Bulldogs4

MHSwriter moved from Meridian to Jackson several years ago. As far as I know he is doing well. I see his Mom from time time. Not sure why he doesn’t post here anymore.

Great gesture by TT and then a classy move by Ole Miss to decline the penalty. What in the world happened to Ole Miss? I was at the State basketball game and only heard the last half of the fourth quarter. Listening to the radio, I heard them mention five turnovers and the OL’s run block was abysmal in the first half. Obviously 5 TO’s will lose you most games but presumably there were some other issues as well. Certainly a disappointing game for Ole Miss. And then Arkansas? Last I heard yesterday it was 38-13 then did not know anything until late last night and saw where they won in OT. Good grief.

Very tough night for Tolu. 3-15 from the FT line. Free throws did us in tonight or at least prevented us from having a shot to win down the stretch. Alabama shoots the threes well and they hit some big ones tonight. But I sure like Coach Jans and I believe our future is bright. Bama is a bit better than us especially offensively but we are not far behind them. We did a lot good things, including getting them into foul trouble. Unfortunately we were only 18-35 from the FT line and that will get you beat almost game. Great crowd and atmosphere and there were not as many Bama fans there as I thought would be giving the fact that they are a top ten team. They had few hundred fans but much less than I anticipated.

The last sellout I remember was Kentucky in 2012. I was at that game. We had 15 point lead throughout the first half but Rodney Hood suffered an injury right before the half and that hurt our depth in the second half. And we ended up losing right at the end of the game. We just ran out of gas. Otherwise , I don’t remember the Hump being full since then.

Looking forward to tonight. Atmosphere should be awesome. Looking at our team, we have some talent and we have some guys who have been good scorer’s in previous seasons. Hopefully we will start to gel offensively. Defense and the all out effort has been great so far. Maybe tonight we will get some shots to drop. Obviously, Bama is really good. Bama-State basketball games are usually slobber knockers and tonight will probably be no different.

With our DL at full strength I think we can at least keep their running game in check (not completely stop them but at least slow them down). They were not a high scoring team so if we can avoid turnovers on offense we should have the edge. In bowl games, you just never know. But I just feel like our players are going to will this game into a win for Coach.

Emotions are going to be a factor in this game but I look for it to be a positive for State. At the beginning of the game it will be for sure but hopefully after the initial start of the game it will settle into a football game. Our players know that Coach Leach preached “play one play at a time and do your job.” I think our guys will do just that. I believe State wins one for the Coach. Ole Miss beats Texas Tech tonight. TT will not be able to stop the run. TT will score as well. But I will say Ole Miss wins 38-27 pulling away late.

It is weird. State and Ole Miss play both Bama & LSU in September in 2023. That has got to be a first in my lifetime. For Ole Miss @ Tulane will be a tough game. Road game @Georgia will be tough as well. Pancho, you are correct that the Tulane game is very important in order for Ole Miss to have a successful season. With that schedule winning all four OOC is crucial for Ole Miss to get to 8 wins. SEC schedule is very difficult (trading KY for UGA is basically saying a W is now L) as they always are. 83, I think you are correct on Kiffin. He is using the NFL strategy of winning today. Though, with the salary he is pulling in, I am not sure why he wants to jump ship so quick. That has been his DNA through the years, so no real surprise there. This will be his fourth season at Ole Miss which I am sure is a record for him.

Kiffin’s strategy is similar to Sherrill’s strategy in the mid/late nineties and early 2000’s. He recruited a number high level Juco players and it worked for about 3-4 years but when the bottom dropped out in 2001 everything went S in a hurry. I understand that today’s dynamic is different but there are parallels. It is a high risk and high reward strategy. So far it has worked well for Ole Miss and Kiffin is very good at maximizing what advantages he has available to him. Team continuity and chemistry are the biggest challenges to this strategy. Whether it will be sustainable is the big question. We will find out over the next few years.

