College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

I don’t know if there is an actual defined line of demarcation that you have to cross before the feeling of nostalgia is in play. I do know that whoever lives in the house the Mullen family once called home in Starkville probably still gets their mail so it hasn’t been long enough for Dan Mullen to elicit the feeling from State fans that won’t change by the time he comes back to Mississippi State in September.

It will be bittersweet, and mostly just bitter if he comes away with a win in this “rebuilding year” for Florida.

Mississippi State is bringing back a budding star in quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, a 1,000-yard rusher, plenty of other offensive weapons and they’re loaded on defense. But there’s Mississippi State-loaded and then there’s Florida-loaded. State has signed 12 four/five-star recruits in the last three years. Florida signed 13 in 2018.

Mullen is one of the better coaches in the country and those who may not have realized it yet will soon. Joe Moorhead is taking over after two seasons as Penn State’s offensive coordinator and he’s proven to be a good coach, but Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley would probably make most coaches look good.

Even as he inherits a really good team, he’ll have his work cut out playing an SEC West schedule. Florida coming to town from the East in late September will give Moorhead his first loss.