Bulldogs4

Agree that USM desperately needs a win. Coach Hall is a good coach and a good person but we know wins and losses are what counts. Losing to Arkansas State was a bad loss. Beating TX State would help stop the bleeding. As I mentioned in another thread the talent level is just not there. A tough row to hoe for the Eagles but a win Saturday would be a good remedy.

LSU is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. Two weeks ago they played a perfect game against State. Last week they struggled to beat an average Arkansas team (I know, I know it was a rivalry game). So this week they will probably play a better game (though I doubt they’ll play any game the rest of the year better than the State game). Ole Miss is capable of winning this but I am kind of like 83, I think they will come up short. LSU 41, Ole Miss 37. Bama-State. Same thing with State. Until we prove we can beat Bama I will pick Bama here. Bama 28, State 17. UK has finally shaken the Florida hex. But they have not exactly set the world on fire. Florida definitely has improved but I don’t trust them here either. KY wins an ugly game…20-12. If Auburn were any good, I would pick them here but Georgia wins even though they are only shell of what they were the last two seasons. Georgia 27, Auburn 16. Arkansas-A&M…Here again neither team has been impressive. Another ugly game with A&M eeeking out a win….29-25. Tenn-Scar looks to be another Ugggghhhh game. Scar is decent but give me Tennessee at home. 44-31. Colorado bubble popped last week. SC wins big. 58-35. ND bounces back and deflates Duke in the best game the week (outside LSU-OM). ND 24, Duke 23.

Not being an idiot. Agree on the re-kick on an offsides penalty. I was just making a point of penalty yardage should be the same when it is in the area of half- the-distance yardage assessment. Regardless of which team is guilty of the infraction. I have never seen a good explanation for why it is like that.

Oh I get it as to how it is executed. But my take is the penalty yardage should be the same for the teams when half the distance is going to be assessed regardless of whether it is toward the goal line or going away from the goal line.

Why are they only assessed against the team with their back to the goal line? If you are at the one yard line on offense and the defense jumps offsides, the penalty is half the distance or one-half yard. But if the offense has a motion penalty, it is five yards back to the six yard line. Why? It should be half the distance away from the goal line to the one and a half yard line. Can some one splain that?

Arkansas State is terrible. USM should roll Very disappointing for USM. Coach Hall is a good coach but USM is in a tough spot these days. Talent disparity is hard to overcome.

Honestly , I have no idea what to expect. I can easily see a USC blow out. At the same time I know we are better than we were last Saturday but my confidence level is low at the current time.

Arkansas State is terrible. USM should roll

I watched the end of that game. Arkansas looked as bad or worse than State.

Ole Miss @ Bama is intriguing matchup. There is certainly a path forward for Ole Miss to win. Bama is an enigma currently. They don’t seem to have the same cohesion as usual Bama teams. Keys for Ole Miss. 1. 1 or zero turnovers and force at least 2 turnovers for Bama. 2. Break even on special teams. 3. DL has to hold their own up front against Bama’s OL. Which is very possible. The possibility exists for Ole Miss to win this game.

LSU played as a perfect game as you will ever see today. They excelled in every phase of the game. They would have beaten anyone in the country today. Daniels reminds of Dak in 2015 except he has a better OL and more weapons. This is what I was worried about with State. We have no identity on offense. You don’t change offensive philosophies on a dime. In our case, it is even harder because we are a veteran team. Some these players are in their 4th, 5th or even 6th year. This is their 2nd or 3rd HC and now third offensive system in the last 4 years. I do not know what the answer is but we look totally out of sync offensively so far this year. Rogers’ passing today was atrocious. Some of that was LSU’s pressure but a number of times he short hopped or overthrew passes. If we had played our best game, we still lose. But closer. At 0:00 a L is a L regardless. I was thinking if we played LSU ten times. Three games would be like today…blowouts Two games would be LSU comfortably winning Two games would be LSU winning close Two games would be State winning close One game would be State winning comfortably I think our HC and staff are fine but we are going to get out coached this year more often than we are not. How that shakes out in wins and losses remains to be seen. I said 6 wins and if everything fell right possibly 8 wins. 6 wins is achievable but beyond that is a mystery as of now.

The coaching is fine. Players make the plays. Or don’t. Hill is a great player but even he is susceptible to mistakes. He had an unforced fumble when he did not handle the snap cleanly. That was the first turnover in the third quarter and it was the turning point in the game. And again he is a great player and a great kid but mistakes happen. And happen to even the best of players. Still a lot of games to go and I am not giving up on these guys. There is some talent there.

Last night was such a setback. Laurel is a talented team but that was a very winnable game for Meridian. A couple of sequences were crucial. First, at the end of the half when we scored but had a penalty and then had to settle for a FG. Then they caught break when they missed their FG but had a delay of game and made the FG. That was a seven point swing. But all that aside, we did not take care of the ball. Four straight turnovers to start the second half will lose you game ever time out. And they were generally unforced turnovers at that. There is some improvement in some areas. And the season is not lost as division games don’t start until October. We will see how it goes.

Actually Clarkdale (hence the name is a combo of the two counties) was really North Clarke High as for decades students from North Clarke county attended Clarkdale as it literally sits on the county line. In the 1980’s Clarke sued to have the district lines changed and those students now go to the starship. There are students who live 200-300 yards from C-Dale that now go to Enterprise.

If Clarkdale’s bus had broken down and they couldn’t make the 7 mile trek down County Road 350 then the starship could have won by forfeit…if…only….if If Clarkdale had not have scored 24 points then it would have been an endless game of 0-0 ad nauseam. But if only… only if….

Disappointing night for the Wildcats 5 Turnovers in the second half Four of them were unforced. Just not going to win when you do that. Laurel has some talent though and they earned the win by taking advantage of our gifts to them. But they did let us stay in the game when it probably should have been a blow out

I saw a score of 24-0 Clarkdale Final But do not know if that is accurate.

Laurel had a chance to put us away but they refused. Laurel 40 Meridian 38 4th Quarter

Meridian with another turnover. As Arizona found out last week, you can’t win when you turn the ball over.

Meridian is the team self destructing tonight Three fumbles in the third quarter Laurel 40 Meridian 31 Third Quarter

Laurel promptly returns the KO for a TD Laurel 34 Meridian 31 Third Quarter

Laurel 27 Meridian 31 Third Quarter Long way to go in this one.

You are trying to jinx us. Meridian with two costly turnovers to start the half. But Laurel true to form, fumbled the ball at 2 yard line. Thus failing to take advantage of our gifts to them. Laurel 27 Meridian 24 3rd Quarter

Laurel 27 Meridian 24 Third Quarter Meridian with a costly turnover but the defense held and forced a FG.

Laurel 24 Meridian 24 Halftime Kicking Game is the difference so far. Laurel 4 TD’s w/zero XP’s Meridian with 3TD’s, 3XP’s and a FG. Laurel self destructed at the end of the half with two unsportsmanlike penalties that allowed Meridian to kick a FG to tie the game.