a few interviews that sound good in the newspaper after losing in the season opener in particularly deflating fashion. Dan Mullen didn’t need goodwill from reporters. He needed results from his team.
All 100-plus members of the team saw first-hand just how badly he wanted those results when, as a result of his passion in practice leading up to the SEC-opener against South Carolina, Mullen busted his nose open, a mark still visible as he took the floor for interviews Saturday night.