Bulldogs4

Well now State has not won a home series against LSU since 2024….LOL Not sure what to think? Overjoyed with the series win. Hopefully, this is a turning point for better days ahead. We will see. Next seven games are on the road. If we somehow go 4-3 in those games, that will be a successful road trip. @A&M and then FL is going to be very difficult.

Well State at least made what should been a blowout or run rule interesting. I would image LSU had some Squeezed Tight Bung Holes in the later innings of that game…LOL. Certainly need to win tomorrow. Just need to win a series. Good start for Ole Miss. USCar is usually good, so a series win at minimum is a good weekend.

I am actually okay with us losing this game. We are safely in the Tournament and playing four games in four days is not necessarily what we need right now. I know in the moment we want to win but if we do not and it appears now that that is going to be the case, so be it.

That whole situation is still strange. He did do some good things here but at the end I think everyone was glad he left. But him growing up in Tuscaloosa and then playing at State, then coaching at State, it would seem Auburn would be the last place he would have ever ended up at.

Wow. State with a big win over LSU tonight. Nolan Stevens was phenomenal. 5+ innings+ giving up 1 run. Still not sure what to make of this team but I am always glad for a win. Go Diamond Dawgs!!!

Wow. Interesting. I know the end of the season was disappointing but gosh if I am a player, I would want to keep playing as long as I can. Guess that is the difference in the mentality of today’s players compared to my youth which was 45+ years ago. I would keep playing until I could not.

In fairness, a team like TN did not have as much to play for today. Yes, they were in the running for a #1 seed. But a #2 seed is not a huge difference. I remember back in 2004 when State was 25-2 and we had won the conference. And we laid an egg against Vandy in the SECT. As a player, after winning the conference, I can image it is hard to be motivated for the conference tournament. Now that is to take nothing away from State as we played very well. Nothing fluky about the win. And it was a great win against the #5 team. Let’s keep it going!!!!

State’s record against LSU at home since then is 7-20. Pathetic. LSU should just always play us at the Dude. Ironically, our record against LSU since then at Alex Box and Hoover is 14-17. Which is not bad overall. We still lead the overall series 217-193. So at one time we had a much larger overall series lead. Of course none of this means anything this weekend.

Huge second half for State. I think we are in now especially if we are competitive with TN. Now if we beat the Volunteers we will move up the seed line. Good win. Wins are always good.

Positives A win, Holcombe had a good outing, we won, we won. Negatives anemic hitting, do our players have low iron levels?, one run after 10 innings, 2 runs after 11 innings. It is hard to have much confidence this weekend against LSU a team we have not won a series at Dudy Noble since I don’t know when…20+ years? But effectively speaking we are now 0-0. We will see how it goes.

The ole base on balls bugaboo bit State last night. Three of the walks given up ended up scoring runs. Obviously nobody is going to be perfect but keeping the walks at three or less per game is a big formula for winning games. We had five BB’s last night and it cost us a win.

Record crowd at Ray Stadium was in 1967 for the Big 8 Championship. Crowd was 18,500. Bleachers were set up behind the end zones and people were sitting on the slope around the N end of the stadium. When the stadium was built in 1936, that slope around the N end was landscaped for possible expansion as they were potentially expecting that the stadium would host college games. And in fact State did play a handful games at the Ray in the 1930’s including the very first ever game played in 1936 or possibly 1937. The stadium has seen some great performers as well including Elvis Presley, Alabama, George Strait, Oak Ridge Boys, 30 Years of Rock& Roll Tour and others. We had great crowds in 1978 & 1979 as well. In recent years, when SP came to Ray Stadium about 10 years ago, the crowd was 13K+. And we had some big crowds with Oak Grove back in the mid/late 2000’s as well. Alas, I don’t see the stadium ever being packed again unless something unusual happens. People have so many different options for entertainment these days and HS football is not on the radar for most people unless someone has a family member or friend playing on the team.

