OTHER PICKSS. Carolina 19, E. Carolina 10Ole Miss 30, UTEP 27Arkansas 42, UL-Monroe 15Kentucky 21, Kent State 16Vandy 28, Northwestern 21Ga. Tech 55, Presbyterian 18Temple 27, Maryland 24Kansas State 26, Miami 23N.C. State 23, UConn 22Virginia 14, Penn State 9Clemson 41, Ball State 20Boston Coll. 36, Maine 6Va. Tech 44, Austin Peay 7UNC 33, Wake Forest 16Stanford 38, Duke 19MTSU 29, Fla. Atlantic 28Notre Dame 35, Purdue 14
Mississippi State has not started a football season 2-0 since 2000, when Jackie Sherrill was coach and quarterback Wayne Madkin and tailback Dicenzo Miller headed the offense.
Auburn has been a roadblock in many of the seasons since, and the Tigers are in the way again as the two SEC West programs vie Saturday in Starkville. An MSU win would give fourth-year coach Dan Mullen his first victory over a West team other than Ole Miss, a fact he hears repeatedly.
“I don’t think about it,” Mullen said Wednesday. “I think the media thinks about it an awful lot, but I never really think about it. I think we’ve beaten some really good teams since I’ve been here, and I know we’ve lost to some really good teams, but I don’t mull over which great teams we’ve beaten and which great teams we’ve lost to.”
Mullen has a 6-3 record against teams from the East, including wins over Georgia and Florida in 2010.