Bulldogs4

Dub, I would agree with you. While we are improving here at Meridian, we are still not a very good team and we have some holes as well. But OG does not seem to be at the level they have been in recent years. COVID has affected everybody and the quality of play has definitely suffered and may take a few years for it to get back to a better level. Nonetheless, you guys are still the favorites until someone beats you.

Curious decision. High school Football should be played on Friday Night unless it is early in the season when they move some games to Thursday/Saturday. I know the last regular season game is usually on Thursday. Looking at November 6th, State is playing @ Arkansas and Ole Miss is hosting Liberty. USM plays NTS at 2P at home so that game does not interfere time wise. So overall it is not a bad decision and I agree that it will draw a big crowd. But why would it not draw a big crowd on Friday night? I have never been a fan of moving games but in this case I hope it works out well for them.

I like Ole Miss to win @ UT but it will be a nervous win. The Vols are playing better but they have beaten a couple of bad teams (which is extremely important) but IMO OM is the better team and win a wild game. OM 42, UT 31 KY @ UGA …. The Cats are a solid team but they have not played a team like UGA yet… UGA 24, KY 10 FL @ LSU… I have been wrong about LSU the whole season so since I am taking Florida here they will probably pull out a win. FL 28, LSU 17 Auburn @ Arkansas I would like to take Auburn here but I think Arkansas will eek out a win but not without some scary moments. Arkansas 21, Auburn 20 A&M @ Mizzou… If Missouri had a pulse I would like them to win this game but since they don’t, A&M wins an ugly game. A&M 25, Missouri 14 USCe 24, Vandy 8 Bama @ State….looking at this game is like spinning the roulette wheel. A lot of scenarios could play out. On paper, Bama should roll but on the field it could be a different story. State hangs tough but Bama wins 31-24. But it could be 40-10 too…. I have no feel for this game at all….A State upset would not shock me. Surprise me, yes. We will see.

He is relatively young and he is a very good coach. I agree. I would call him first. I know he had some medical issues as well and I hope he is better now. IMO, he would be by far the best person we can get, if like you said, he wants to coach again.

The “on the court” basketball program is in deep trouble these days. However that is a discussion for a different day. Regarding the coach, it is my understanding that she is a cancer survivor from some years back. I hope and pray that she has not had a recurrence of it now. Whatever it is , it is of a very serious nature for her to step down permanently as the HC.

The A&M thing to do would be to lose to Mizzou.

They can probably form a PFC LLC J. David Gruden, U. Frank Meyer LLC Past Football Coaches, LLC Qualifications needed to enter are simple: Just do or say or write one thing that is offensive to people or is wrong and BOOM you are in!!!

Yep. I think we all thought this would be blow out city. I think you alluded to it in an earlier post. Bama has a lot of new starters. They had to hang on to win at Florida. Then some of their armor cracked Saturday night. They may very well wax us Saturday night. Right now it is really hard to predict.

Orgeron’s buyout is $21 million dollars. He is not going to be fired this year or possibly next year either. People can speculate but he will remain the coach there unless they can fire him with cause. Which I don’t think will happen because then you are talking about something that will really be ugly and could effect their football program for some years to come. I know it easy to throw $$$ money around these days but with after effects of COVID it would be awfully hard for the LSU hierarchy to justify paying him over $20 million to NOT COACH. Just don’t see that happening this year or in 2022.

HB, A&M is very talented across the board but they lack experience at QB. Experience at QB is very important for most teams. With respect to A&M’s record this year that you feel they should be undefeated, you can look at State in a similar fashion. Some folks say State should be 5-0. OTOH, we could easily be 1-4 at this juncture. I agree that having larger crowds is affecting teams that are on the road. COVID definitely has affected teams with respect to preparation. Plus the transfer portal and immediate eligibility has helped some teams immensely and possibly hurt some teams as well (though in the latter case it is hard to gauge the effect). The year is consistently inconsistent and will probably continue for the rest of the season. The only team that I can envision going undefeated this year is UGA. But even they are susceptible to being upset on a given Saturday. Been a wild ride so far and looks like it will continue to be through out the season.

