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CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: MISSISSIPPI STATE v GEORGIA TECHDecember 29, 2014Dan MullenMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA Q. I know that you guys have been here for a couple days, but you were finally able too get on the beach yesterday. How was that? DAN MULLEN: You know what, I think the guys had a lot of fun. It's a tremendous experience for these young men to come. I know for some it's their first time ever seeing the ocean, so I guess people here in Miami just think they get used to that, but a lot of these young guys' first opportunity to see the ocean, to get to go out on jet skis and just experience a whole 'nother world, a whole 'nother life they've never been exposed to is just really special. Q. I'm sure it's a little bit different feeling because usually when you get prepared for a game you're somewhere else. It doesn't happen a lot for you guys in Miami. Is the psyche a little bit different knowing that it's here? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think the fact that we've been to a couple different bowl games the past couple years has helped our guys understand a little bit of the bowl routine, but the older guys and the leadership do a great job of getting us into game week, getting us into our game routine. It's Thursday today for us, so I don't know what day it is for the rest of the world, but today is a Thursday and all our guys get that mindset that we're in Thursday practice and we're in our Thursday routine. Q. How are they handling this is work time, this is play time? DAN MULLEN: Well, we put a lot of that on the leadership, and that's a really important part of it all. We make sure there's a lot of time for them to have fun while they're here and enjoy the whole experience, but also to make sure that when it is time to go to work, we're here to win a football game, so we're at work getting the job done, doing what we need to do to be successful. Q. I heard you on a radio spot when you were down here previewing the game and you're clearly a guy who likes to have fun, who likes to enjoy yourself. How do you keep it loose for the team as this game gets closer and closer? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think you do that. I think we set up the whole week for them, for them to be like a game week, but for our guys normally in a game week they have school, they have tutoring, they're going to class, all those things, so I guess we've just replaced all the classroom and tutoring time with going to the beach and having a lot of fun on South Beach and doing a lot of those things. But our guys really understand that balance of the bowl‑‑ we're here as a reward for such a great season, but we're also here to win a football game. We depend on the leadership of the older guys to manage both of those two things. Know what it's time to be locked in, when it's time to completely focus on doing our job football‑wise and when it's time to put our feet up and relax. Q. When you're out recruiting do you try and get that part of your personality out to the guys that it's not going to be all work? DAN MULLEN: We do, but most of our guys come to Mississippi State because they want to be the best they can be. You look at our program, we have 19 guys playing the game that have already earned their undergraduate degrees. We have four or five more guys that will finish with masters degrees this spring. They're there to become the best football players they can be, and our program is based off an awful lot of hard work. A lot of times in recruiting everyone is going to tell you what you want to hear. We don't do that as a program. We tell our guys the reality of what we expect from them and what it's going to take to become a champion in life. I think our players express that. We have a lot of fun, have a great time. We're a family, but also, I mean, we're here to be the best we can be at whatever it is we're doing. Q. Did you hear any cowbells ring out on the beach yesterday? DAN MULLEN: I did not hear that, but I imagine today is when all the Mississippians are starting to head down here to Miami. There's no better place to be. To me in a bowl game, when you pick a bowl game destination, the Orange Bowl is the ultimate destination for you to pick because here you are at New Year's Eve around the country, I don't know what the forecast is in Starkville, but I'm sure it's going to be pretty chilly and not in the 70s and 80s like it is here in Miami. Q. Deshea Townsend is going to call the defensive plays. How did you reach that decision? DAN MULLEN: I think with Tony Hughes already being up in the box, I think that just made the most sense for us, the easiest transition for him to call the game. Q. How has he accepted the assignment? Is he excited? