Mullen expresses thanks to record crowd

photo Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen holds his daughter Breelyn as he celebrates the team's 38-23 win over No. 2 Auburn in their game in Starkville, Miss., Saturday, Oct 11, 2014.

STARKVILLE, Miss. - It was cowbell heaven.

Mississippi State's 38-23 win over Auburn on Saturday took place before the largest on-campus crowd in state history. The record audience of 62,945 at Davis Wade Stadium was boisterous from the start, and Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen was quick to thank the fans afterward.

"That was a great team win by our guys but more importantly a great team win by our university," he said. "When we got here six years ago, we told the fans that if they showed up, we would build a winning program. They certainly did that with a record crowd today and an electric atmosphere and a student body that was out of control.

"Our fans deserve as much credit for the win as the guys on the team."

Saturday's matchup between the No. 2 Tigers and No. 3 Bulldogs marked the first pairing of top-three teams in Magnolia State history, and a 21-0 first-quarter outburst by the Bulldogs kept their thrilled faithful screaming and shaking their beloved cowbells.

"That was huge," Mullen said of the noise level early in the game. "This is the Southeastern Conference, and when you play on the road it is so hard to win. Home-field advantage is so important, and we wanted to build that here. I don't know if Mississippi State has had that in the past. It used to be that 50,000 was a big crowd, and now we had over 62,000.

"You can't underestimate how important all those people are. This is an intimidating place to come play in."

Fake gone bad

The Bulldogs were up by three touchdowns late in the first quarter when Mullen elected to fake a punt with his Bulldogs facing a fourth-and-2 at their 28-yard line.

Punter Logan Cooke rolled left as if a rugby-style kick was coming but then threw down the field, only to have his pass intercepted by Jonathan "Rudy" Ford. Auburn turned that miscue into points when a Daniel Carlson field goal got the Tigers on the board at 21-3.

"I should have called it right off the bat even though it was forever, because they were not aligned right," Mullen said. "We had practiced that and had planned it even if they were in their safe defense. We didn't come to keep it close. We came here to win.

"As a head coach, you've got to keep yourself aggressive."

If memory serves

Mississippi State ended Auburn's streak of 13 consecutive regular-season victories dating back to last September. The last such loss for the Tigers was a 35-21 setback at LSU.

"We had a setback similar to this last year," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "They are disappointed, and they should be. They are great competitors.

"They will be committed on getting better, and that will be our focus."

Tiger tales

Auburn committed four turnovers, the most by the Tigers under Malzahn. ... Quarterback Nick Marshall notched his eighth career 200-yard passing game (209) and his eighth 100-yard rushing game (100). ... Auburn had gone 40 straight years without allowing a quarterback to throw for 200 yards and rush for 100 but has allowed that to Mississippi State's Dak Prescott each of the past two seasons.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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