Dan Mullen did something crazy in Starkville. I mean, something so bizarre that even my buddy Jase — the fan version of Switzerland due to his remarkable talent of staying neutral in arguments involving Mississippi State — has jumped the fence to agree with me.

Mullen has created expectations.

Mississippi State fans are tired of their sixth-year head coach not being able to make the jump from good to great.

Mullen won seven games last season in the toughest conference in college football, and there was a time in the not-so-distant past when the MSU faithful I know would have sacrificed Bully on top of a Jackie Sherrill statue on Halloween to win seven games. Now they are chirping for more, and I honestly can’t say I blame them.

MSU has become a team that is seriously considered a dark horse contender for the SEC West depending on which side of the aisle you sit on in church. On the left you have Ole Miss, with its trendy offense and Land Shark sign and Baptist revival head coach. Ask anybody in a bow tie and it’s the Rebels who will compete with LSU and Alabama for that top spot.

On the right is Mississippi State, the workmanlike buzzsaw that can ram it down your throat with its dual-threat quarterback or its hard-hitting defense littered with future NFL talent. The boys in boots believe their Bulldogs have what it takes to make a run.

These two sides might come together to form one awkward church service, but it’s Mississippi State that must prove it has enough for the offering plate this year.

In Mullen’s six years in Starkville, he’s never beaten LSU — or any true SEC West contender for that matter. The former Florida offensive coordinator is 0-10 versus the top two teams in the West in any given year and has yet to truly snag that big, program-boosting victory that Ole Miss was able to secure at home against LSU last season.

Mississippi State’s best season under Mullen was 2010, when the Bulldogs cruised to a 9-4 record and a New Year’s Day whitewash of Michigan in the Gator Bowl. But even in a nine-win season, MSU’s best pelt on the wall was an 8-5 Florida sandwiched between victories over UAB and Houston. It was a season to remember, but also one that has set the bar exceptionally high for a program that lost to Maine at home just 10 years ago.

So now Mullen must limbo over his new bar with a team that looks poised to give the same Tigers that have eluded them for so long a shot at a loss. Mississippi State fell to LSU at home 59-27 last season, but the fervor for something greater still permeates throughout the Drill Field in Starkville.

The Bulldogs want to get over the hump, and we’re not talking about the one on campus.

Dan Mullen did something crazy in Starkville. And now he’s got to do something even crazier.

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Cory Gunkel is a reporter. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, Ext. 178, or by email at cory.gunkel@vicksburgpost.com