He said we were in games against all of those teams until the fourth quarter (he never said in the same year).<div>
<div><div>Every SEC west team not in the state of Mississippi has, in the past 3 years, either been a national championship winner (Auburn/Alabama), national championship caliber (LSU), or a BCS Bowl participant (Arkansas) and Mississippi State has been in a winnable situation against all of them.</div></div><div>
</div><div>Look at it this way:</div><div>
</div><div>2010 National Champion Auburn - three point loss. 4th quarter drive stopped on downs. We held Auburn to fewer points than anyone that year.</div><div>
</div><div>2011 National Champion Alabama - On paper, it's 24-7, but don't forget that TR threw a TD with 12 minutes left and we only down 10. That's doable in the NFL, but in College Football, with the stopped clock on First Down, being down 10 with 12 minutes left is verywinnable, even against Alabama. The other 7 were garbage points with 1:18 left.</div><div>
</div><div>2011 SEC Champ/NC Runner Up LSU - We were tied with them halfway through the third quarter and down only 3 until the fourth quarter. And, I'll drop in 2009, a down year for LSU no doubt, but if Tyler Lee would have given up on being Pocket-Tebowand just pitched the damn ball to Dixon like he was supposed to, we would have won that game.</div><div>
</div><div>2010 Sugar Bowl Invitee Arkansas - Double Overtime loss... fumble into the endzone and inability to convert in second overtime.</div><div>
</div><div>Realistically, if Mississippi State, as Mullen said, starts making plays in the fourth quarter and starts beating the national championship caliber teams in the West, then it's not hard to make the argument that they deserve to be in the national conversation.</div><div>
</div><div>All Mullen said was that they were getting closer to beating National Championship contenders, which means that they're closer to being National Championship contenders.We're in the toughest division in college football, home of the last three national champions and one runner up. At one point last year, we had teamsin our divisionranked 1, 2, and 3, and 2 of those games were winnable until the fourth quarter. A big fourth quarter play here or there could have changed that.</div><div>
</div><div>I don't think it's far off from what Nick Saban said after the end of the 2010 season, when Alabama finished fourth in the SEC West. I can't find the exact quote, but he said something to the effect that the five best teams in the nation were in his division (Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State).</div><div>
</div><div>I'm not saying Mississippi State is a top five caliber team now, but if Saban's quote is to be taken seriously, by the same logic, wouldn't a top five team be considered worthy of national championship talk?</div><div>
</div><div>Taken out of context, sure, it sounds ridiculous, but look at the whole quote. It's not the wackadoo smalltown coach idiocy it's made out to be.</div> </div>