Bulldogs4

As you have mentioned, we have a decent group of RB’s and Wright is capable. We will miss both of those guys but I think we are still capable of winning the game. I hope we see our guys flying around and having fun today. Play hard and loose and see what happens.

The team is very much improved. We had a penalty of a late hit on the QB on a 4th down play in the fourth quarter at midfield that would have given us the ball down 34-28 with five minutes left. It was the correct call. But Brandon caught momentum of that to score and go up 41-28. We did score late to cut it to 41-35. All that to say our guys are gaining confidence. Our OL has made the most strides.They were young and inexperienced at the beginning of the year but have really gelled as the season has progressed.

Brandon 41 Meridian 35 Final

That has been going on for years but the effect of it is watered down now since every team does it. Originally a few teams did it so they could scout their playoff team (if known) on Friday night. Now with every team doing it (almost) then all it does is give a team an extra day to get ready for the playoffs. It keeps me from going to a game because often I have conflicting work/business on Thursday nights that preclude me from going to a football game.

The other is retired and living in Mobile. The fact that they are both connected to Alabama should give State the edge..,correct? This might be like Black Jack. First one to twenty-one or closest to twenty-one without going over wins!!!!

And I will not be the least bit surprised if Auburn wins this game. It is going to most likely be an ugly low scoring game.

Hard to get a read on State @ Auburn. Auburn played an emotional game against Ole Miss (really played over their heads). It is sometimes hard to duplicate that effort two weeks in a row. Unless the Apocalypse happens between now and Saturday, this will be a low scoring game. It was a big win for State Saturday and I think the burden of winning is off the shoulders of the players and maybe the team will play better. It could go either way but I think State pulls it out 17-10. Ole Miss wins over Vandy but not in a complete blow out. Ole Miss seems to prefer close games so I will go with a 28-17 win but they will never be in danger of losing this game. Georgia is due for a loss and Florida is going to provide it this week unless the SEC officials skew the game to make sure Jawja doesn’t lose. That has happened often before and will surely happen again. Florida wins 28-19 and in this case they will have enough of a lead that prevents the officials from determining the outcome of the game. A&M over SCAR Tennessee over UK even though they may have a let down. UK seems to have fallen off a cliff here lately. Ohio State big over Whiskey. Oregon wins over Utah in possibly the best game of the weekend. I am pulling for Bo Nix. Just glad to see him at a place where he is flourishing. Colorado’s star has fallen faster than the stock market in 1929. Don’t think ESPN’s promo’s are going to help here. UCLA 58, CO 30. And ratings for CO are likely to plummet as well. Duke over Louie-ville BYU over TX Kansas upsets OK. And finally USM at App State. On paper this looks to be a blow out for App State but I think USM breaks the streak with an upset. App State is struggling and with this being Homecoming for them I think they are going to overlook the Eagles and sleepwalk to a loss. USM 30 App State 29

Of course we are forgetting that he might have gotten a nice NIL offer from Ole Miss and maybe that was the deciding factor.

Which would made a lot sense had he wanted to actually play. But I get the sense he did not really want to play otherwise he would not have gone to Ole Miss. Obviously, if Dart goes down with an injury, he will get some action but as it stands now he is not going to get any meaningful playing time. At Auburn he would most likely have been the starter. Unless he is not as good a what his career at OK State suggests. And his stats there are better than average (lots of INT’s is about the only negative).

Some sports writers are idiots in the present day. Real Sports Journalism has gone the way of the 8 track stereo. Auburn kept the game about as close as was possible given the hand they were playing with. They type these ridiculous articles to get clicks. Period. Whether they are even remotely accurate means absolutely nothing.

Ole Miss reminds me a bit of the 1999 State team. Obviously some differences in personnel but similar in that they are winning close games. Late in that year State lost close games to AL and AR. But the team went 10-2 with a Peach Bowl win over Clemson. Ole Miss will possibly lose one or two close games down the stretch but 9-10 wins with a nice bowl are certainly within reach. As 83 mentioned State is still not good but the possibility of 6 wins is in reach now. And none of the remaining four conference games are guaranteed losses. In all reality, State is about where we thought we would be. Losses to AL and LSU were not unexpected. A split on the road with SC and AR is about what was expected. A split in the remaining home and road games would be 7 wins (counting USM as a win). I have no idea what is going to happen but the outlook is a bit brighter today.

Big drive here for Ole Miss. Score a TD here and the game is basically over.

That was my point. That it technically is not supposed to be allowed but I think the “powers that be” just kind of let it go on. Every one understands that it is just this one game that it has been a part of the tradition of for many decades. And only done once at the end the game. Obviously it is different than people smoking a pack of cigarettes during a game.

