Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen has refused to call Ole Miss by its proper name. He won't even call it Mississippi, a la Jackie Sherrill. He has consistently used the term "The school up north," and turns out, there's a history behind him doing that.
After today's practice, Mullen was asked when and why he decided to refer to Ole Miss that way. When at Bowling Green, he referred to rival Toledo as "the school up north." When at Utah, BYU was "the school down south." At Florida, it was "the school out west" instead of Florida State.
It goes back even farther than that. Mullen cited Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, who often called Michigan "the team up north."
Said Mullen, "I just don't like referring to them by name. I think it adds more. We could call them Mississippi, I've heard that one a lot. I think we represent the people of the state as the people's university, the state's university. So I don't want to give them credit for that."
Mullen said he's very comfortable in the rivalry, even though he hasn't faced the Rebels as MSU's head coach yet. (The Egg Bowl is Saturday at 11:21 a.m. in Starkville, like you didn't know.) But he's been involved in plenty of in-state rivalries, so he understands what it means.
"It's a game that might not define every season but can certainly define a season for you. For our team this year, obviously not getting to a bowl game, puts this as kind of a defining game on the season."
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