Mississippi State has an open date and is currently 3-2 overall. The Bulldogs just lost by 33 points to Auburn, which they beat by 14 points last season. It has clearly not been a great season for the Magnolia State SEC teams. It’s hard to believe that this was five years ago when the Rebels and Bulldogs were the top college football teams. Remember? You can’t forget! The Associated Press poll was conducted on October 12, 2014. Mississippi State, coached and led by Dak Prescott, was ranked No. For the first time in school history, Mississippi State was ranked No. 1 in the country. After just beating Auburn, the Bulldogs were 6-0. Hugh Freeze, the 6-0 Ole Miss coach, was ranked No. The undefeated Florida State was able to squeeze in between the two Mississippi teams. The ‘Dogs and Rebels were flying high on Sports Illustrated’s cover and in headlines all across America. It was crazy: Talk show hosts and sports writers from other parts of America were calling Mississippi to interview Mississippi sports writers. Sports Illustrated called it “Mississippi Mayhem.” It was insane. Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame wanted to capture its historic history so they quickly put together an exhibit. It’s my fault, I did it. We bought the jersey and shoes Prescott wore against Auburn. After the historic victory over Alabama, we got some of the goal posts Ole Miss fans ripped down. We tore up Sports Illustrated’s cover. We bought game balls and had them signed. They were all put together to make an exhibit. The madness continued for quite some time, especially when it came to the Bulldogs. The next week, State was open. Ole Miss defeated Tennessee 34-3. Still, State was ranked No. 1 in the Oct. 18 poll. Ole Miss No. 3. State was in Lexington on Oct. 25 and recorded Kentucky 45-31. This allowed Kentucky to remain No. 1. Meanwhile, Ole Miss burst with a defeat at LSU of 10-7, which Les Miles coached. Remember? Ole Miss could have attempted a game-tying field goal in the remaining nine seconds. Instead, they called one more play. The Tigers, ranked No. Bo Wallace’s pass was intercepted by the Tigers, ranked No. 23 at that time. The Rebels were then ranked No. 7 in the following week’s poll. Still, State was No. 1, and the Bulldogs maintained that position, beating Tennessee-Martin 45-16 in a warm up for their next matchup with Alabama. The Bulldogs (9-0) had been the No. They had been No. 1 for five weeks, and they were going to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 4 Alabama. You know what happened… The Bulldogs were trailing 19-3 at the half, but rallied for a second half victory. They trailed six points at the end of the third quarter, when Alabama made what Nick Saban called, “one the greatest drives in Alabama history.” Alabama won the game, 25-19, despite having gained almost 100 yards on its home turf in front of nearly 102,000 fans. Turnovers made the difference. Alabama had none. Prescott threw three interceptions. Mullen stated, “We should feel terrible.” “You should feel sick in your stomach …” From there, it was all downhill. State fell to No. After the Alabama loss, State dropped to No. 4 in the polls and then all the way up to No. 11 after Ole Miss’s loss in the Egg Bowl, and Georgia Tech’s Orange Bowl defeat. Ole Miss fell all the way to No. 18 after falling to Auburn and Arkansas. However, Ole Miss rallied to become No. 9 after beating State 31-17 in Egg Bowl. TCU’s 42-3 Peach Bowl defeat dropped the Rebels to No. 17 in the final AP poll. Compared to the present, No. 11 and No. 17 in the country doesn’t sound bad. It doesn’t sound bad, does it? These things tend to happen in cycles, especially when it comes to Mississippi teams. State and Ole Miss will eventually return to the Top 25, or even the Top 10, at some point in the future. It is hard to imagine Mississippi having two of the top three national teams again, as they did five years ago in October. It’s hard to imagine.