Dan Mullen assessed his team, praised the fanbase and took a few good-natured potshots at “that other state school.”

All in a day’s work for the Mississippi State football coach.

Mullen and men’s basketball coach Rick Ray were the featured speakers Tuesday at the Vicksburg Convention Center for a stop on the Road Dawgs 2014 Tour.

The coaches mingled with 125 fans and alumni for the lunchtime session, then took to the podium to share stories and give a rundown of their squads.

It was the third of seven stops scheduled this week. The tour continues today in Huntsville, Ala., and Memphis, and concludes Thursday in Philadelphia.

“It’s great. I love coming out to these events and thanking everybody for all the support they’ve given our program,” Mullen said while speaking to the media before Tuesday’s program.

Scheduling was a hot topic for both coaches. Earlier this week, Mississippi State added a home-and-home basketball series with Oregon State to its slate the next two seasons.

On the football field, the subject was the uncertainty of the team’s schedule in the coming years.

New guidelines recently put forth by the Southeastern Conference will require each member school to play at least one team each season from the Pac-12, Big 12 or Big Ten.

Mississippi State played a neutral-site game against Oklahoma State last season. That was the first time it played an opponent from one of the “Big Four” conferences since 2009.

Mullen said past efforts to schedule those teams have met with mixed results.

“We’ve reached out to a lot of people before and haven’t had a lot of feedback. Now we’re going to have to find a way to get that feedback and find a way to go play people,” Mullen said.

The new scheduling guidelines could force Mississippi State to alter its philosophy of playing smaller regional schools. Those games give home attendance a boost while also giving fans an opportunity to easily travel with the team.

Since 2005, Mississippi State has played at least one road game each season against a team from Conference USA, the Sun Belt Conference or Western Athletic Conference.

MSU has a home-and-home series with Southern Miss scheduled for 2014 and 2015, plus road games at South Alabama this season and Louisiana Tech in 2016.

Mississippi State opens the 2014 season at home against Southern Miss.

“We’ve had a philosophy, and playing Southern Miss fell into that philosophy,” Mullen said. “Everywhere I go around the state of Mississippi, people are excited about that game and renewing a rivalry. With the new scheduling, we’ll look to see if that philosophy is going to continue to hold true.”

In addition to the team’s schedule, Mullen also gave a brief rundown of the team he expects to put on the field come August. One of the players he mentioned is Warren Central product Devon Bell, a kicker and punter who endured an up-and-down season in 2013.

Bell had 25 touchbacks on 66 kickoffs and averaged 41.2 yards per punt. He was just 6-for-14 on field goals, however.

Mullen said Bell was removed from placekicking duties this spring to focus on punting and kickoffs. He was pleased with the results.

Bell punted twice in the spring game, for 58 and 34 yards. Both punts landed inside the 20-yard line. There were no kickoffs during the spring game.

“We were asking him to do everything. As a young player, that’s hard to do,” Mullen said. “We’ve really tried to focus him in on punting and kickoffs this spring, and I’ve seen him improving. Instead of trying to be good at everything, let him focus on being great at some things, which is what our plan was when we brought him in.”