Comparing Mississippi State and Clemson

[wtw2400]

A lot of people seem to be down on Mullen for whatever reason. It all seems to stem to losing 2 egg bowls in a row. From 2009-2013 Clemson lost 5 games in a row to South Carolina and look where the 2 programs are now. I will compare the two programs Mississippi State and Clemson to show how an instate rivalry is not the the thing to judge in a head coach.

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches[SUP]#[/SUP]	AP[SUP]°[/SUP]
Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) <small>(2008–present)</small>
2008	Clemson	4–3[SUP][A 1][/SUP]	3–2	T–3rd <small>(Atlantic)</small>	L Gator
2009	Clemson	9–5	6–2	1st <small>(Atlantic)</small>	W Music City		24
2010	Clemson	6–7	4–4	T–4th <small>(Atlantic)</small>	L Meineke Car Care
2011	Clemson	10–4	6–2	1st <small>(Atlantic)</small>	L Orange[SUP]†[/SUP]	22	22
2012	Clemson	11–2	7–1	T–1st <small>(Atlantic)</small>	W Chick-fil-A	9	11
2013	Clemson	11–2	7–1	2nd <small>(Atlantic)</small>	W Orange[SUP]†[/SUP]	7	8
2014	Clemson	10–3	6–2	2nd <small>(Atlantic)</small>	W Russell Athletic	15	15
2015	Clemson	14–0	8–0	1st <small>(Atlantic)</small>	W Orange[SUP]†[/SUP], CFP NCG[SUP]†[/SUP]
Clemson:	75–26	48–14
Total:	75–26
<small> National championship Conference title Conference division title</small>
<small>[SUP]†[/SUP]Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. [SUP]#[/SUP]Rankings from final Coaches Poll. [SUP]°[/SUP]Rankings from final AP Poll.</small>Jump up

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Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches[SUP]#[/SUP]	AP[SUP]°[/SUP]
Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference) <small>(2009–present)</small>
2009	Mississippi State	5–7	3–5	T–4th <small>(Western)</small>
2010	Mississippi State	9–4	4–4	5th <small>(Western)</small>	W Gator	17	15
2011	Mississippi State	7–6	2–6	5th <small>(Western)</small>	W Music City
2012	Mississippi State	8–5	4–4	4th <small>(Western)</small>	L Gator
2013	Mississippi State	7–6	3–5	T–5th <small>(Western)</small>	W Liberty
2014	Mississippi State	10–3	6–2	2nd <small>(Western)</small>	L Orange[SUP]†[/SUP]	12	11
2015	Mississippi State	9–4	4–4	5th <small>(Western)</small>	W Belk
2016	Mississippi State	0–0	0–0
Mississippi State:	55–35	26–30
Total:	55–35
<small> National championship Conference title Conference division title</small>
<small>[SUP]†[/SUP]Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. [SUP]#[/SUP]Rankings from final Coaches Poll. [SUP]°[/SUP]Rankings from final AP Poll.</small>

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Looking back at Clemson you can compare Florida State to Alabama as the program to beat in the ACC. Now granted Clemson is in a division with NC State Wake Forest Syracuse Boston College (Maryland or Louisville) and Florida State. Louisville is about the only other team in the division that poses a threat to Clemson where Mississippi State has 6 other teams so winning this division does not impress me. Virginia Tech is like the Georgia or Florida of the East where they and Georgia Tech are in the Title Game a lot. Clemson defeated Virginia Tech in 2011 to win the first of their 2 conference titles. A lot of Clemson fans wanted Dabo out after the 2011 Orange Bowl which is the same year they won the conference. The reason being they got embarrassed by West Virginia and he has not been able to beat South Carolina. His saving grace seems to be that he is able to beat every other team in his schedule consistently besides Florida State and South Carolina. However unlike Mullen Dabo had been able to defeat Florida State when they are both at the top but he has also lost to them badly. Mullen in 2014 was finally able to defeat LSU and was able to defeat Texas A&M for the first time in his career and those wins help Mullen a lot. I find being able to beat Arkansas since 2011 very helpful and being able to compete with Auburn helps.

Dabo is 3-5 against Florida State and 3-5 against South Carolina. Mullen is 0-7 against Alabama and 4-3 against Ole Miss.

So here is my question. If Mullen was able to beat Alabama on a somewhat fair basis like Dabo is able to do at Clemson by beating Florida State would we be in the same despair right now as we seem to be?

 

[CoastDawg18]

Clearly if we had beaten Bama a time or two over the past two years it would have been a big step for our program. Our games with them had conference and national implications. I don't think doing that would have put us where Clemson is right now though. Clemson's path is a lot easier than ours and their rival isn't in their conference so a loss to them doesn't really derail their season.

 

[Spiderman.sixpack]

Dang, doesn't seem that Dabo has been at Clemson longer than Mullen here.

 

[RocketDawg]

I've always thought beating Alabama was more desirable than beating the Bears, given one or the other. Now that the Bears have gotten somewhat better, beating them has become more important. It has little to do with being an instate rival in my mind, but I don't live in Mississippi either.

 

[BiscuitEater]

Thanks, good comparison ..

So here is my question. If Mullen was able to beat Alabama on a somewhat fair basis like Dabo is able to do at Clemson by beating Florida State would we be in the same despair right now as we seem to be?

and I do appreciate the 'team to team' comparison but do have a couple of issues with your question and comparison. Comparing Clemson-FSU with MSU-Bama is a fallacious argument. No other team has come close to dominance of Bama in CFB since 2009. They have won 5 West Divisions, 4 SEC Championships, 3 NCs with better than 50% chance at a 4th. They have been in the final hunt for 5 NCs including this year.

Even the year they didn't win the SEC, they won the NC!

Yes, FSU has won a couple of ACC championships and they had to beat Duke before they beat Auburn for the NC BUT they are no Bama and the Atlantic Div of the ACC is no SEC West.

 

[57stratdawg]

Clemson seems more like Auburn than MSU to me. A program that probably should have been better and a fan base than has now gone "all in".

 

[patdog]

Clemson's been "all in" for lot longer than the term "all in" has even come into use. Just like Auburn has. Very good comparison.

 

[aTotal360]

Exactly. The biggest difference I can see between us and Clemson is the fact we have a coach that doesn't want to get his hands too dirty. Dabo doesn't mind it at all.

 

[Shamoan]

well, when dabo leaves for bama whenever saban steps down, they wont skip a beat after they hire mullen.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Turf grass programs are neck and neck