Tired Bulldogs continue two-a-days

It was back to "The Farm" on Saturday morning for Mississippi State for the first of two practice sessions. And while the morning session didn't go the way Head Coach Dan Mullen would like he vowed to make sure things were ratcheted up a notch in the afternoon.

"I'm disappointed today," said Mullen. "Just a lot of guys feeling sorry for themselves out there on the field. It's hot, they're tired. But this is the SEC West. When you have five of the six teams in the SEC West ranked I the top 25 in the country, you can't be feeling sorry for yourself. You have to improve every single day if you want to improve in this league.

"So we've got to come back this afternoon. And it's going to be a tough practice on them this afternoon, because my expectations of this program are pretty high and we've got to get more effort than we gave this morning."

Today the Bulldogs worked on their situational drills, third down work, two-point plays, and things of this nature. And while the practice wasn't a total waste of time Mullen he admitted he just expects more of this team.

"Our expectations of effort and what we expect out of our guys is much more than what I saw today. We expect to win the West; what we gave today is not going to get it done."

Certainly this isn't new to teams going through two-a-day practices but for Mississippi State and Mullen it just isn't going to cut it.

"If we're going to win a championship, we're not going to let it creep up on us. I promise you we're going to get after them this afternoon, that's for sure."

As you might expect the head coach plans to lean on his veteran to pick up the pace in the afternoon.

"On the defensive side of the ball it's got to be Fletcher Cox up front, it's got to be Charles Mitchell and Wade Bonner on the back end," he said. "On the offensive side of the ball it's got to be the guys at each position. Quentin Saulsberry, Chris Relf, Vick Ballard, Chad Bumphis. The guys that have played a bunch, they have to set up and they have to set the standard.

"They have to play at a certain level, the other guys are going to watch them and if they're playing with relentless effort going as hard-out as they can, well then we can expect the whole team to look to that. If they give in an inch well then it seems like it's OK for the young guys to give in an inch. You know, if the leaders are doing it, Coach, then I can do it."

From the sound of it… the Bulldogs can expect to be grind'n this afternoon.