Bulldogs4

On paper, State should get killed by NCSTATE. As to what is going to happen, who knows?

“I'm fascinated by the fact that Dan Mullen went 9-4 and routed Michigan inthe Gator Bowl in 2010 52-14 in only his 2nd season afterinheriting the mess left over from the Croom admin andthat in year two under Leach that Miss St. is this dreadful considering Leach inherited a far superior program incomparison to Mullen.” Croom actually left Mullen in very good shape in 2009. Yes the 2008 Egg Bowl was a disaster but the roster was in better shape in 2009 than it was in 2004. Plus he left him an excellent recruiting class that to Mullen’s credit he was able to retain and sign. Mullen came into a good situation and to his credit he built on the foundation left by Croom who had also cleaned up the program. That 2010 was basically recruited by Croom and had a loaded defense (and number of them went on to the NFL) So this is totally different situations with Mullen and Leach. Moorhead is the one that failed to capitalize on what was left by Mullen and he underachieved. Leach is having to rebuild the culture and implement a completely new system. Last years purge or guys that quit because they would not buy in have hurt the State program in the short term. Long term things look good. Leach keeps a calm demeanor on the sideline. That can be good or bad. I think he has a quiet faith in his players but he is not a “rah rah” type either. I get the sense that his sense of humor keeps the players loose and helped particularly on Saturday spur the comeback win. I have no idea what happens Saturday with NC State. They should be handily favored to beat us but apparently they are not. South Florida was 1-8 last year and seem to be even worse this year. Hard to conclude much from NCSTATE’s obliteration of them. Will be an interesting week to say the least.

Don’t know much about West Lauderdale. Meridian is improving but we have not played anybody yet. WL lost a tough game to Neshoba Central who is very good. All that said Meridian will score more than 21 points in this game though WL will probably top 14 as well. I think it will be along the line of 42-28/35-21 Meridian. Though an upset is certainly possible. We will see.

LSWHO got manhandled tonight by UCLA. No if’s ands and buts about it.

I say a quality team in the sense they are not a cakewalk win. They have played competitive football over the recent years. Obviously we should win more comfortably than one point. But I knew the 23 point spread was too much. We should not be trailing to them by 20 in the fourth quarter. But we were and we looked fugly for a good part of the game. Much to be concerned about to say the least.

I have no idea what to think about today. Credit to La Tech for playing well for three quarters. Unfortunately for them a game last four quarters. They are a veteran team that is going to be a tough out for everyone they play. Skip Holtz had some curious play calls in the fourth quarter but in fairness to him you do not want to go conservative too early either. Obviously the KR by Griffin was the key play in the game. Momentum completely changed then. First Negative: We stayed until the end. BIG THUMBS DOWN to all the fans who left. They missed a great finish. On the field Negatives: OL was terrible for 2 1/2 quarters. Too many turnovers. They were a killer today. Defense gave up two BIG plays and were inconsistent as well. Positives: OL came through in the fourth quarter. Defense had some big stops in the fourth quarter. Special Teams were very good and ended up being the difference. KR and the blocked FG in the fourth quarter kick started the comeback and then preserved the win at the end. Coming back from a twenty point deficit against a quality team especially in the last 12 minutes of the game. The main positive is we won the game. Will have to digest the game for a few days before thinking about NCSTATE.

If 5 can’t block 3 we will lose 12 games this year.

That is certainly true. Freeze would definitely get Nebraska off the mat and winning (and possibly winning big). At his age, he is still young enough to do that there and then jump to one of the BIG boys to finish out his coaching career. Would be intriguing to say the least if that were to happen.

Freeze might be a good fit there but Nebraska seems to be like Tennessee. The glory days are over and are not coming back. They may occasionally move up the totem pole but they will never approach their historical success consistently. IMO, Freeze appears be having fun at Liberty and now is in the position to be patient and wait on the particular job he wants. That might be a few years down the road. Just don’t see him going to sunk ship like Nebraska. Bielema OTOH seems like a perfect fit at Illinois. His system will make them competitive. Never really challenge Ohio State but they will be competitive with everybody else up there in the coming years.

Oh well what do I know? Illinois with a 21-0 run to lead 23-9 in the third quarter. If Nebraska does not respond here they are in deep trouble.

Neither team looks very good but Nebraska seems to be the better team in the middle of the second quarter. Illinois squandered a golden opportunity after the early safety but Nebraska returned the favor by missing an extra point and missing an easy TD pass. Nebraska leads 9-2 midway through the second inning, errr second quarter so who knows what may happen the rest of the game.

Meridian 35 Philadelphia 14 Originally Meridian was scheduled to play Laurel and PHL was playing Noxubee County. At least both teams got to play a game.

Very true though I think we had more fans in the dome than they did. Yes, LA Tech has definitely given us some heartache over the years. When I was a youngster some guy named Bradshaw led them to a win over us….LOL

The ULL comparison is accurate IMO. We won 38-28 but it was a very unimpressive showing (though credit ULL as they have had a good team over the recent years). I was not thinking about possible suspensions from the bowl game. That could certainly throw a wrench into State’s depth , depending on how many guys are out and for how long. Will be very surprised if LT does not cover.

