Division Western Division AP No. 11 | Coaches No. 12 2014 record 10–3 (6–2 SEC) | |
Conference | ||
The 2014 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team represented Mississippi State University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Dan Mullen, who was in his sixth season with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played their home games at the newly expanded and renovated Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi and competed in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
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The 2014 season was one of the most successful seasons in Mississippi State's 110-year football history. In mid-October, they shot to #1 in the polls for the first time in school history, and the highest that any FBS team in Mississippi had been ranked at that late date in the season in half a century. They ultimately finished 10–3, the second 10-win regular season in school history. They netted a berth in the Orange Bowl, the second major-bowl appearance in school history, where they were defeated by Georgia Tech.
Previous season
The 2013 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team finished 7–6, defeating Rice in the Liberty Bowl. The Bulldogs' conference victories included a narrow win over Kentucky, an overtime road win at Arkansas, and an overtime thriller over rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.
It was the Bulldogs' fourth straight bowl season, the first time in school history a team had accomplished this feat. The 2013 Bulldogs averaged 434 yards per game on offensive, the highest output in school history.
Departing players
Key losses for the Bulldogs included:
Preseason prognostication
The Bulldogs were picked to finish 5th in the SEC West by a vote of 229 media writers at the 2014 SEC Media Days, while Athlon Sports and NBC Sports both picked the Bulldogs to come in sixth.
Schedule
Schedule Source:Southern Miss
*Mississippi State won the games on the field in 1975 and 1976, but were later forced to forfeit the games by the NCAA due to an NCAA rules violation in which offensive lineman Larry Gillard received a 33 percent discount at an Okolona, Mississippi clothing store.
Rankings
Following MSU's win over Auburn, the team was ranked Number 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in the program's history. That also marked "the fastest [rise to the top] in AP Top 25 history." The previous mark was six weeks by Ohio State in 1954. The Bulldogs also became the first ever team to be ranked number 1 in the newly created College Football Playoff Poll when the initial poll was released on October 28, 2014.