Seasons like this year’s 10-win campaign don’t happen often for Mississippi State. That’s been well documented.

But this season was so much more than just a flash in the pan for the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State built toward this season through most of Dan Mullen’s stay in Starkville, and when the perfect combination of talent and experience came to be in the form of this year’s senior class, MSU capitalized on the opportunity.

The Bulldogs will bid farewell to 18 seniors now that the book is closed on their 2014 season, 10 of which were starters this year. That number doesn’t even include the team’s six fourth-year redshirt juniors, a group that features players like Benardrick McKinney, Dak Prescott and Josh Robinson.

Many of those starting seniors were unheralded coming out of high school. Star wideout Jameon Lewis was considered a three-star prospect; offensive linemen Dillon Day and Blaine Clausell were both two-stars recruits, and Ben Beckwith wasn’t even given a rating by 247Sports.

But Mullen thrived in developing the players most other programs in the conference cast aside. He was patient in his approach, allowing many of this year’s seniors to redshirt along the way. He has a knack for finding playing time for reserves throughout the season, ensuring they all have a taste of live game experience in case called upon.

Few of the starting seniors on this year’s team were first-time starters, and that returning experience is the reason some considered MSU a dark horse candidate to win 10 games. That obviously came to fruition.

Mullen and his staff entered this season with complete confidence in their veteran group, and that trust led Mullen to avoid his past big-game blunders when MSU ran off three straight wins against top 10 opponents back in September.

That trust is a two-way street, however. This year’s seniors bought into what Mullen was selling them, and put in the work over the course of four, sometimes five years to get to where they got this season.

None of them was deterred by a redshirt season filled with gritty practices and uneventful game days. None of them was handed a major role without proving his worth first.

And when the time came to cash in on that hard work, the Bulldogs did so in resounding fashion. None of this year’s key seniors fell short of expectations, and if anything they exceeded expectations across the board.

Not every senior was a starter this year and not every senior underwent a similar rags-to-riches transformation. That is the case in every senior class throughout college football.

But the number of senior successes on this year’s Mississippi State team is astounding. Day, Beckwith and Clausell helped pave the way for the SEC’s No. 3 rushing attack. Lewis overcame injuries and the tragic death of his brother to record nearly 400 receiving yards and yet another passing touchdown to boot.

Preston Smith won the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week honor for three consecutive weeks, marking the first time that had ever been done. Malcolm Johnson was fourth among SEC tight ends in yards and second in touchdowns. Jamerson Love finished in the top 10 in the SEC in passes defended. Even Kaleb Eulls, a role player on this year’s defense, earned a Senior Bowl invite.

Mullen deserves plenty of credit for all those successes, but so do those players. Their work ethic and once-hidden talents blossomed into not only memorable seasons in their respective careers, but an unforgettable season in their alma mater’s history.

The departing seniors will leave behind a record of 32-20, a bowl record of 2-2 and an Egg Bowl record of 2-2. But their legacies will be defined by the 2014 season, the culmination of years of unrecognized hard work with a season for the Mississippi State record books.

This season was Dan Mullen’s resurgence. It was Dakman and Robinson and the Psycho defense. But most of all it was the year of the seniors.