Bulldogs4

Sometimes you give credit where credit is due. N. Kentucky just outplayed us yesterday. I listened on the radio and Jim/Coach gave them a ton of credit. They pitched it well and were opportunistic. We are used to getting everyone’s best shot and this year that is going to be enhanced. Some of our players are pressing and this what happens. They will settle down in time and get things going.

Surprised that LB is not in the top ten after this weekend. Of course, one weekend does not a season make. For LB they were playing with a lot of emotion and played very well on FRI/SAT. Can they sustain that against teams that theoretically below them? I would say yes but that remains to be seen. Ole Miss looks good and did what they were supposed to do, pummel an average opponent. Arkansas State has occasionally been a thorn in the side of OM and VCU was a regional team last year at State. So this week for OM may be a bit more challenging. Still they should win 3 of 4 or all 4 possibly. USM opened with a cupcake but coming up is Jacksonville State, State and ULL so that task gets a bit tougher for the Golden Eagles. As 83 mentioned, State has a weak schedule this week but then we play USM at Trustmark next week so that will be a good test for both teams.

State with a rare two game basketball weekend sweep over Missouri. As much as we have dogged out the Dawgs this season, we are still hanging on with a chance to play in the postseason. Still doubtful since beating Missouri twice proves nothing other than it is better than losing two times to them. Regarding the Whiskey-Michigan game end, Howard just carrying on what he did in the NBA. Nothing new there.

State blows out LB State to win the finale of the series. Obviously, disappointing to lose the series but a good way to finish it out. Actual attendance was 34K+ for the weekend which is awesome considering the cold temperatures. Team will be a work in progress for the next month. Lots of depth which is good as that means you can give a good number of players opportunities to play in meaningful situations. That will pay off later in the season.

Two games not a season make. Getting our butts kicked this weekend is probably the best thing that could happen to State. The players have been basking in the glory of last year. But that is done now. We, the fans, can still enjoy it but now they need to get down to business. And they will. Lots of credit to Long Beach for playing very well this weekend and winning the series and I would not be surprised if they sweep us tomorrow. I think some forget that last years team was swept at home by Arkansas and lost two of three to Missouri (easily the worst team in the league) at home. Baseball is definitely a marathon compared to football where every loss gets magnified. We will be fine. You can’t help but pull for Elko. He is really good. I just hope that he is not so good in four games (more if we happen to meet in postseason) but otherwise I hope he has a great year.

Plus LB is probably playing with a chip on their shoulder given what has happened over the two last years. Throw in the fact that they are playing the defending NC’s in their home field. Makes for us playing a ball of hornets. But that is okay. The end result for State will be good regardless of how this weekend turns out.

Well no, they have won probably 8-9 games at the 5 minute mark of the second half and then the wheels come off. They have mastered more ways to lose in 5 minutes than Paul Simon’s “50 ways to leave your Lover” song. Baseball starts tomorrow so as Harry Carey would say “Hope Springs Eternal “ and even the Cubs are tied for first at the beginning of the baseball season. And in our teams case, we are all legitimately good on the Diamond. So let’s play ball.

State is the best 35 minute basketball team in the nation.

Wish the State men were being coached by the State women’s coaching staff. Talk about maximizing what you have and translating it into victories. This staff has done that with about 8 scholarship players and zero inside players and absolutely no height at all. Tremendous job by Novak, the staff and the players . They had no business beating Ole Miss yesterday. But they did . If our men played with the total effort, efficiency and execution that women play with, we would have won at least 4-6 more games than we have to date. Oh well, just proud of the women for not throwing in the towel which they could have easily done this year. Cohen needs to go ahead and check the WBB HC job off his to do list. The Coach is already on the court and doing a great job.

State played better in the second half but the end of the game was still poor. Smith/Garcia both missed two FT’s at a critical juncture about midway through the second half when we had taken the lead. Got to cash in on your FT’s especially on the road. Neither Coach should be in danger of losing their job. State has just been inconsistent all year and we have failed to play one complete game to date.

State looks like they have thrown in the towel. LSU just outscored is 37-15 to end the half. Very disappointing effort in the first half.

College Baseball is very fickle. We are very talented with experience but how this season goes is anybody’s guess. Being the defending NC’s means we will get everybody’s best shot but that was already the case. So I don’t see that being a huge difference this year. I could see us having some struggles this season. After all the 2021 team went through some dark times. Long Beach State will be a heck of a good start to the season. A really good quality team will be in DNF. 2 out of 3 would be a tremendous weekend. Ole Miss will pound the baseball. The big question that you guys have alluded to is the pitching there. If it holds up, look out for OM. Bianca is good at developing pitching so that might be better than expected. Pulling for USM to have a good season. Scott Berry has done a great job and I hope they have a heck of a good season this year. Don’t know much about them but know he has recruited well.

There is no way Kermit Davis should be fired. To me the man might be Coach of the Year, considering how depleted his team and yet they remain competitive and are winning some games. For State it is the same old some old. Poor start and poor finish, poor FT shooting, poor bench play. Very disappointing last night because the team has an abundance of talent but has not played a complete game all year against a quality team. No excuses. Tennessee is certainly a very good team but they are a very beatable team. Sigh and ugggghhhh. As D83 noted, this team is so frustrating to watch.

