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CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: MISSISSIPPI STATE v GEORGIA TECHDecember 30, 2014Dan MullenMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Coach, one day left before the Capital One Orange Bowl. What is left for your team to do in preparation? DAN MULLEN: Well, it's Friday today, which for us, I couldn't tell you what day of the week it is, but it's Friday today. You know, we're into our Friday routine. We're going to do all the activities, festivities we have today during the day, but at 2:30 we lock it in like we normally would on any other Friday, get into kicking meetings. Our offense, defense meetings, our walk‑through, our specialty walk‑through, then we‑‑ Friday night pregame meal are the best Fridays in football. We have our pregame meal, movies, they'll watch games tonight, get a little bed check, and then our regular Saturday routine tomorrow. Q. I know you've talked in the past about each season has a shelf life, but with this one coming to an end, how special it was, does it make it any more difficult or is there more reflection on this one than other ones? DAN MULLEN: You know, I think just for us, this team will be laid to rest tomorrow night at midnight, right as we're ringing in the new year. I think in everybody's memory, I think this is a special year for everybody, a special group of young men. I think they've really raised and set a new standard for us. I think as our guys, this is the last opportunity for our guys ever to play together, last opportunity for this team to ever play together. I think they know that and they're going to enjoy it and enjoy one last time out there on the field. Q. You've played against Georgia Tech in 2008 and 2009, and in 2008 Josh Nesbitt was the quarterback and they had a bunch of running yards. I think over 400. And the following year Nesbitt passed the ball 400 yards and Demaryius Thomas had a huge game. What differences do you notice in Tech's offense from five years ago, specifically in the quarterback Nesbitt and Justin Thomas? DAN MULLEN: Well, I wasn't there in 2008, so I didn't‑‑ I wasn't involved in that game. But in 2009 I was there. You know, it was kind of a funny game, we ran option up and down the field. They couldn't stop us and they threw the ball all over us with Demaryius Thomas. It was kind of one of those days, I think we ran for over 300 yards and shut down their running game. We didn't throw the ball very well, and they threw it all over the field on us, so it was kind of an interesting deal. Both teams, I think very, very different. Back then Paul had been there for a little while, established his program. I think we've kind of caught up to that level now. You look at both teams, very different from that game, but when you look at their roster, what they're able to do, he's got guys in there that run the system very, very well. They have a play‑making quarterback to me that's dangerous, not just running the option, obviously, which is what he needs to be able to do, but also extending plays and making those outside‑the‑box plays when it all breaks down being able to make something else happen outside of the framework of the play, makes them a pretty difficult team to stop. Q. It's always ideal to get off to a fast start, but is that even more so against a Georgia Tech team who's kind of predicated on getting up early and doesn't give you a lot of possessions? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think it is, and part of it is, like you say, you don't get too many possessions against them. So if you get off to a slow start, you only are going to have a couple opportunities to even score points. So for us you've got to start fast. You really want to start fast both sides of the ball, especially in a bowl game, because we haven't played for over a month. The confidence that comes with that, if you can get off to a fast start, execute on offense, defense, and the kicking game early, I think that builds the confidence in the players. They get right back into their game mode, right into their routine, and that's what you want to be able to do. Q. Does this game remind you of the Arkansas game or can you pull anything from that? DAN MULLEN: The‑‑ I don't know. Not really. I mean, except for the fact that I think Arkansas is an excellent football team and Georgia Tech is an excellent football team. That's about the only similarities for me. Q. With this bowl game, is there maybe any other bowl game that this reminds you of in terms of preparation, kind of what it means to your program, anything similar? Or is this kind of a different animal altogether? DAN MULLEN: A lot of it to me, I think it's getting into some new territory, you know, goes back to the first bowl game I had here at Mississippi State, we played Michigan in Jacksonville in the Gator Bowl, and I think when you look at that, that was the first New Year's Day bowl game in a long time for the program and for the university and kind of had a special feel to it. Obviously we haven't been in the Orange Bowl since 1941, so I think it kind of does feel as another first, a new step, a new standard set within the program, so it really does have that feeling that we've set a different standard again as we did a couple years ago at that other game, that we've set that standard very, very high for the program and for the future of what we can accomplish. Q. So many questions I guess you get are about Tech's offense, but looking at the other side, who jumps off the film on you on Tech's defensive side? DAN MULLEN: You know, their corners to me are great playmakers out there on the edge and allow them a lot of flexibility to help stop the run with everybody else because they can lock you down, they