Two days ago, Dan Mullen fielded a couple questions about the “This Is Our State” marketing campaign more or less establishing Mississippi State’s superiority over Ole Miss following back-to-back Egg Bowl thrashings. Today, Houston Nutt was asked about it at least four times. ANSWER FOR YOUR FAILINGS, REVEREND!
- “You checked recruiting this past season, right? It didn’t affect us.”
- “When coaches make a statement like that, I don’t really worry about it. . . . The Alabamas, the LSUs, Florida, they’ve been holding up those crystal balls. I’ve been to Atlanta twice to experience that wonderful, wonderful feeling [of playing in an SEC championship game]. I feel like I know the road map to get there. So to spend time worrying about something like [billboards] is just a waste of time.”
- “The reason they’re loud right now is they’ve won it the last two years. . . . I do understand the Egg Bowl. I understand how passionate our fans are about that ballgame.”
Nutt even got into the beauty of the Ole Miss campus and how nobody else can compare to it . . . oh, dude, seriously? You’re comparing settings and natural beauty now? Dan Mullen, Starkville’s ambassador to the world, is going to have some choice words about that, pal. Hope you know what you’re getting into here.
Nutt addressed other subjects during his appearance, not the least of which was oversigning: “I’m kind of connected to that,” he admitted. “But if you do the homework, that really only happened one time.” He said he regretted that scholarships had been capped at a hard 25, down from 28, pointing out that some commitments don’t qualify while others just get a wild hair and decide they want to go elsewhere; keeping the numbers right, he said, is “a tremendous juggling act.”
On his QB situation, Nutt said that if they played tonight — “and I’m glad we don’t” — West Virginia transfer Barry Brunetti would start, though “Randall Mackey has come a long way.”
One last thing — on the rigors of playing in a tough division, where every opponent is a ball-buster, Nutt made the odd observation that “LSU always looks beautiful in their uniforms.” ¿Que pasa? “I don’t care who you play in the SEC West, you better buckle up both chinstraps and be ready.” OK, that’s more like it. Thanks, coach.