Bulldogs4

State leading 52-3 late. Perfect recipe today. Team played sharp early and the second half served as a time for a bunch of young guys an opportunity to play. I know it is not much but I am glad that State played early today. Good to get the starters some rest with a quick turnaround this week.

Of course my comment was tongue in cheek but I am glad for USM. State’s offense has definitely improved immeasurably over the season and honestly we moved the ball on Bama in the first half but the two early INT’s were absolute killers. Not that would have beat them but the score could have potentially been much closer than the 40 point blow out. On the other side, you can say similar things about the Ole Miss defense. Much improved over the course of the season and in comparison to recent years.

USM with a huge 35-19 win over La. Tech on the road. Glad for Will Hall. So with this result, can we conclude that USM is better than State? After all we only beat LT by one point and USM by 16 points. 35-34 against 35-19.

Obviously State and OM should win handily and hopefully have no injuries and maybe get some younger players some playing time. I think Bama rolls over Arky similar to the State game with a 45-10 type of beat down. They need impressive wins for the committee. Given the circumstances at FL and Auburn I could see either Mizzou or SCar with a win. More likely it would be Mizzou as I think UF is toast. I think Auburn may play like cornered animal with Nix and the meltdown last week. They still have something to play for. Ohio State will beat Sparty. Oregon will beat Utah and I agree that SMU will beat a good but overrated Cincinnati team. WF continues Clemson’s misery and Iowa State does likewise to Okey.

I would say Corral is still the favorite. Rogers is having a great year but Corral has been playing at a consistently high level. I say that regardless of how the Egg Bowl turns out.

If OG gets down 14 or 21 early they will not panic. They will continue to play and are very much capable of coming back. I doubt that either team jumps on the other early (possible but not likely). I look for it to be competitive through three quarters or so with OG pulling away in the 4th to win by 17-21 points. Should be entertaining for the fans though.

What a nice treat for Ocean Springs. Win their first playoff game and then in the second round they have to face Oak Grove. Win that game and most likely you have a trip to Brandon. If you win these two games, then you will have earned a trip to Hattiesburg. Ocean Springs has a good team this year and credit is due them but now the real season starts and….. I will take OG to win this game. Until a coast team beats one of the top tier Region 3 teams then I will continue to favor those teams in the playoffs. I did see OG play against Meridian when we were at full strength. They broke open a close game in the second half. Lot of playmakers on that team and defense is solid too.

The rule itself is a good rule and the overall intent has been positive. Unfortunately, occasionally the defensive player ends up in no man’s land where he makes a good play with no malicious intent and still gets penalized/ejected. It certainly helped us and we have had a few of those go against us as well. I think maybe they could revise application of the penalty when it happens when the tackle is obviously not an egregious penalty to just call it a personal foul and not a eject the player. I know that makes it a judgement call which opens up another of worms. In any case, anything to help the safety of players is paramount. We would never want to see a Chucky Mullins type injury to happen again. That stills turn my stomach over when I reflect back on it.

The targeting call on Auburn against Rogers was a terrible call but this year has seen the worst officiating in the history of the SEC. We have gotten hosed a few times ourselves so generally speaking those things even out over time. Strangely enough yesterday, when we went down 28-3, I did not give up. This team has been resilient. I knew after we scored that we were getting the ball to start the second half. 28-10 then became 28-17 and all the sudden we have a ballgame. Historically State was not the type of team to come back from a large deficit but this team definitely has that capability. Now as to why we were down 28-3, give Auburn credit. They were like a Tsunami that you hope spins itself out and that is what they did. I am sure they relaxed thinking this game is in the bag. Good effort by USM even though it was a loss to a good team. Great game by the OM defense, they played lights out. A tremendous win but I guess the only concern for OM is the red zone offense. 400 yards and only 15 points at the half leaves you a bit concerned going into the second half. But a huge credit to the OM D for coming up with some big stops and turnovers to seal the win. As 83 noted, the Egg Bowl should be one heck of a game.

Turn out the lights on A&M.

I know this is a football thread but State is leading Montana 55-16 in the second half. Montana is usually a quality team but I dare say this State basketball team may surprise some folks this year. I know it is a long year but these are games that we usually struggle to win early in the year. Back to football, Good start for OM so far.