Agree with you. Austin Davis is a man of high character and integrity and I don’t put much stock in what McElroy says. Plus it is in his best interest to run down Auburn, given his background and the fact the media people enjoy stirring a hornet’s nest.

I thought we played hard and pretty well at Arkansas. Very physical game and Arkansas definitely got some calls their way particularly with the Smith-Williams calls heavily titling their way. But on the road you have to be able to play through that and we are not mentally tough enough (yet) to do so. Potential is there but we have yet to answer the bell. Difficult loss for Ole Miss. For Ole Miss to even go to OT with Florida on the road with the depleted roster is amazing. State women and Ole Miss men very similar. Much credit to those players for their grit.

Hopefully Heath recovers from the injuries he suffered in the automobile accident. I don’t know any details but for him to have been airlifted obviously meant it was very serious and prayers for his continuing recovery. Agree with you guys very talented but inconsistent. Hopefully he has matured and I hope he has a great season with the exception of one game…..LOL. I think Ole Miss will be between what State was in 98-99 and 02-03. The influx of Jucos were huge in the former but backfired in the latter. Understanding that the transfer portal is theoretically bringing in a more polished and talented player vs. a Juco player but there are some parallels there. That said , I think Ole Miss is probably 7-8 win team with 9 if everything goes great or 6 if things unravel some. Because you just never know. State is an interesting take. I think we will be talented and have depth but the schedule is going to be a challenge (which is okay). I think 8 wins would be the ceiling and 5 wins are the low end if things went really south. 6-7 wins are realistic predictions. But again you just don’t know as there probably 5-6 games that you can look at as toss up type games and so much can happen between now and then.

Huge opportunity for State tonight @ Arkansas. Can we finally beat someone on the road? Doubtful but we will see what happens. Kudos to Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss on beating LSU on the road despite half the team being in a M*A*S*H unit. Don’t know what happens the rest of the way but he has done great job piecing together a team racked by injuries.

Nice road win by Ole Miss in Red Stick. State did what we were supposed to do. Win at home against USCe. Now can we do what we have not been able to do? Win a road game against a good team. 3 of the next 4 on the road @Arkansas, @ LSU and @ Alabama sandwiched with a home game with Tennessee. It is crucial to go 2-2 in this stretch. It is time to put up or shut up. We will see what happens.

Nice win by Ole Miss today in the B12-SEC challenge. State getting blown out at the half @ Texas Tech. Not a surprise but thought we would put up a better fight than this.

14-23 FT’s were a killer. Did a lot things well in the second half but missed FT’s are killers. Had a couple of easy shots at the beginning of OT that we missed and you can’t do that on the road against UK. Maybe we can steal a win at Texas Tech Saturday. We will see.

Sorry I was not calling you a name. But back in those days Warren Central had a chip on the shoulder because they were stuck in the Little Dixie Conference but felt they were as good as the better Big 8 teams. Honestly during the 70’s they had a good point as they had some really good teams. And the Bowl game was very close and they played very well. Meridian won a very tight game and our players had great respect for them. The teams were not also rans either. Both were 7-3 on the season. Good seasons but fell short of winning our respective conferences. Gulfport win the Big 8 that year with an 11-1 record and were crowned State Champs. Clinton won the Little Dixie with an 11-0 record and probably felt like they could have beaten Gulfport that year had they played. Probably would have been a great game. I would have given Gulfport the edge as that team was loaded that year but Clinton would have held their own and possibly could have won the game.

Occasionally, that very thing does happen, much like Utah beating Bama in the Sugar Bowl or Boise State beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. But those examples are much the exceptions rather than the rule. Your second claim is a bald face lie. In 1977, Meridian played and defeated Warren Central in the Red Carpet Bowl in Vicksburg. Warren Central was not a member of the Big 8 and Meridian was a Big 8 member. Demographics have changed greatly but over that 50+ years there was a significant difference in the playing squads. Big 8 schools regularly dressed out 80-100 players and many of your smaller-mid-sized schools dressed out 35-40 players. In a one game scenario, they could very well win a game i.e. Magee playing Pensacola Escambia in 1985 and losing 7-6 with two missed FG’s. But if they played against 6A-7A teams every week they would lose by attrition. 33 players against 100 players every week is not going to be successful. So yes I agree that in an occasional season or in a single game much smaller teams would have fared well back in the old days but sustaining that over a long period of time would have been impossible.

From the 1920’s to 1981, the Big 8 champion was considered the State Champion much like the AP poll crowned a college champion from 1936 until the BCS/playoff era. Now a lot of controversy exists because some teams claim they were the best team in a given year. But the Big 8 was the only state wide conference with teams stretching from Corinth to the Gulf Coast. The conference also had the largest schools in the state so naturally it follows that the team that won the Big 8 was the best team. Yes occasionally another team was possibly better but 9 out of 10 years the Big 8 champion was the #1 team in the State. Now on a different subject, Enterprise academics are overstated because they have done a great job at teaching kids how to do well on the State tests. Unfortunately, a lot of their graduates struggle in college because they are ill prepared for the rigors of college academics. Quitman actually does a better job of teaching the nuts and bolts of learning to their students despite the fact that they are a lower rated school. I would say more of their students are better prepared for college even if the school is lower rated.

Just messing with you Auburn is really good and barring injuries or something unexpected, they are a real threat to win it all this year.

Wayne County is on the high school forum.