can play man coverage, and then their opportunity, their play‑making opportunity that they get with creating tight windows for quarterbacks to throw in, causing interceptions, and I think there's only one other team in the country that's scored more defensive touchdowns than they have this year. That's what makes it really a huge challenge. I know their offense is pretty daunting, but they don't need a lot of help, but their defense certainly gives it to them. Those are things that you spend so much time worrying about containing the offense that all of a sudden they get a defensive touchdown or they create an interception or a turnover and take a possession away from you, you have so few to start with, and their corners to me set that tone. Q. You're three‑plus weeks now since getting this match‑up. How much closer are you to being able to figure out how to defend the triple option than you were then? DAN MULLEN: I think you just spend a lot of time, you research it. For us you've just got to try to be sound, put your guys in a position, be disciplined every single play, making sure you're taking away the fullback, quarterback and pitch player, and then the bigger challenge on that is defeating the cut blocks, getting off the blocks and tackling in the open field, which is hard to simulate their speed at how fast they execute that offense. You know, I think we've worked to put a plan together, and now we've got to go execute it at a high level. Q. Along the same lines, was there one game you watched, maybe Florida State, that might approximate your speed on defense to what you saw on film? DAN MULLEN: You know, it's hard to say because we don't cross over a lot against those teams. That's one of the neat things at bowl games and challenging is you don't really know how it's going to play out because of so few crossovers. I guess Georgia, they played Georgia in the SEC, which you look at we didn't get to play Georgia so you don't really know what type of team Georgia has this year from our end of it. But you get to look at that game and see how they handled that, a team that's within our conference. Q. As far as Paul goes, he seems like a low‑key yet also somewhat intense and serious guy, personality. Outside of football, what's your impression of him? I heard you knew him a little bit from Reynolds' lake house. DAN MULLEN: Well, my impression of him is you don't want to get on the golf course with him in any sort of competitive fashion because he's certainly going to have an edge over you that way, and don't let him tell you he's even a 3 or 4 handicap. He's a scratch, I think. You know what, Paul is‑‑ I think Paul, every time I've met with him, talked with him, any time we have interaction with him, just a first‑class individual. He's serious about football, loves what he does, very passionate about the game, extremely knowledge, so he's a great guy to talk about football, but also somebody that, you know what, can go out and do other things and have fun. I think a lot of people look at all of us sometimes as coaches and think, boy, they just always have that scowl on their face. We actually‑‑ if you put us away in some little quiet area, I have my little escape up there at Reynolds Plantation and I'm escaping up there to the lake, you'll see me with a big smile on my face and relaxed and not that scowl that you see on the sidelines on TV all the time. Q. What about him, also? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, because he's usually cleaning up on the golf course out there and whipping up on everybody, so he always has a big smile on his face. I've got to get him out there water skiing and surfing and see how he does on the boat. Q. Is he pretty methodical? He pretty much does the same thing. Is he pretty predictable to coach against? Do they throw in some wrinkles? DAN MULLEN: I think they do. The one challenge is he's so versed within his offense, so when you look at somebody that started from the beginning within that offense, you have the answers. A lot of times people learn the offense or you have the play‑‑ you can go get the playbook and try to teach an offense off the playbook, but you might not have the answer to every question, you know the what to do and you might know how to do it but you don't know why you're always doing it. He has the answers for the whys. Even though you know what they're going to do, how they're doing it, he understands all the whys, so every time you make an adjustment, he has an adjustment for your adjustment, because he‑‑ and any time you get in and put an offense together right from the beginning, you've kind of gone through the growing pains and see, hey, why do you want to run this play against this specific defense or blitz. A lot of guys just look at the playbook. They don't know he's been through it. Well, because back in 1998 when we faced this defense, they stopped this play, so we want to go to this, which defeats that defense. When you have that much experience within your offensive scheme, it's a lot easier to make adjustments. Q. How does playing in the SEC West division help you prepare for a team like Georgia Tech? