Georgia Tech and Mississippi State’s paths have not crossed often in their football histories, with just four previous meetings. However, the two teams were linked in a far more meaningful way in 2010, one that Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen still remembers well.
In November 2010, Bulldogs defensive end Nick Bell died after a short fight with cancer at the age of 20. Mullen, then in his second year as head coach at any level, called leading his team through Bell’s death the hardest thing he had ever had to do as a head coach.
Tech coach Paul Johnson, who did not know Mullen well but who had faced him in 2009, reached out to him to give his support and then sought to stand with Mississippi State in a more visible way. In the Yellow Jackets’ Thursday night game against Virginia Tech two days after Bell’s death, players wore Mississippi State decals on the backs of their helmets.
The gesture created a considerable response from Mississippi State fans on social media, as well as from Mullen, who couldn’t recall Sunday if any other schools had paid similarly paid tribute.
“We want to get after each other out there on the field and win on game day, but there’s things that are much bigger than the game,” Mullen said Sunday. “When those things happen, you see the class that Paul has and his program has and how they reached out and what they did for us.”
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