- Watch this week's press conference FREE on Maroon to the Max

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State head football coach Dan Mullen holds his weekly press conference Monday afternoon in the Bryan Athletic Administration Building. Free on-demand video of each week's press conference will be posted in the story rotation (main and football pages only) on mstateathletics.com, along with an associated full transcript.

THIS WEEK'S TRANSCRIPT:    

Opening Comments...
"We're excited this week with a big rivalry game. We're going to have a great sold out crowd and we're excited about that. We've got a lot of guys from the state of Mississippi, so this game means a lot to them. We had a great day of practice yesterday, with a lot of intensity and we expect to have that all week."

On last year's game against Ole Miss...
"I haven't really brought it up because we weren't here as a staff. Our focus is making this a rivalry game. This is THE rivalry game for this school and we want to emphasize that. That is what makes this game exciting and our focus is more to that than what happened last year."

On embracing the rivalry...
"As a coach you come in and talk to fans who've been around for years and that is the one game they always talk about. I remember watching the Thanksgiving night games on ESPN when I was younger, so I had an idea of the passion for this game, but after talking to the fans was when I realized how important this game is."

On injuries...
"Brandon (Cooper) probably could've played this past Saturday, but after talking to trainers it might've been a situation where if he had played then he might not have been able to play this upcoming Saturday, but if he sat he would be healthier for the Egg Bowl. Christian (Ducre) has been day-to-day so it's more on how comfortable he is."

On what has stood out this season...
"The effort, attitude and competitiveness that our kids have played with every single day. Obviously the senior class has bought into what we're trying to do and that's not easy to do. Guys like Anthony Dixon and Jamar Chaney have done everything we've asked of them since we've gotten here and that is very important."

On the holiday schedule...
"We treat the whole week a little bit different. Because there's no school we'll practice earlier on Wednesday and Thursday. We'll also change our lifting routine to make sure the guys realize this week is different because it is a rivalry game."

On Ole Miss...
"They have a lot of seniors and are very experienced. They've got some NFL talent on their team. There's a lot of depth there as well."