Bulldogs4

Laurel may have a good team but last week did not really show that. Meridian had 7 turnovers (2 of which were pick sixes) and Laurel scored all their points of those. All credit to Laurel for taking advantage of the opportunities but if D’Iberville plays a clean game they may very well win this game. Will be interesting to see what happens.

ND +17.5 I like them cover. the ohio state is certainly good but that is a lot of points in what basically is a rivalry type game. First game of the year and I know they have a new coach but IMO they will cover. Liberty wins comfortably over USM. Ole Miss wins but it may be a bit ugly (just kind of hard to tell). Arkansas will drill CVG. Georgia wins very shaky over Oregon but this game may be similar to last year’s Oregon-OSU game. No gimme for UGA and they may have NC hangover. I like the Ducks to cover and possibly pull the upset. I would like to see State roll and destroy Memphis but I don’t have a lot of confidence that will happen. But it sure would nice to grind them in a mud hole after last year. I like WV to win at home in a dormant rivalry game that has been resurrected. Utah beats Florida (Florida will be good again but this revolving door of coaches may turn them into another Tennessee if they are not careful). LSU-FSU is a pick ‘Em game. Just have no clue what to expect from either team in this game. Maybe LSU wins 3-2. LOL. Kentucky wins in a solid showing over Miami of the North.

I just watched Brandon Walker’s barstool interview with Leach. He has some intriguing ideas about NIL. Of course I know he is an attorney and has a keen legal mind. His thoughts about college free agency make a lot of sen$e. Let the top tier guys be drafted just like the NFL. Sign mega deals etc. Allow them to be traded just like the NFL unless they negotiate a no trade deal. Then have the group that is committed to going to school and graduating while playing for the same team. Upon graduation and fulfilling their playing obligation they would receive $150,000 from the school. You are letting the player make a decision based on his ability similar to the NFL by being drafted by a school. The second option gives them less potential money but more security.

Laurel 47 Meridian 27 Too little Too late

Laurel 47 Meridian 21 Still in the third quarter.

Another turnover on downs followed by another Laurel TD. Laurel 47 Meridian 14 Still in the third quarter.

Laurel 40 Meridian 14 All six scores for Laurel are off Meridian turnovers. Blow out city.

Six turnovers for Meridian. Just completely awful on offense. Defense has not been bad so far. But at this point it is mostly a moot point.

34-14 Laurel All five scores for Laurel have been gifted by Meridian though credit to them for taking advantage of the turnovers.

Check that make that 5 turnovers. Impossible to win with that many turnovers.

Meridian with 4 turnovers and is just handing this game to Laurel on a silver platter. 26-14 in third quarter in favor of Laurel courtesy of those TO’s.

Instead of starting a new thread, I just decided to pick this one up from last year. Meridian is playing at Laurel tonight (unfortunately last years game was canceled). This year is the first time in probably 5-6 years that I feel we can compete with OG, Brandon, Pearl, WC etc. We finally have some experience and some depth. Tonight will be a good measuring stick to see how much we have improved. Lot of history here as we lead the series 44-29 with some ties in there as well. With that Go Cats!!!

Why do you say that Douglass is sooo bad? What specifics do you quantify that observation? He walked into a worse than dumpster fire situation. To his credit he has slowly built the program back to respectability. While I don’t think he is a great coach, he is a good coach. This appears to be the first year in a while that we actually have some depth and experience. Hopefully it will translate into a good season. We will see how the season unfolds.

I am with you guys there. I think Ole Miss has more talent at almost all positions (except QB) but how the coaching meshes with the new talent and how they gel themselves will be interesting to see. Usually you see some struggles and some WTF moments in that scenario. I know the schedule helps Ole Miss early in that regard but how it plays out remains to be seen.

I would like to think that State will be a more polished team against Memphis this year as opposed to last year against LA Tech. Obviously there will be some mistakes but I just believe we will play a much cleaner game overall. I hope the defense is as salty as we are hearing that it will be. Nebraska-NW in Dublin is pretty cool. LSU-FSU, in my opinion will be an ugly game with neither team looking worth a crap. LSU will be good again in time but I think this year will be a struggle throughout the season. Not sure if Free Shoes U will ever return to prominence. Oregon-UGA, ND-Ohio State, NCSTATE-East Carolina are a few intriguing matchups.

