Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Dykes claims his players are better than Miss State and Ole Miss

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Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Dykes is in his second season with the Bulldogs, but he’s got Tech fans believing they can compete with the big boys, something current Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley couldn’t have imagined doing.

Dykes told the Monroe News-Star this week that his players were better than those on teams in the state of Mississippi.

“We have better players than people think,” Dykes told the paper. “Last year we played Mississippi State, and I swear to you there was no difference in our players and theirs. I was shocked. There was no difference. They might’ve had a little more depth, but across the board our players were about as good as theirs. We played Ole Miss, and we kinda played ‘em at a time that wasn’t really good for them, and I think we beat ‘em by about 24 points and had better players than they did. I was shocked. I would like to say we coached ‘em better or we were real smart and pat ourselves on the back, but we had better players than they did.”

Dykes is taking a direct shot at the SEC with these quotes saying that the teams that are currently at the bottom of the SEC West are just as good, or just as bad, as the top team in the WAC. Louisiana Tech finished last season with an 8-5 overall record and 6-1 in conference. Tech suffered a 26-20 overtime loss to Mississippi State on the road in Starkville and beat Ole Miss 27-7 in Oxford. The Bulldogs also suffered a 19-17 loss to Southern Miss, who last season was arguably better than Ole Miss. While it’s very obvious that Ole Miss and their former head coach Houston Nutt had all but given up at that point in the season (Nov. 12th), what does this say about the bottom teams in the best conference in the country?

Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen fired back at Dykes in a phone interview with the Clarion Ledger’s Brandon Marcello telling him that the coaches at State must have been better.

“I guess if the players are equal we must have better coaches here at Mississippi State since we won,” Mullen said in jest. “But they are a very good football team. Sonny does a great job with their program.”

Mullen’s statement may be true at this point, but if Dykes can produce a couple of 9 win seasons the big boys will come calling for him.

Tech opens the season with Texas A&M, so if running your mouth about other SEC teams is something Dykes plans on continuing, he better knock the Aggies off because the Bulldogs do not face any other SEC teams for the rest of the season instead facing the power houses of Houston (one hit wonders), Rice, Illinois (who really knows), Virginia, UT San Antonio, and Texas State.

Better win all those games Dykes because the SEC doesn’t take kindly to insulting their players.

[Clarion Ledger, Yahoo Dr. Saturday]