In other news, Memphis evidently used up their whole allotment of karma against State last month. 1-4 Tulsa is about to give them their third straight loss since that game. Memphis beat State who beat Aggie who beat Bama. Go figure.

Bama goes down. Have no idea what happens next week. On paper we should get killed but is it possible that Bama is vulnerable? They beat Florida by 2 and lost tonight. Offensively, they are awesome but their defense is not quite as good as it has been. Again I have no idea what may happen Saturday at State.

Good decision to go for two. Arkansas should have run the ball IMO. But what a game , heck of a second half. Ole Miss was due for some good fortune against Arkansas and some finally fell their way today.

Third quarter was awful. The penalty on the TD was the turning point. We would have been up two scores with some momentum. OG probably still wins the game but it would have been much tighter down the stretch. After that too many turnovers and mistakes. Plus OG has very good team. Good teams take advantage of opportunities and they did just that.

OG 52 Meridian 34 4th quarter Our kids will not give up. Just too many turnovers in the second half.

Oak Grove 49 Meridian 28 4th quarter OG still wins the game but that sequence early in the third quarter definitely changed the game. We would have been up 35-21 and it is a different game. After that we had a couple crucial turnovers. Credit to OG for playing well too.

Oak Grove 42 Meridian 28 3rd quarter OG is rolling . We are in trouble.

Oak Grove 35 Meridian 28 3rd quarter Meridian had a TD called back early in the quarter and the momentum of the game completely changed to OG’s favor.

Meridian 28 Oak Grove 21 Halftime

Coastal Carolina & Liberty are both credibly good teams. Liberty dominated UAB in the opening game of their new stadium (stupid of UAB to schedule a quality opponent for that game). Both could and would be a tough out for most P5 teams in a one game scenario. They would each struggle to play a SEC schedule though. But in the overall picture it is kind of hard to gauge exactly how good each really is.

Interesting take there. I like Ole Miss over Arkansas because I think Arkansas is playing over the heads these days. They play hard and collectively as a team they are over achieving. Last week and again this week we will see that it has caught up to them. Ole Miss at home in an interesting game but they will win by 10-14 or more points when it is finished. I admitted I was wrong about both Arky and OM last week. This week OM gets the best of Arky and they fall back to earth for a while. I agree that LSU beats UK who has a decent team but are a weak 5-0 team and I see their bubble popping this week. UGA should beat Auburn but weird stuff happens at Auburn. In this case, I believe UGA will be comfortably in front for the most part and thus prevent the SEC refs (or any Auburn shenanigans) from affecting the outcome. Bama drills A&M 45-14. Texas over OK. Iowa over Penn St., ND beats VT and I hope Nebraska beats Michigan but just don’t see it happening this year.

Ole Miss beats Arkansas. Arkansas is playing hard and above their talent level. They no longer have the advantage of slipping up on teams. Other teams are much better prepared for them since they are no longer a cellar dweller.

I would think we will see the biggest crowd Ray Stadium has had in the last four-five years this Friday night but it will still be minuscule compared to 10-15 years ago. I like that our kids are playing hard. OG has the edge on us in talent/depth across the board but if we can avoid turnovers and be solid on special teams then I believe we will have a chance in this game to win it. A couple of big IF’s, but at least I have some confidence in us which is a huge improvement from 2-3 years ago.

Very true there. Florida had their opportunity and did not cash in. I think State can make the game respectable since it is at home. This weeks game for Bama @ A&M will tell us more about what happens next Saturday. Bama was emotionally ready for Ole Miss and it is reasonable to think they will be @ A&M. It is a Saturday night on CBS and another chance to showcase themselves to the nation. Hopefully they play another almost perfect game. Then because it is difficult to play three straight great games they will be due for a bit of a letdown. Thus the State game could be a bit closer than everyone expects. Again that is predicated on them playing a near perfect game Saturday. If they struggle this Saturday then it’s lights out for us early and often on the 16th. We will see what happens this weekend first though.

We are improved and a win over OG would be huge at this point. Obviously, the rivalry has cooled some because OG has dominated it recently and like Dub said, we did not get to play last year. But, I think the kids have heard from former players and fans that this is an important game. I think each will be fired up come Friday. I know we have been bit by the injury bug so I hope some of our players will be back in action for this game. We will see what happens.,