Misconceptions About Mississippi State

Dan Mullen has changed the Bulldogs' offensive culture from run-heavy to a balanced spread.

Thursday, August 29th 2013, 5:33 pm

By: News 9

The Bulldogs are not who you think they are.

Dan Mullen's squad hails from the SEC, but Mississippi State is, offensively, an anomaly in the tradition-rich, snap-and-pitch conference.

Gone are the days of Anthony Dixon, Chris Relf and Vick Ballard and smash mouth football in Starkville. Mullen's spread has arrived. The Bulldogs threw on exactly half of their offensive snaps last year. That was the third highest percentage in the SEC behind Arkansas and Tennessee. It was also well above the conference average of 44 percent passing versus 56 percent rushing.

To put it into perspective, Mullen's teams passed on just 32 percent of plays in 2009 and 2010, his first two seasons at MSU. Then in 2011 the passing-rushing split upped to 40-60, and again to 50-50 in 2012.

So don't expect to see the Bulldogs bring a "three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust" offense onto the field Saturday at Reliant Stadium.

Here's a look at the playcall percentages from each team in the SEC compared to the Big 12.

2012 SEC Offensive Splits 2012 Big 12 Offensive Splits

(percentage pass-rush)

Arkansas 56-44 Texas Tech 60-40

Tennessee 54-46 Oklahoma 57-43

Mississippi St 50-50 West Virginia 54-46

Kentucky 49-51 Iowa St 50-50

Texas A&M 48-52 Oklahoma St 49-51

Missouri 48-52 Texas 45-55

Georgia 43-57 Baylor 44-56

Ole Miss 43-57 TCU 44-56