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think, you know, obviously they're one of the top teams in the country. I think the one big thing you have for our guys, we play in big games every single week within the SEC West. You're playing against top‑‑ I think we played four top‑10 teams already this year. We've played five top‑25 teams on the schedule. I think just the experience of playing in big games and big stages against the top teams in the country week in and week out on that side of the league certainly helps you when you get into the bowl season. When you're playing‑‑ everybody that is playing here at this level of a bowl game is one of the premier teams in the country, and so the fact that we've been able to play those games before certainly helps getting on this stage. Q. For a lot of the players that really helped turn Mississippi State around and helped them succeed, it could be their final game with you. Have you thought about what you might say to them, and if so what will you say to them before the game tomorrow? DAN MULLEN: Well, we're going to tell them, this is it. This is one last time that this group, this team gets to go take the field. They've done so much for the program, have had such a special year, and we'd love to finish it out the right way. I want to tell those guys, after the game, we'll talk, every one of the seniors will get to get up and say their goodbye in the locker room. But I think they've done so much not just for our football program but for our university and for the state of Mississippi. You know, first time, and we've been playing football for over 100 years, we've never been ranked No.1 before. Now Bulldog fans can say we've done that. In 50 years only 27 teams have ever been ranked No.1 in an AP Poll for even one week, and we're one of those 27 teams in the last 50 years. There won't be any new ones this year. All four teams in the top four have already done that. You know, I think they've done so much for our university that we're just proud of all of that. One of the things I'm even more proud of is almost every one of those guys you've named has already earned their degree. They're actually alums of the university as well as great football players, and I think that's very special, and just proud of what they've accomplished and set the university for up in the future and the foundation they've built for success in their own personal futures. Q. Coaches like to‑‑ they find an offense that they're comfortable with, that they like to coach, and they'll coach any offense, but they find some set that they really like. It seems to me you've got the right skill people and the right pieces in this offense for the same type of offense that you coached when you were at Florida and so successful. It seems to have really clicked for you now because you've got the right pieces. You've got the quarterback who can do the run and use his legs and throw it, you've got a good running back, you've got good receivers. You have all the right pieces. Has that made it a little easier for you this year trying to put it together? DAN MULLEN: Absolutely. As you said, there is not‑‑ if there was a perfect offense, everybody would run the exact same offense. You know, more importantly, people believe in their offense. I believe in the offense that we run. I mean, whatever you want to call it, a spread or a spread option or whatever nickname. Paul is running the‑‑ it's really not the wishbone anymore, the double slot, triple option, and you look at the two teams, I think you have two programs that really believe in their systems, you know, believe in what they do. I think for us, we've came in and we've built the program. We build it around the players that we can get and we've started to get a lot of players in position for us to run the scheme that we want to run. We have tough one‑on‑one match‑ups across the board. We have a quarterback that can beat you with his arm and his leg, a running back that can beat you running or catching and then on the outside on the perimeter we have guys that either can jump over you and make plays and are tough to beat you one‑on‑one or they're hard to tackle in the open field one‑on‑one, so we can try to create advantageous match‑ups. Q. You came to the state of Mississippi obviously coming in as an outsider. I'm curious how have you found just the place and people of Mississippi? DAN MULLEN: You know what, growing up in the northeast, it is‑‑ I am so happy to be raising my family there. The family values of the people in Mississippi are unbelievable. I know my wife and I, it's the best place we've ever lived, in Starkville, because the sense of community that's there, the family values, how people are raised, is just unbelievable. I mean, it's the favorite place we've ever lived, and I'm happy to be raising my kids there. I mean, I'm just grateful everybody in Mississippi has embraced me, or at least half the state anyway, has embraced me, you know, and my family with open arms. Both my kids are born in Starkville, my wife and I. It is such a great sense of community, great people right there to be around all the time, and we love it there. We love it there. It's a great place. Q. You've got a lot of veteran defensive coaches on the other side of the ball. What made you go with a first‑year guy like Deshea Townsend to call plays on the defense at this bowl game? DAN MULLEN: Well, one, you're going to see, Deshea is going to be a great up‑and‑coming great coach. He's going to be a coordinator within the next couple of years, if not a head coach one day. You see that opportunity that he has. I think it also was the easiest transition for us on that side of the ball, to have him be the one calling the plays for us. It just kind of worked out that way for us that that was going to be the easiest thing for us to do within the program, and my first time, my first game where I was completely responsible for calling all the plays was the 2004 Fiesta Bowl at the University of Utah. Hopefully‑‑ I had some success that day, so hopefully Deshea kind of has success and maybe it'll leap him into the future, I guess, that I've been able to have. Q. Earlier you talked about all the milestones, AP No.1, some of the wins you've had, but for you looking back what would you say has been the most rewarding part of this season, something that when you look back at it five years from now or 40 years