I agree with 83. We could have really good team and win six games. Or 8 or even 10 if we get some luck, stay healthy, have a good kicking game and as you noted have a good OL. The other pieces are in place. I think Georgia will be beatable this year. I don’t know if we will but they are replacing a ton of veteran talent. Very good talent but nonetheless inexperienced talent and they will take a step backward this year IMO. As crazy as this sounds, we might be beat Bama this year and lose to Auburn. With Leach you just never know. He usually has a one or a couple of WTF games that are good/bad in a given year. Bama continually defies the odds but at some point they are going to crack and have an 8-4 season. What Saban has done is incredible but like UCONN women basketball eventually it is going to end or moderate.

I am a Meridian alumnus and fan but our uniforms are terrible now. First our colors are Royal Blue and White. Black is not one of our colors. Second, I abhor color pants when one of your colors is white. So the blue-blue combination is horrendous. About 15 years ago, our road uniforms were awesome. All white with blue trim. In fact they were the uniforms we wore against SP in the 2008 Championship game. https://youtu.be/sWFnojLcTdo And then finally I wish our home uniforms were Blue and White like they were traditionally were for decades.

What a great trip as back then the Sun Bowl was very prestigious and just under the Big 4 bowls. (Sugar, Orange, Rose and Cotton). El Paso laid out the red carpet for teams fans. A side note is they had a rare snow fall overnight before the game and there was snow on the ground around the field at game time. I remember watching it on TV. Was a great game and win by State over NC.

And USM has not had a decent Safety since Ray Guy…..oh wait…he did play Safety and was an All-American there as well.

or a good defense end since Evan Ingram!! We need some light hearted humor so thank you for launching it!!!

Rebmus, and Ole Miss has not had a good offensive lineman since Ben Williams.

I have bought in on Will Rogers. I think he is heck of a good QB. How his surrounding cast plays will determine a lot on how people perceive him. Plus, there are a lot of fans who judge players by the Egg Bowl. Had he won of these two games, possibly in dramatic fashion, his perception would be higher (IMO). In the 2020 game, despite some bad fortune, he almost engineered a great comeback. Last year, Ole Miss was the better team but guys dropping TD passes were not his fault, though I believe he did overthrow one potential TD. If the offensive line is solid this year, I think he will have a tremendous season. The schedule is very difficult. We could have a really good team and finish with 5-6-7 wins. There are probably half a dozen games that as of now can be viewed as toss up games.

That is great for State. He will provide great leadership plus he is a good ball player.

As you guys have noted, both State and Ole Miss have had worthy teams that were capable of winning the National Championship. But it is incredibly hard to do so. College baseball (though this might change with NIL and scholarship limits being relaxed) has remained the most competitive sport on the collegiate level. In football, do you think UAB or USA could beat Bama in football? But they do beat them in baseball. Could Northern Kentucky beat State in football? No, but they did beat us in baseball. Obviously, many more examples exist. Basketball is competitive to a lesser extent as we regularly see smaller teams beat a big team in the NCAAT. But seldom do you see one of those teams make it to the FF. In baseball, a small team can make it to Omaha and like a Coastal Carolina, occasionally win it all. COVID definitely threw a monkey wrench into baseball in 2020 and 2021 as well. Going forward it will be interesting to see how all these changes shake out. Coach Cutcliffe spoke about losing the locker room camaraderie the other day. I know he was speaking about football but it equally applies to baseball, basketball as well. How a team gels is very important to success. I think that part is going to suffer greatly. Kentucky has had all these great players recently but no championship to show for it. Talent is great but teamwork is huge. Experience is a big factor in winning Championships. State and Ole Miss proved just that in 2021 and 2022 in baseball. UGA proved it last year in football. It makes a difference.

I would disagree with players not coming to State/Ole Miss because of Starkvegas or Oxford. Both towns have grown into nice sized small cities with many more amenities now than existed in the 1960’s, 1980’s or even 2000. In fact, that they are smaller is advantage today. Cities such as Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia etc. are not the Mecca’s they used to be. NIL will be a big factor but each city here in Mississippi will not be a negative. At the end of the day, players want to play where they have the best potential to earn a living in pro ball if they are good enough. The NIL does change that but still about 99% of players still major in something other than pro sports. Our two schools have been competitive in multiple sports over the years and I think we will continue to be so going forward.