You could see this loss coming from a mile away for State. The last two games we played poorly and I think we have started playing not too lose instead of to win. Not that any loss is good but eventually you are going to lose and it happened today. Hopefully this will take some pressure off the team and we will play better next week against Bama. Plus this was a good time to have a break. Additionally, if they watched the Leach Memorial before the game, they very well could have been emotionally out of sorts. I was out and about this afternoon and listened some of the second half of the Ole Miss game. They seemed to be like State, no offense but was still surprised that they could not eke out a win over N AL.

I am going to the Bama game as well. Bama is much more polished team than we are so I do not expect a win. Certainly possible and our games with Bama are usually wars so I expect this to be the same. But still excited to see our guys play in person and will be pulling for them regardless.

Frank Gore Jr. is a MAN. I know the P5 schools passed on him because he was to SMALL. All I know is, I would like to have him on my team. He reminds of a smaller version of Franco Harris. Of course, his Dad was a tremendous RB in his own right.

Definitely proud of how we have played so far. Team is giving great effort. That is really all you can ask these guys to do.

State is showing flaws in these last two games. Basically fortunate to win today. Maybe still a Leach hangover . It is also hard not to get the big head when you are ranked. Plus other teams start playing harder against you as well. Hopefully we will refocus and be better against Drake. Can’t afford to look ahead to Bama.

I think we will keep most of the air raid elements but definitely run the ball more. More of 2-1 pass run ratio. Possibly 65-35 or 60-40. Since we have recruited to that type of offense it would be dumb to change overnight. So IMO, it gets tweaked some but definitely not abandoned.

Kudos to Jackson State for playing a great game.State wins a hard fought game 69-59. Just goes to show you have to come out and play hard and well every game. Though, I wonder if the State team was having a hangover from Coach Leach’s death. It is very easy think that all of our athletes have been shaken by what has happened. Tough night for Ole Miss. Got into a big hole early and just never able to climb out of it.

Both teams have recovered somewhat OM finished on a 11-0 run to cut the lead to 36-26. State finishes on a 20-7 run to lead 31-26 at the half.

It is early but Jackson State kicking State’s tail 16-6. UCF is throwing a shutout over Ole Miss 21-0 about half way the first half. Uggghhhh.

I would think after the Funeral would be the appropriate time to announce that.

Definitely agree that we should make Arnett permanent soon as possible. That would be awfully bad if other coaches started trying to cherry pick our roster, with regard to the TP. As bad as recruiting has gotten that would go to a new low. Also the signing date is next week. That would be another reason to solidify Arnett and keep the current staff intact. Hopefully most of those commitments will then still sign.

That would be a negative 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. I appreciate what CDM did during his time here but that ship sailed five years ago. So no and no and no. For stability purposes, as I said above, let’s roll with the current staff plus hiring or promoting a DC.

I am completely onboard with making Arnett the permanent HC and work to ensure the current staff stays intact. Just makes sense to do this. It is the best for all concerned especially the players. Obviously we will need a DC but possibly one of the current coaches could move into that slot. IMO all of our Hailstate family would be good with that. Also, I hope that we are in a new era with the rivalry with Ole Miss. Competitive and hard fought on the gridiron, court, Diamond etc. but supportive of each other outside of when we play each other. It would be so much better for both of us. Kiffin & Leach have been great in that regard.

Same here. So glad he was in our midst for three years. Oh how we all are going to miss him. We are all unique but he took unique to the stratosphere. Growing up, my parents drilled into me to always leave something better than you found it. Coach Leach has done just that for our State (not just football but across many spectrums). This one hurts and my heart hurts for his wife, children, grandchildren, staff, coaches and players. Just leaves me numb. I am sitting at my desk trying to work but it is hard to concentrate right now.

He is the most important coach in college football because of his dry wit, innovative knowledge of the game, his unusual resume of having a law degree and never having played college football as a player (did play rugby at BYU), his ability to win as the HC at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, his vast knowledge and the willingness to speak his mind in a way to use dry analogies to make his point. Then underneath all that is a great football mind and very good coach. For the most part players love playing for him and coaches enjoy coaching under his tutelage. Finally, in this day and age of sensitivity and coming out of the dark days of COVID, he is a refreshing breath of fresh air for college football fans across the country. His importance goes beyond wins and losses.

From what I can gather he is in critical condition. I am just praying for him and his family. Pray. Pray. Pray.