No Sonny Fisher played for Meridian in the late 1950’s. He was the QB for the MHS team that won the Big 8 in 1959. Before my time but that was really good team. He was the QB for State in 1963 (Also played defense as well) when was 7-2-2. State was four points away from winning the SEC. Two ties Florida (9-9) and Ole Miss (10-10) and heartbreaking loss to Bama 20-19. Finished 4-1-2 in the conference that year. Beat NC State 16-12 in the Liberty (Ice) Bowl. Last year it was played in PHL. Temp was 13 degrees and Jack Cristil uttered his famous quote “it was colder than a pawnbroker’s heart.” 1966 Meridian High QB was Bob White. Johnny Vaught had signed him to play at Ole Miss and he was touted as the QB of the future at Ole Miss. But he tore up his knee in the MS All Star football game that during that time was played in the summer after graduation. His injury destroyed his career and opened the door for a little known QB from Drew, MS named Archie Manning to become a star. It is interesting how history can be changed by events and in sports especially by injuries to players that allow another player the opportunity to shine. Archie may have possibly never seen the field at Ole Miss had White not been injured.

1985 Meridian team lost one game to Callaway 12-9. Both of Callaway’s scores were defensive. The Meridian defense was the best I have ever seen and the competition we played that year was stout. 1978 Meridian team was undefeated but won a number of close games. While I consider it a great team I would not call it one of the best ever. 1966 Meridian team has to be considered one of the best ever. Outscored opponents 309-49. Vicksburg & Greenville were the only two teams to score over 7 points against Meridian. And this was when both those teams were good. I did see all three of the above teams in person. Other great teams that I saw in person include the 2005 & 2010 SP teams. Both of those teams have to be included among the best ever.

Absolutely LSU is a must win. If we win that one and play competitively with TN, we will probably sneak in.

I am puzzled over Jan’s’ coaching yesterday regarding our subs. It did not seem like that Jones, Murphy, Bell or even Moore had very many minutes. During our win streak it was the depth of this team that made a great difference. Yesterday he totally went away from that. Or so it seemed. Especially with game going in to Overtime. I know our starters had to be exhausted at the end.

Disappointing finish. Team needs to win two games in the SECT to guarantee a bid.

Free Throws are this team’s Achilles Heel. Missed three down the stretch while SC made all theirs. Therein lies the difference in the game. And SC is just a bit better than us as well. Not much but just a little.

Poor showing by State early but we have seemed to settle down and finished the half strongly. Got to rebound on defense and just play solid defense in the second half. Let’s Go Dawgs….need this second half to be played at a high level.

I would say SP 2003 and then Goula 1987 are 1-2 among large schools. Smaller schools would have to include Lake (1974) - they were undefeated and unscored upon for the entire season. Amory (1995) was a great team as well. The 1985 Meridian team did lose to Callaway 12-9 early in the season but the defense did record a shutout as the Chargers scored two defensive touchdowns. And yes the offense was average at best but fortunately they did not need to be any better. Going way back in history , the 1947 Goula team was great along with the 1966 Meridian team. The Meridian team that year was loaded with talent that went on to play college football.

9 shut outs Held David Fair to under 100 yards per game (twice). Outscored the opposing team’s offenses for the year 37-34. Defense was Led by Demetrius Hill, the best high school defensive player I have ever seen in the State of Mississippi. He was a DT with incredible strength, agility, quickness and he was virtually unblock able. Father of Daniel Hill, who all of you are familiar with.

Yes, WL did well in the regular season. The problem was having a one dimensional offense and getting into the playoffs. Then all of a sudden you come up against a defense that stops the run and now you are in peril because you have not been throwing the ball all year. With Davis at QB, they should have been a pass first run second offense. Had they done so, I think they would have won at least one maybe two state championships. Poplarville has had a good run as well but again being one dimensional will eventually bite you in the playoffs. They have a great running attack but it has failed them at some point in the playoffs every year. Clarkdale finally hired a competent coach and he painstakingly built a good program but after he turned the corner in his third and fourth seasons, their administration saw fit to run him off. The current coach has benefited from his work but the question remains if he can sustain it going forward. NEL and SEL have generally been subpar football programs for decades. Part of it lies with each school’s administrators and part of it lies with LCSD. Obviously schools are there for academic purposes but there has been lukewarm commitment to football in Lauderdale County for decades. I would like to see that change but the football track record has been poor overall for Lauderdale County with the exception of WL. We will see how it plays out.

State women choked, blew it, flopped, melted like the witched witch of the west or insert your own adjective…. They need to go home period. No post season play is deserved by this group.

And to be fair, we were underdogs in the last two games. The KY game was basically a toss up that we came up short on. It is not like we have fallen into the abyss. I think we will be okay.

I think we will see a much better team Saturday that will take care of business. While SC is a good team, I feel we will be focused and will play well and get the win. And the team that played the last 15 minutes last night will be the team we will see Saturday. But my opinion counts for nada so we will see.