Bulldogs4

Rogers has an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. Ideally, Rogers and Wright can handle the duties this year and Parson can play 3/4 games to get some experience while retaining his RS status. Not sure about Wright though but if Rogers decides to play in 2024 that would be be a win-win for State with Parson in the wings next year as well to get some playing time to be ready to take the reins in 2025.

Yes and they earned it by coming through the loser’s bracket. Especially with this year’s format. Playing 8 games in 10 games is quite a feat. Nothing lucky about it at all.

But I think Skenes is going to mimic Rocker (2021) tomorrow and not be effective. And then the LSU bullpen is going to continue what they did today and lose. I don’t like FL and want to LSU win but I don’t have a good feeling about it right now.

I kind of wonder if this is going to be shades (though slightly different) of 2021, Vandy won the first inning of the first game but then State won the next 26 innings. LSU was due for a bad game and it happened in a big way. Two things can happen. FL continues momentum from today and beats Skenes and whoever else LSU throws tomorrow. Or LSU flushes this game and comes back to win game three. My gut is telling me that Florida is going to win tomorrow night. LSU has been on a great roll but what happened today especially after having the early lead with all the momentum on their side is going to be (IMO) too much to overcome. Kind of a reversal of what happened in HBG with UT grabbing to momentum in the second game and then just dominating game three.

One thing about Lemonis that I appreciate is that he does not overthrow his pitchers. Bednar did throw the Championship Game on three days rest but during the season Lemonis kept all the pitchers on strict pitch counts and he especially was conservative with Sims. As a result, those guys were fresh in the postseason and were able to pitch more often and for more innings in the postseason especially in the CWS. Whereas we have seen other coaches over throw their pitchers and cause an injury from fatigue. If it goes to game three, I would think Skenes would pitch but only throw a certain number of pitches.

Agree that the Rock is the most appropriate venue. State and Ole Miss are too big along with the fact Oxford is a long pull for almost everyone. Starkvegas is not too bad geographically. Jackson is still the most centrally located but the Vet is a third world stadium these days. I think a 2-2-3 format would be the best way to handle the extra game but I suspect it will be 1-3-3.

Dang!!! LSU for the win!!! Tremendous game by both teams!!! Should be a great Finale. The optics favor Florida but can LSU keep the mojo going for two more games. We shall see.

Best thing to do is ignore it all and show up at the first game of the season. Not worth the time to even worry about who is going where. I know that is hard to do with Twitter and the prevailing social media that is in our face 24/7. I can’t stand nfl preseason games. They mean absolutely nothing and I pay zero attention to them. Now on the other hand I had a neighbor across the street from me when I was growing up who would take his airstream to Florida in Feb/Mar every year for spring training. He said that was the best baseball you would ever see. Much better than the regular season. Why? Because guys were busting their butts to make the big league team.

I was completely wrong. Only took one run to win this game. LSU is still kicking. They definitely have a chance now though it will be difficult. But possible. WF seems pretty solid all the way around. I thought they may fold under pressure but they have not yet. None of LSU’s players have been to Omaha either so experience wise, that is basically even. Should be another good game tomorrow night.

Definitely an uphill climb for the remaining four teams as they have to win today and then defeat WF or UF two straight. Possible but not likely in this particular year.

LSU loses a close game to Wake. LSU had their opportunities. Tomorrow we may see the dam finally bust when Tennessee and LSU face off. It may take ten or more runs to win this game.

Oral Roberts tried to make it interesting late but Florida prevailed. They are going to be very difficult to beat whether it is TCU or OR.

May be they are targeting a coach that is in Omaha right now.

Florida-Oral Roberts is intriguing as well. OR is certainly very capable and they appear to be a team that is not out of a game until the final out is recorded in the final inning. Give Florida the edge but by no means is this game a gimme.

Good game. Credit to Tennessee for trying to make it interesting towards the end. But LSU did enough to win it.

Definitely not counting them out. Stanford is good but very beatable. They are capable but after Monday (if they win) beating WF/LSU three straight games is going to be a tall order as you noted.

If Tennessee loses which appears now likely to happen down 5-0, means that either they or Stanford will have to win four straight games on four straight days starting Monday. That is a tall order regardless of how deep your pitching staff is. I know teams do that in Regionals (over three days) but in the CWS you are facing the best teams in the nation so it is exponentially more difficult.

You can leave the academy without penalty prior to the start of their Junior Year (or as the service academy’s refer to it, second class-men). He is finished his sophomore class last year so he simply withdrew from the academy and obviously at the same time was released from his obligation.

Wake with another late comeback win. First three games have been entertaining if nothing else. Stanford had some opportunities early to probably put the game away. But failed to do so. That usually comes back to bite you. What are the odds of LSU-Tennessee being a one run game?

Another 9th inning comeback. Great way first day of the CWS. Oral Roberts has had some good teams here and there over the years. You don’t luck your way to Omaha. They are legit good. And right now they are at least among the six best teams in the country.

4 runs in the ninth after TCU scored 3 in the eighth to take a 5-2 lead. WOW Look out, we might just have another Coastal Carolina this year in Oral Roberts.

State traditionally played a very difficult conference schedule. When I was growing up in the 60’s, 70’s and even through the 80’s we played Florida, Bama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss every year plus one or two other teams. That did not really change until 1992 when Arkansas and SCAR joined and we stopped playing FL every year. 2024 will seem strange because those three teams are not on the schedule. And it certainly does not guarantee any more wins but I am glad to see us play some of the other teams that we rarely play. Even if it is just for one season. Will be interesting to see how 2025 and future schedules get ironed out eventually. I think the the 3/6 schedule playing 9 conference games each year is going to be what is finally adopted. Though there are some disadvantages to that schedule as well. I know there is some sentiment to keeping it at 8 games with a 1/7 rotation. Obviously, that keeps us playing Ole Miss every year with no other permanent teams on the schedule. Some drawbacks there as well because some of the secondary rivalry games will no longer be every year. We will see how it shakes out in the future years but State did IMO catch a break in 2024 by having those three off for a year.

Both have a lot of tradition and are winning programs across the board. Honestly, with Bama being on the backside of their dominance and UGA in peak form right now, once these two slip some in football, I can see the SEC being very competitive with different team’s winning and no one team dominating like Bama has done and UGA more recently. The other sports could be very wide open and wildly competitive.

I know you guys are tired of reading this but they need to start the regular season the Friday of Labor Day, cut the season back to 10 games. I know September is still warm but the weather is typically a bit less hot the first of September as opposed to the Third Friday of August. It is not much difference but 10-14 days later in the late summer can be a bit more bearable for the players, coaches and fans.

Experience is a crucial factor in Omaha. In fact I credit State being there three straight years as a big reason we won it in 2021. Stanford beating WF would not be an upset even though the media will portray it as such.