---

Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen took a jab at Florida after the Gators hired Bulldogs’ athletic director Scott Stricklin to same position. He also apparently forgot the two programs’ history in the process.

---

Mississippi State is coming off a six-year stretch unmatched in school history, going 50-28 and winning four bowl games. Former quarterback Dak Prescott had a lot to do with that, breaking almost every school record on his way to becoming a Bulldog legend.

Now, it seems, head coach Dan Mullen feels as if he has earned the right to talk trash, even against Florida, who recently hired Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin to the same position.

“We’ve won more games than Florida has the last six years,” Mullen said. “No wonder they want him and people are coming after him.”

Sure, Mullen is correct. Florida is 47-30 over that same time period, but putting his Bulldogs up on the same pedestal as the Gators is not something he has earned, especially after that season-opening loss to South Alabama. It isn’t the first time Mullen has taken a jab at another school way above Mississippi State’s level, as he reminded Michigan this summer about the 2011 Gator Bowl in which the Bulldogs beat the Wolverines. Guess you take your victories when you can.

It is convenient that Mullen omitted the year of 2009, the first season he was in charge in Starkville. While the Bulldogs were going 5-7 in his debut campaign, the Gators, fresh off a national title, went 13-1, losing only to eventual national champion Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

Of course, Mullen is familiar with the success of the Gators. He was Florida’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach from 2005-2008; a time period in which two national titles were brought back to Gainesville.

Mullen now makes $4.8 million a year, and much of that has to do with Stricklin’s willingness to keep him in Starkville (Mullen was not hired by Stricklin). Now, his ally – they were both quick to throw the university under the bus when it came to allowing Jeffrey Simmons to enroll and be on the team – is gone and is at greener pastures. Though if one were to ask Mullen, he’d likely trot out the same contrived argument regarding Stricklin that he did when defensive coordinator Geoff Collins was hired away from Mississippi State to Florida – that it’s a lateral move.

Mississippi State has yet to win the SEC West despite all the success since Mullen arrived, while the Gators have made the SEC Championship game twice during that timespan. If Mullen ever gets the Bulldogs to that point, maybe Florida will be nice enough to send him directions to Atlanta.

MORE: 1-128 College Football Rankings – Week 5