I am in general agreement with what you all have generally said above. I do wonder when the Bama armor starts to crack. They have played at such a high level for so long it is just expected. I don’t see MIA winning but I do agree that if Bama struggles, it could give teams a bit more confidence heading into the conference season. La Tech is a solid team and I agree that while State should win I would not touch the 23 points with a ten foot pole. OM-SDF (airport code for Louie-Ville) has the makings of an entertaining game. Kind of look for OM to pull away late and cover the 9-10 point spread. USM-USA is a very unknown at this moment. I really like the Will Hall hire at Southern but not sure how good they will be this year. Call this a toss up. Strangely enough I like Georgia to beat Clemson. Don’t ask me why, just have that feeling. Have no idea about LSU-UCLA. LSU should win but….

Very true and truth be known, my generation or the one before me did not smoke Laurel either. Possibly occasionally one team or the other would win big but I assure it was a rare occasion when that happened. As I noted in the original comment, most of the time it was a grudge match. Also, while Meridian leads series , Laurel has had their fair share of success as well. Glad that we are at least getting to play but disappointed it is not against Laurel.

Very sad news. Just leaves me stunned and my heart is hurting for this young man’s family, friends, teammates and coaches. Football does not seem very important right now and if this game needs to be cancelled in lieu of this happening, I am in total agreement. Lord, please send your Holy Spirit to give all the above people comfort during this time of devastating sadness. In Jesus name , I pray. Amen.

As of now it is on. Obviously, that is subject to change this week. I hope it does get played though.

I hope COVID does not negatively affect this game. Please note this game is Saturday night (August 28th) at 7P in Ray Stadium. I am very pumped about this game. This game was played annually for about 70 years starting back in the 1920’s until Laurel broke it off in 1992. Since then we have only played each other about 6 times. In the old Big 8 days, this was the opening game almost every year. Ray Stadium/Between the Bricks would be packed every year and the visiting team always brought a huge crowd as it is an easy 45-50 minute drive up/down I-59. Neither team liked the other, fans, band, cheerleaders etc. did not either. Much respect between each school but the game was a very physical hard fought game. Nothing and I mean nothing came easy. Meridian leads the series 42-29-5. I think there are lot of unknowns with each team coming into this game. Look for it to be hard fought and I will say the team with the fewest turnovers will win. Taking care of the ball will be important. One special note. Meridian is honoring Michael “Chico” Brooks at halftime. He has been Mr. Everything to the Wildcat football program for fifty (50) years. Yep, I said FIFTY YEARS. Just a great individual and super nice man… Well earned and deserved recognition. Great to see this ole rivalry get renewed this year. This ought to be fun but it will not be for the faint of heart fan. Go Wildcats!!!!

Egg Bowl will probably be completely unpredictable by the time we get there. I think 6 wins is a reasonable prediction for State. If things go south , 5 wins are possible. If things go right for us, 7-8 wins are possible. I am less concerned about the number wins and will be looking to see how we play. If we continue to build on the last 4 games then I will be pleased. Right now, I think that is a reasonable expectation. For Ole Miss, you may have a higher ceiling than State this year but again still a lot of uncertainty. Schedule on paper does not look too tough but you have some games that could tricky. Wins-Austin Peay, Vandy Probable Wins-Louisville, Tulane, Liberty, Arkansas Toss-Ups-Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, State, A&M Loss-Bama Schedule sets up for a good-to-great season provided there no hiccups against Liberty and Tulane. Those games could be tougher than you expect.

I think will State will have the better defense. Ole Miss will be improved as well. With their offense, just having some improvement on D will be beneficial to them. If their “D” is improved then Ole Miss could have a very good year. State’s offense should certainly be improved and more efficient this year. The air raid offense gets a bit misunderstood. It can be a very effective ball control offense when it is executed properly. I think some people think you are slinging bombs every other play when that is not really the case at all. In fact, I think we will actually see a higher percentage of running plays this year. Expectations for State are quite low so we might surprise a few pundits this year.

I think division’s are toast now. They will go to 4 - 4 team quads. Conference schedule will be 9 games. Best record wins the SEC and if two are tied then a tie breaker mechanism will be used. Why, you ask? With the playoff going to 12 or possibly 16 teams, there is no need in playing an extra game. These will be the quads or something similar: Quad East-UF, UGA, USCe, UK Quad Central-Bama, AUB, UT, Vandy Quad River-State, OM, LSU, Arky Quad SW-A&M, TX, OK, Mizzou You would play your quad teams yearly and then the other 12 teams two times over a four year period.

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Buy on Arkansas losing both of these games. Though I think they have improved some, I look for them to back track this year. Back to Auburn….losses to Penn State, A&M, LSU, UGA, Bama means they already have 5 losses. Then I think someone else picks them off as well. That is a murderous schedule. I just think all the fluky luck they always get comes back to boot them in the butt this year. Longer term, Harsin has the potential to be a good hire but I think the SEC is going to be brutal to him. This is not the MWC. Buy/Sell: A&M beats Bama but stumbles against two other teams (State or Ole Miss) and one other team to blow its chance to make it to ATL.

I am going to sell on Georgia.Kirby is heck of a coach and they will be in the mix but I think they will come up a bit short of the playoffs. Buy/Sell:Auburn under Hardin goes 6-6 this year. New coach, they will have several WTF moments during the season and the Gus luck they usually have goes south this year.