Understandably there probably isn't tangible, quantifiable data that would provide us with solid evidence that a "mention" in this medium will make some sort of incredible publicity- however, for those kids that are watching this game with MSU being a possible school for them to play for, the "mention" that this guy whose team is skull dragging this Oklahoma defense has to matter in some way.
Let me break this down. You are saying that although there is not shred of evidence of any kind, you are going to simply believe that it will "matter in some way." This is why the frickin' jury system sucks and all legal matters should be solved with trial by combat or some other **** that best represents the chaos in the universe. Go ahead and believe it.
On the other hand, you
...refuse to believe that Dan Mullen being connected with Mississippi State University in front of 20 million or so viewers (with some of them being prospective players) could be a bad thing or produce negative results for MSU.
Allow me to dispense several ways it could produce negative results.
1. Florida has another inexplicably poor performance. While I don't expect it to happen, stranger things have happened.
2. If the announcers keep referring to it as Meyer's offense and say things like, "Everybody know Meyer has the last word," or "With Addazio, Meyer gets a guy as good as Mullen, this offense will never miss a beat," or my personal favorite, "With Tim Tebow on the field, you don't even need an offensive coordinator."
3. The announcers mention the Ole Miss defeat more than they mention Mullen.
4. The announcers mention HDN's interview on ESPN that gives the three keys to beating Florida.
5. The announcers inevitably interpolate Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
6. The announcers start sucking on Sly Croom's johnson and talk about how he was doing it the right way, but was not given time to finish the job.
7. The announcers decide that since Kevin Wilson is at the game they will mention that he was considered for the MSU position, but decided to wait on something better after winning the Broyles Award and the FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year Award.
8. The announcers start talking about Nutt being SEC Co-Coach of the Year.
I could go on, but you get my drift.