With the status of being America's top-ranked team comes the pressure of wearing a target on your back. The sports media loves the narrative of undefeated teams who ultimately cave underneath the burden of defending their perfect record.
With college football's playoff race starting to take shape, Mississippi State is a natural recipient of such cumbersome pressures. Not only are the Bulldogs 6-0, but their path to a perfect season is brutal, forcing them to emerge undefeated from ultra-competitive SEC West.
To make matters worse, this is new territory for the program, which had never ranked higher than seventh nationally before soaring to No. 1 earlier this season.
But if you think the Bulldogs are intimidated, their latest hype video begs to differ. The video concludes with Breaking Bad's Walter White saying, "I am not in danger, I am the danger."
After such a long wait, Mississippi State isn't eager to relinquish its status atop the college football mountain. That's good news for head coach Dan Mullen, who might have a hefty bonus riding on a playoff appearance: