Column: The Good Guys Win, Too

[tag linked="true" key="400281" url="http://247sports.com/Coach/Hugh-Freeze-1016"]Hugh Freeze[/tag] and [tag linked="true" key="400282" url="http://247sports.com/Coach/Dan-Mullen-294"]Dan Mullen[/tag] are just different. Whatever suits your taste is fine, but the two head coaches definitely project contrasting styles when stepping into the spotlight of victory. A few years ago (2010), Mullen stood inside the visitors' locker room inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and declared his Bulldogs would never lose to Ole Miss again. His comments were made as Mississippi State's administration and fan base were gloating over their success in the rivalry, even going as far as paying to put one of those stick-it-in-your face billboards up on the main drag in Oxford. Things have changed drastically since Freeze took over the Ole Miss football program. As the scorecard reads now, the Rebels have won two in a row over the Bulldogs and three of the last four. And on the all-important recruiting front, where stars often do matter, Ole Miss is running things in the Magnolia State, and it's not even close. The Rebels currently have the nation's ninth-rated 2016 class. MSU currently sits at No. 43. Freeze could have pointed all of this out Saturday night after his Rebels dismantled Mississippi State 38-27 in Starkville. He chose not to do so. Instead, he asked for the opposite. "Some of the way our world goes now...and I know it is what it is...it's unfortunate that the loser of this game gets to get raked over the coals by some of you guys," Freeze said during his opening remarks of his post-game press conference Saturday night inside the bowels of MSU's Davis-Wade Stadium. "Both teams have had good years. It speaks volumes that this game now means something nationally. It's a credit to both staffs, to both kids, administration that are investing in making our programs relevant. I think it's great for our state. I hope you will take that into consideration as you write about the years, because both teams have had good years. It's really unfortunate that some are going to have to get criticized or whatever it is. I know that's just the way our sport is." This is no change of tone or philosophy for Freeze. In 2012, he admonished his team to play for love for one another instead of hatred for the opponent, then promptly won his first-ever Egg Bowl as coach of the Rebels. Mullen refuses to utter the words Ole Miss. Freeze refuses to salt the wound of his most fierce rival in its most vulnerable moment. Nice guys don't always finish last. And that is good to see.