Dan Mullen earned arguably the biggest win of his Mississippi State tenure since the 2014 season last weekend in the home 37-7 romp over LSU. Now the road gets even tougher with a trip to Athens to take on potentially the most talented defensive team in the SEC.

In what looks like the matchup of the weekend in the SEC, the winner will likely jump into the Top 10 and position itself as a true contender for the league title.

During his appearance on the weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference, Mullen talked about the matchup against UGA. Here’s a summary of what was said during the call:

  • This will be our biggest challenge, hitting the road against a Top 10 opponent. We have to play better than we did last weekend.
  • Any surprises about your team? How hard we are playing. I don’t think we did that well last year. We had to grind to get back to that and they’ve done that this season.
  • What did you do to get them to do that? Making them realize that what we did last season wasn’t good enough. Many guys here were recruited during a great year. We kept emphasizing that it’s going to take work to get back to that level.
  • On the talent gap between UGA and Mississippi State: It tells me they have a ton of talent on their football team.
  • Thoughts on Jake Fromm’s decision-making: He’s used to winning, he has that winning attitude. The coaches do a good job of putting him in a position to be successful. When you deal with QBs, confidence is important.
  • You’ve coached against Kirby Smart at Alabama, do you see the same things at UGA? They have some similarities. They look more comfortable in their second season in that system. They are improved around the board. He did a great job at Alabama and it’s the same at Georgia.
  • On third-down playcalling, how do you keep it so balanced? The ultimate goal is to get a first down. The first thing we do is try to mix it up. The fact that we can run with a back or a QB limits the blitzes the defenses can do. Having the ability and the willingness to run the QB helps, because they have to account for that. I think those things help and we try to make you defend all 11 guys and limit the defense’s ability to rush the passer.