from now you can say this is what stood out for me? DAN MULLEN: I mean, it sounds weird. I would guess our team GPA being a 2.76, which shattered the all‑time school record, and having all but two of our seniors, the two that did not redshirt, and both have one online class to take this spring graduating. That to me is the most rewarding thing, because within our program we're trying to build young men to be champions, not just champions on the field, to be champions in life. I know our guys, we're going to get everything they are going to give in football. They love football. We want guys that love football in our program and they love it. So I don't always worry about that. I want them to understand, though, there's more to life than that and the foundation that they've built for them to become successful for the rest of their lives is the thing that I'm most proud of. Q. You brought up the signing day class of '10 and '11 before, when you look, when did you know that they would be special, not that they could be special but that they actually were special players? DAN MULLEN: It's hard to say. You know what, my wife usually gets a judge‑‑ we have like a freshman pool party at my house in the middle of July when they're all really homesick and they've been running sprints and sad and miserable, and we have them all over and have a big pool party at the house. You can kind of tell the personalities of the guys and how they're going to fit and how they're going to do. You look at these guys that are here, we thought‑‑ that's her guess, and she'd tell you that's when I knew. I just think you just saw it with the development of those guys. We're not always perfect in our recruiting. There's some of the guys in those classes that haven't panned out maybe the way other people have seen, and a lot have, though, but I think you just saw it in their development and the unselfish play. The guys that are seniors this year, they were recruited after we finished 15th in the country and won the Gator Bowl. That was their signing class. The fifth‑year seniors, that was their year that they were redshirting. Everybody in our program, that's what they know. That's what the standard is. They expect to go to bowl games, they expect to do this, and they wanted to take it to a whole other level before they left, which I think they have. Q. What do you think the impact of this game will be Wednesday night on how this team is perceived, whether it's going to be an 11‑win team with a chance of cracking the top five or a team that got 10 wins but lost three of their last four? DAN MULLEN: I don't know. I don't deal in perception, I deal in reality. You guys can perceive this team however you see fit because you guys are the ones that deal in all the perceptions. We'll either be 11‑2 or we'll be 10‑3. We still would have the highest GPA in school history. We still have every one of our seniors graduating. We still set multiple, a lot of school records and a new standard within the program. That's our reality, and you know what, the next day I'm going to wake up after the game and try to make sure our 2015 team has a higher GPA, has even more college graduates and has an even better record next year. That's my reality. You guys can perceive us how you see fit. Q. In terms of the way Georgia Tech plays, is there a bigger down in this game than 3rd down? I know 3rd down is always big. DAN MULLEN: Well, 3rd down is huge. To me it's 1st down is the down when you're going to play Georgia Tech because they're the most successful 3rd‑down team in the country. They're the most successful 3rd‑down team in the country because they have a lot of 3rd‑down‑and‑shorts because they do a great job of putting themselves in 3rd‑down‑and‑short situations where they have their whole offense open. When you do look at their success on 3rd down, I think their quarterback has a lot to do with that, some 3rd‑and‑long extending and making some plays, even outside the framework of their offense. I think if you're going to see teams that have success against Georgia Tech, you're going to see teams that are very successful on 1st‑down defense. Q. The reason I asked the question was they possessed the ball so much that you can't get them off the field. DAN MULLEN: Yeah. Q. That's why I think first or 3rd down. DAN MULLEN: But they're going to go for it on 4th down, too, so you have to know your situation. 3rd down for them, basically they get two 2nd downs. You've got to be successful on 1st down, because it gets them out of their flow. If you can get them in 2nd‑down‑and‑10 or you get them in any 2nd‑down‑and‑10‑plus situation, their three yards of play is not going to work anymore at that point. 2nd and 10, they're not going to get it. Any time when you're playing them where they're in a situation to get three yards, that's the situation they want to be in, and when you can prevent them from getting three yards on a given play, you've got a good chance of getting off the field. Q. You mentioned the movies. I'm curious what you're showing tonight. DAN MULLEN: I didn't find out. Jon Clark hasn't told me yet what the movie is tonight. I think the Louisville‑Georgia game is on tonight, so that'll be on in one room. The O‑line usually has a pretty mean game of Monopoly going. They had a game of Life one week, and there will be a lot of dominos and they play some cards and stuff when you get in there with the guys. But everybody gets in their routine. Some go to the movie. He didn't let me know what tonight's movie was going to be. Usually it's some sort of action movie, so whatever DVD action‑filled new release will be there usually an Avengers or something like that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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