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think he's excited, I'm sure a little bit nervous. I keep going through him with what it takes to call the game, get into the rhythm of calling the game. There's some uniqueness to doing that, calling plays and getting‑‑ just getting yourself in that rhythm of game day and what calling the game is all about. We've talked about that, did some extra things working on that, so he's ready to go. Q. What has it been like preparing for Georgia Tech's style of offense? DAN MULLEN: You know, the one thing that's so unique is a lot of times there's crossovers when you're going against different players. Teams are running inside zone. Some are doing it from the gun, some are doing it with zone reads, some are doing it with zone read option, some are doing it with blocking and two tight ends or three tight ends but it's still all inside zone. When you get to Georgia Tech who runs a very unique scheme with a veer and trap option and the load option and the Belly G option, those are plays that don't have a lot of crossover. Your scout team is learning everything new and learning it like a whole new deal. There's not even a point of reference a lot for them to go do it. For our players, this is how we fit the zone play. When you're running the veer option it's going to fit very, very differently. I think that's the really unique challenge is their offense is such an outlier from everybody else in college football it's hard to prepare for. Q. Are there any individual players you think might excel against something like this? DAN MULLEN: You know, I don't know. I think we're going to see how we do. I think we have a good plan in place, and we're going to have to play hard. We're going to have to play very physical, and we're going to have to do a great job of tackling in the open field. That to me is going to be the challenge for us, is being assignment sound and when you're one‑on‑one with somebody you have to make that tackle. Hopefully all our players excel at that. Q. Were you happy to see the Michigan job get filled? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, happy for them, I guess. It seems like their fans are happy. I don't pay much attention to all that stuff. Everybody thinks that's the biggest focus in the world, like what's going on. It's just a distraction. I never notice any of that stuff. Q. Their defense, they gave up a lot of points this season. North Carolina put up a lot of big numbers. Where do you think there might be an opportunity? DAN MULLEN: Well, the one thing that it is, you look at the differences between the teams, I mean, when they're practicing, they get into their bowl prep and their practices, if they're going good‑on‑good and practicing against their offense, we're a very different style than they are. For the last month they've been going against each other, and like we do, it's that tricky part when you have such distinct contrasts in offense that you have to get adjusted to the speed of the game, speed of the offense out there on the field. Q. Their defense has given up big numbers. DAN MULLEN: Yeah, but that's because they don't‑‑ the last month they've only been going against the triple option. For us that's what we‑‑ we have to take advantage of, the opportunity to‑‑ I mean, as you look against them, teams have a hard time simulating the option. For us, hopefully they're having a very hard time simulating our spread and our style of defense that we play. Q. Assuming you have a scout team that does that? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, we do, our scout team. But they recruit their style of players just like we recruit our style of players. I think that's one of the challenges is getting your scout team to be able to simulate, when you have such varying styles of teams, have a scout team that can simulate those plays because it's so different from what you're used to doing. Q. What are your thoughts on the state of Mississippi this year, two teams in the top 10, the state of Georgia with two top 13 teams. DAN MULLEN: Well, I think probably in a lot of ways it's expected in the state of Georgia historically speaking, but for us in Mississippi it's such a special year. Football is so important to the people in Mississippi, and for them to have the pride, I mean, I look‑‑ even the opportunity that we were ranked No.1 in the country for five weeks this year, for our fan base and people in Mississippi to be able to say we're No.1 for part of the season, I told everybody even for one week it was such a special deal because football is so important in Mississippi. Q. Who's the funniest character on your team? DAN MULLEN: Boy, that's a good question for them. They get after me all the time. Chris Jones is always getting after me for one thing or another. Q. What does he‑‑ DAN MULLEN: Just everything. He's always in my office with something going on or trying to tell me some joke or mess with me. I'd have to go with him.  But the guys on the team will probably give youin the locker room somebody very, very good. Q. Can you talk about what it's like to be in South Florida and your team to be in the Orange Bowl? DAN MULLEN: It's amazing right here. When you look at the opportunity to go to a bowl game, bowls are a reward for such‑‑ you're having a great season. I bet if you asked every single team in the country which bowl game would be the ultimate reward, they're going to say the Orange Bowl because you're down here spending a week in South Florida going to the beach, here in Miami with the weather, the night life, the social scene. There's no better reward for these guys than to come here to Miami. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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