In a sport known for its toughness, and at a school whose logo has a five o'clock shadow and a tougher-than-a-bar-brawl growl, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen seems almost out of place.
He smiles often, speaks in positives, and exudes nice-guy charisma to the point that you might expect him to have a beeper just in case an elderly woman needs help crossing a street somewhere in Starkville.
Were there not ample evidence to the contrary, it might be hard to believe he's the protégé of Urban Meyer, the brash Florida coach whom he'll face for the first time Saturday.
He is, generally speaking, a nice peg in a surly hole.
But for one night, Mullen, should be perfectly in character. No one was ever cut out for the role of student outsmarting the teacher quite like Meyer's former offensive coordindator.
Week 1 was the flu. Week 2 was shoulder soreness. OK, what's going on in Week 3?
The health of Georgia quarterback Joe Cox has been discussed, dissected and debated so much this young season that he could be a regular on General Hospital. Despite a jammed finger on his left non-throwing hand this week, Cox is in one piece -- and in good spirits. The rumors were so rampant last week that some believed Cox wouldn't start against South Carolina.
"It's definitely been interesting to see how crazy it can get just based off of what somebody says, but it hasn't been something that has been a distraction," said Cox, who injured his finger on an attempted tackle following an interception in the Bulldogs' win over South Carolina last Saturday.
"It's honestly something that we've all kind of laughed about."
Here's the top lesson from Saturday: If you're a major program, never schedule a game you can lose as your season opener. Period. This should be a rule. Why? Because we fans sit around for nine months waiting for the college football season to return, and then, in one sixty minute game, the entire season is ruined. It's just not worth it. You roll out of bed the next morning and effectively the wildest dreams of the offseason, that your team could run the table and contend for a national championship, is over.
Ask Georgia fans what they feel like this morning. Ask Tennessee fans what the last two years prior to this season felt like losing the first game of the season in California. Losing the opening game counts as two losses, it makes you feel like complete crap. And don't even get me started with how good you feel if you win an opening game. You're a liar. You don't feel good, you just feel relieved. Nothing has changed about your season if you win a big opening game. You just get to dream for one week more. On to the ClayNation Starting 11.
Dan Mullen has brought his version of the spread offense to Mississippi State. Now comes the difficult part -- identifying what works.
Look for Mullen, the Bulldogs' energetic first-year head coach, to take bits and pieces from his two previous stops at Utah and Florida. Even though Mississippi State got its first taste of the spread during spring practice, there's plenty more tinkering that needs to be done.
"I don't know if we're spread option, spread passing, spread running or just spread," Mullen said Wednesday during SEC Football Media Days in Hoover, Ala.
Wednesday, the annual circus known as the SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Ala. As college football has become a year-round sport, the three media days down in Birmingham have become the official launch date for SEC football fans, a time when our region's football obsession officially begins anew. Even if, you know, it never actually dies. Last season then-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer arrived and was immediately served with a subpoena in a lawsuit brought by my favorite people on Earth: disassociated Alabama boosters. Getting disassociated from the Alabama football program is like being the only guy in a prison who no one will share a table with.
This season, 25 radio stations will be broadcasting live from inside the event, and over 800 members of the media have been credentialed. It's like Woodstock for people who use the word, goll-durn. And we'll be there for the ride. Goll-durn.
Spring has begun for college football's mightiest conference, the SEC. The Florida Gators are the defending BCS champions and could field one of the best teams of the era next year. Several new faces have arrived elsewhere, from head coaches to quarterbacks. Some teams are tinkering, others facing wholesale changes. Others like Georgia and LSU can finally begin to implement fixes to what ailed them in a puzzling 2008.
Our SEC Spring Storyline will look like a countdown, beginning with the number four, same as the total number of BCS championships claimed by the SEC since 2004.
In a sport known for its toughness, and at a school whose logo has a five o'clock shadow and a tougher-than-a-bar-brawl growl, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen seems almost out of place. 
Week 1 was the flu. Week 2 was shoulder soreness. OK, what's going on in Week 3? 
Here's the top lesson from Saturday: If you're a major program, never schedule a game you can lose as your season opener. Period. This should be a rule. Why? Because we fans sit around for nine months waiting for the college football season to return, and then, in one sixty minute game, the entire season is ruined. It's just not worth it. You roll out of bed the next morning and effectively the wildest dreams of the offseason, that your team could run the table and contend for a national championship, is over. 
Wednesday, the annual circus known as the SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Ala. As college football has become a year-round sport, the three media days down in Birmingham have become the official launch date for SEC football fans, a time when our region's football obsession officially begins anew. Even if, you know, it never actually dies. Last season then-
College Football Spring Storylines 2009
