As Florida rolls into Starkville to play No. 23 Mississippi State this Saturday, there is much more significance than the game simply being an SEC West-East crossover matchup. It also signifies the return of Dan Mullen, who served as head coach of the Bulldogs from 2009-2017.

Both teams are 3-1, with that one loss coming against Kentucky. Bulldog fans are certainly looking forward to this one, with an opportunity to take down the coach that left Starkville to take the Florida job, where he served as offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer from 2005-2008.

The trash talk has been flying all week, and the Starkville restaurant where Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead does his weekly radio show, The Veranda, got in on the action, courtesy of Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times.

The restaurant made sure to let customers walking in and folks driving by know they are serving fresh gator meat in preparation for the Florida game.

Joe Moorhead did his show from the restaurant, but reportedly is saving his Gator appetite for the game on Saturday.

The same strategy was applied in Knoxville last week, as a local pizzeria served a pizza with gator meat called the “Gator Hater”. It was also mentioned on the ESPN broadcast that UT dined on gator in its pregrame meal. That obviously did not work for the Vols, who lost 47-21 and turned it over six times.

We will find out on Saturday if Mississippi State enjoys as much gator meat as The Veranda’s customers did this week, when the Bulldogs and Gators kick off at 6pm EST on ESPN.