Florida is pathetic. State gave up 41 to Samford in 2016 which was pathetic too. But geez 52 points. Great comeback by State. Did that happen in SB a few years back by the NE Patriots…. 28-3 deficit. Outscored them 40-6 in two and one half quarters.

Going for two the first time was dumb but otherwise the team has played great since midway of the second quarter. Let’s see if we can finish now.

Mullen may not survive the weekend.

Auburn is whipping us behind the woodshed.

I like OM to beat A&M. I predicted back in August that A&M would beat Bama but blow the W by losing two or three other games. This will be one of those. I am terrible when it comes to State. If I pick us to win we usually lose. But I am like 83 in that this is a winnable game. Comes down to three things: 1 or less turnovers, avoid crucial penalties (way easier said than done especially over there), play flawless on special teams. We will see what happens. UGA over UT bigley. UT has played well but UGA is on a completely different level. It may stay close for a quarter but I see it finishing out 38-10 or so. Arkansas flattens LSU. LSU shot their last wad last week against Bama and I do think think they will roll over the rest of the season. USCe and UK win over the two worst teams in the league. Penn State, Purdue (in another upset….hey why not?), NC State and Baylor all win. ND beats UVA. I have no idea who won last night but I would have picked Pitt just because I don’t like UNC.

Oh absolutely at Auburn we will get no calls. I do like the way State is playing. We did a lot of good things today and Rogers is really playing well. Auburn’s psyche may be a bit wobbly after today. Ruiz for the most part has been a good kicker. Today is was an awful day for him and then McCord missed the final FG. So winning over there will be a great challenge but certainly not out of the question. We will see what happens.

If USCe beats Florida the heat on CDM is going to be BBQ hot.

The call on Emerson was terrible. The receiver actually initiated the contact. Unfortunately, they call that on the defense about 95% of the time .

Failure to kick FG’s doomed us. Maybe we should just go for it on 4th down.

Terrible first half by State. Arky should be up big but we are only down 6. Still don’t feel good about actually winning this game but at least we have a chance now.

83 agree with you on State-Arkansas. State is very capable of winning but we have not shown sustainability this year so it is kind of hard not go with Arkansas. We will see what happens. Ole Miss blows Liberty back to Virginia like an ole fashion cannon ball. Liberty may come out early and get a lead but it will quickly melt and be a 28+ point blow out. Auburn over A&M. They have played very well in recent weeks but (there is always a BUT) they may be due for a WTF game and in that case A&M will win. However, I hope that they play a perfect game and win. KY over UT just because they are a better team. UGA by a mile over Mizzou. Bama wins comfortably over LSWHO but I think they cover the spread. 28-30 points is a lot. Bama is still very good but this game may be bit more competitive than the pundits think. Purdue over Sparky is spot on. Pulling for WF, just good to see one of the little guys playing well. I think if WF and Cincinnati finish undefeated they are both in. UGA is in barring a total collapse. The other spot is up for grabs and quite a few teams have a shot right now.

What happened last Friday night at Ray Stadium was awful and should never happen anywhere. I was not there but it is inexcusable period. I have been going to games at Ray Stadium for 55+ years and that has never happened before. All that said, it is a sad commentary and a microcosm of societal issues today. It is a high school football game and yet there are idiots there starting fights. Why? One is a sad lack of parenting in the current day. If children are taught proper manners, behavior, respect growing up, then later on you will not have this kind of activity going at a ballgame or anyone else for that matter. Back to football, while Meridian is better this year than we were two years ago but no where near being a power house again. We will have a tough time defeating WC Thursday.

By actual attendance and not paid attendance it might be close. Southern will probably announce a crowd of 25K but actual attendance will probably be 10 grand. Doubt that the Jug draws that much. In the old days, possibly yes. If the game is at Laurel, you will probably hit 7-8K. In Hattiesburg, maybe 5-6K will be the attendance. Which in the current day is good but people do not support high school football like they used to. So I will say fiction to the original question but that is no slight to the high school teams at all. It is more of an indictment on how far USM has fallen that this topic has even come up for discussion. Sad days for the once proud USM football program.

With the Ole Miss offense somewhat limited because of injuries, Auburn may have played more conservatively in the second half. It was one of those games that they had a pretty good handle on even though Ole Miss hung around and kept themselves in the game. Plus credit to the Ole Miss defense for keeping them in the game and giving them a chance in the second half.