STARKVILLE, Miss. — A year ago today, Sylvester Croom’s future as the Mississippi State head coach was uncertain.

Very uncertain.

Attendance had dropped to about 30, 000 the year before, and after three seasons the Bulldogs stood 9-25 under Croom.

His reputation was becoming that of a career killer for other coaches because once each season the Bulldogs beat someone they weren’t supposed to beat.

The year before, the Bulldogs won at Alabama, which all but finished Mike Shula as the head coach of the Tide. A year earlier, it was Ole Miss, which set the tone for the next season, but more on that later. And in his first season, it was Florida, which hastened the departure of Ron Zook as the Gators’ head coach.

Yet, last year at this time, Croom was not listening to the naysayers.

He went about his business with the attitude that he was hired to do a job and he was going to do it until they told him to stop, pack and don’t look back.

The Bulldogs opened at home last season with a 45-0 spanking by LSU, but won seven of the next 11, including the Egg Bowl when Ole Miss had the game won but Coach Ed Orgeron went for it on fourth-and-1 from midfield.

What that got the Ole Miss coach was a 17-14 loss and termination papers.

State went to its first bowl since 2000 and beat Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

Now, with 14 starters back, eight on defense, there is some excitement around the wellmanicured, student-friendly campus where attendance almost doubled.

Croom, though, is the same.

He’s going about preparing his team the same as he did last season.

There are a lot of people who want Croom to succeed.

He runs a clean, honest, doright program that has mandatory class attendance and strict rules about off-field behavior.

In his first two seasons, Croom sent enough kids home that the message was loud and clear: You must have character, not be a character.

However, this season might be a little more difficult than the average fan believes.

The Bulldogs must travel to Louisiana Tech, Georgia Tech, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama and Ole Miss.

Their home schedule, though, could be one of the bright spots this season as they host Southeastern Louisiana, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, and those last three SEC opponents are not picked high in their divisions.

It helps, too, that the Bulldogs have the No. 2-rated secondary in the SEC. Seven guys are back who have seen action, including Derek Pegues, who made All-SEC firstteam free safety last season.

The Dawgs are a little thin at linebacker, but the defensive line is going to be better than expected.

Offensively, it could start and end with sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll, who is very versatile and athletic.

He passed for 1, 392 yards as a freshman and went a schoolrecord 137 passes without an interception, but he isn’t afraid to tuck it and run if the receivers are covered. While he’s not a threat to go all the way, he can advance the ball.

Anthony Dixon is back after rushing for a team-high 1, 066 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. His backup, Christian Ducre, who gained 487 yards last season, is back, too.

Obviously, the offensive line has to step up, especially since second-team All-SEC offensive lineman Mike Brown was dismissed from the team in the spring and four other guys with experience graduated.

Now, with football less than two weeks away, the attitude here in the Golden Triangle is much improved over last season when everyone was waiting for Croom to be fired.

After four seasons, the fans are buying into Croom and his way of doing things.

Instilling discipline, confidence and good decisionmaking are top priorities for him, and they are the fundamentals of building the type of program he and the fans will be proud of.