And I love the firing up a cigar for the winners in the UA/UT game. Great tradition and I hope they keep it going. So many things have been neutered in the present day. It is good that this has been continued.

We just need to beat Pearl and end any doubt. Heck I would like to beat Brandon but that is going to be a long shot.

I mentioned that Alabama can sometimes beat a team twice but more than that I think you saw an Arkansas team that was worn out. After playing LSU, A&M, OM and Bama back to back to back to back, their tank was just empty. As I mentioned last night, we just needed to win a game. Coach Sherrill used to say “he loved ugly wins.” So I will take it and enjoy it.

At least he is not a rookie in his first rodeo.

Oak Grove, Brandon and Meridian win last night. At this juncture, Brandon is in the driver’s seat. However, Brandon hosts Meridian next week. Win that game and they will clinch the #1 seed. But if Meridian were to upset Brandon (doubtful) it would make the final Friday night game’s quite interesting the following weekend. Just glad to see my Wildcats playing solid football this year.

In fairness to Bracky Brett, I believe Dr. Keenum made the decision to elevate Arnett. At that moment in time it was absolutely the right decision. And it may still be the right decision. We still have six games left and while only one of them is a sure win, the other five games are not sure losses by any means. The most important thing for this team right now is to just win a game. I know that sounds corny. But just winning a game tomorrow can turn the season around going forward. Obviously us fans don’t have much confidence that will happen but we will see what happens.

I think all this hot seat talk is mostly hot air about Hall or most any other Coach for that matter. He should not be at all. The only coaches that should be coaching for their jobs are those that have been in their position 5+ years and are falling way way short of REASONABLE expectations. And that needs to be looked at in context as to the circumstances surrounding the program..injuries, scheduling, asst. coaching turnover etc before a change is considered. Our microwave society wants results yesterday and some fans seem to think you can build a program overnight. IMO, it is going to be even more difficult now with NIL because football teams need time and games played together to gel and improve. Colorado is a good example. They turned over 90% of their roster. Won one big game but they may not win another game the rest of the season. Just throwing a bunch of players together will not win you games consistently. Plugging a hole or two in your existing team is certainly a win. But not 90% of your roster. My prediction is that if the NIL and transfer portal continues to be like the Wild West, then the quality of play in CFB is going to decline precipitously. If it settles down some to where teams can pick up a couple of players or so each year, then I think everyone will benefit. Constant turnover in HC and players will be disastrous for CFB (IMO). There has to be some modem of stability in place.

USM historically stretched their limited dollars to the max but they are now in a really bad position. Before the last 15 years they had a gold mine of recruiting from SO LA to NO FL, SO AL, GA, MS with very little competition for players just below SEC level. Now you have GA Southern, Troy, UAB, USA, Lafayette, Tulane, Memphis that are grabbing up players that historically went to USM. Add in the fact that State/OM are going to get the best players in Mississippi and there will be some that will go out of state as well. Just a very difficult situation for them to be in and I don’t see any easy way out of it right now. Hall is a good coach but he is playing with one hand tied behind his back these days and is in an impossible situation as it stands. All that to say getting beat 55-3 by USA is pretty much unfathomable especially in this day and age. The problem won’t change with a new coach so I hope they will ride this out with him and hopefully see better days in the future.

South Alabama in a rout over USM. It hurts to type that. Ole Miss wins at Auburn. Under Gus, Auburn used to have wizardry magic spells. But kind of like USM firing Bower, I think Auburn lost their JH voodoo when they fired Gus. Freeze certainly wants to beat Ole Miss but it is not going to happen this year. Ole Miss 35, Auburn 20. State@Arkansas all points to a Hawg victory. So I will go with Pig Sooie in this one. Arkansas 38, State 31. UT-Knox at UA-Tuscaloosa has a weird vibe this year. Tide should win in a very ugly game. Red Tide 10, Orange Vols 7. SCAR-Mizzou. Mizzou finds a way to choke away this game. SCAR 31, Mizzou 30. Just because… Pennsylvania State @ The Ohio State….until Penn State proves it I will go with the Buckeyes here….Ohio 20, Penn 17. Free Shoes @ Duke …. Seminoles go down 24-17. Utah @ USC. USC’s defense maybe worse than State’s. Did I really just type that? Utes 52, Trojan Horse 28.

I don’t think it will matter. The starship will play hard and be well coached but they will come up short against the DeKalb group. 42-34 will be the final.

Ole Miss should win but I would not call it a lock. Weird stuff does happens at Auburn though since Gus left it has not been the same there.

Nix transferring to Oregon was one of the best decisions ever by a college QB. I know they lost today but he has been outstanding out there. And yes that was one heck of a game that could have easily gone the other way.