Dawg83

He was always talented at State. Allegedly needed to move further away from his hometown and some bad influences. If he’s got his head on straight he’s an NFL WR. That said, I don’t think State came away empty handed in the divorce. Thompson has been excellent in what was basically Craver’s role for State a year ago.

I listened to OM-Arkansas on two hour the drive home. Seems like OM may have a QB controversy on their hands. Also sounded like their defense was having major issues but came up with one clutch play when they needed it and that was enough. I need to catch the highlights of Tennessee-Georgia, that sounded like a great game. Caught the 4th quarter of A&M vs Notre Dame. Great win for the Aggies and I do think you have to take them seriously as an SEC title contender, especially in a year where there is no clear dominant team at the top of the league. LSU is 3-0 but it’s been a weird 3-0… That Clemson win hasn’t aged tremendously and they have not looked great the last two weeks. Also, I was way wrong about Florida. Thought they would be one of the better teams in the SEC this year and that Lagway was a very good player… Um nope that does not appear to be the case at all. I agree that Tulane is not a pushover for OM next week. And kind of a trap game spot between two big home SEC games. I could see Tulane hanging for a while (skeptical that they could win though). Week 4’s slate is pretty meh, if teams handle their business, but Week 5 looks incredible as we sit here tonight. Great national slate of big games and then two huge ones locally too with OM hosting LSU and State hosting Tennessee that week. But gotta get to that point without slipping up, as I referenced earlier.

I was in Starkville tonight…. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pick on Alcorn… But that might the worst FCS team I’ve seen State play since I’ve been keeping with State football over the last 25ish years.’ Alcorn’s band was awesome though. lol. Literally nothing to take away from this game. The Kamario Taylor trick play TD was fun. And State handled business like you want. 63-0 in a game where they only played 10 minute quarters in the second half, can’t really ask for more than that. Cannot afford to trip up against NIU next week. I think they are a step down from what they were last year, but this is still a coach that took his team to South Bend and beat Notre Dame last year. They seem to be decent defensively, albeit maybe not so good on offense. Just stay healthy and get to the Tennessee game at 4-0, that’s all that matters. And then see what happens in that game and the rest of league play. In general, it’s early but I would say State has looked better than i expected through 3 games. Obviously the rest of the schedule gets way harder. But can’t really argue with the start so far. First time State is 3-0 since 2018. A win next week would be only the 8th 4-0 start in school history, and first since 2014.

It does beg the question…. If Chambliss is good…. Wally Pipp situation?

Streaming live on The CW! To be followed by a marathon of Dawson’s Creek re-runs!

Cooldown week for State against Alcorn, but OM follows up a big game with an even bigger game. We will start there, OM is a 7.5 point home favorite against Arkansas. This was an OM rout in Fayetteville last year. And it also broke the running tradition of this game getting really weird every single year. I think we revert back to weird this season. Arkansas has played nobody so it’s hard to know what they are. Ole Miss has played a nobody and the worst team in the SEC so… do we know a ton about them either? When you don’t know what you are getting, assume it will be an adventure lol. I am going Arkansas in an upset. Their last couple of trips to Oxford in the Pittman vs Kiffin era have both been close losses, I think they finally pull it out this time. Hogs 34, Rebs 31. Not much to say on State-Alcorn besides stay healthy and keep the train rolling. This would be State’s first 3-0 start since 2018 (and the less said about what happened next that season, the better). Would love to get our first real look at Kamario Taylor, assuming State inevitably gets up big in this one. Georgia -3.5 at Tennessee - Neyland has become a really tough place to play again, and I’m not sure on Georgia’s offense yet. I like both defenses. I’m taking the Vols in an upset, close low-scoring game. Texas A&M at Notre Dame -6.5 - I like the Irish at home Florida at LSU -8.5 - closer than many think after UF’s disastrous loss last week… but I think LSU wins at home Vandy at South Carolina -5.5 - really interested in this game. Vandy has been impressive so far…. What the heck, Dores steal one on the road:

I think the schedule is still brutal, that hasn’t changed. ASU was a great win but it’s one of the few toss-ups that State had at home…. Most of the others are on the road, depending on how you view the Tennessee game and the Egg Bowl.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that you have the next two games where you shouldn’t have needed either of those guys to get other people more experience before you get into SEC play. A bit of an acclimation period, if you will. Alcorn I’ll be disappointed if the starters are in after the first drive of the 3rd quarter. NIU I could see competing with State especially since that has now turned into a look ahead spot before the Tennessee game…. But yeah, I don’t think it’s a hot take to say State should still start 4-0. And then after that, I have no idea. But 4-0 would be awesome, especially after the last two years.

Whitson out for the year, so is Blake Steen who was the starting RT going into the season. Dang.

The Whitson injury is rumored to be season-ending. Man that really sucks if true. He had looked like an All-SEC caliber player on the d-line through a game and a half. The injury happened late second quarter on the 4th down play where Leavitt dove for the first down and came up short.

Circling back to the OM game, as I did get to watch most of it: Simmons was terrible early in that game but bounced back nicely. Turning point was the 4th and inches down 10-0 where OM threw a corner route, if they don’t convert there I’m not sure they win. That seemed to boost the entire offense’s confidence. OM ran the ball well most of the game. Lacy is a good back. Kentucky did move the ball decently on offense but they had a total liability playing QB and likely cost them the game. I am very interested in that Arkansas game next week. Hogs have played nobody so far but looked very impressive against said nobodies.

I’ll give my thoughts on OM-Kentucky tomorrow but obviously that’s not the one everyone is focused on tonight. Wow wow wow. What a finish in Starkville. Unreal moment that caught me totally off guard. State fans needed that so badly. it’s been a really tough few years since we lost Leach. This has been the first cause for true celebration since then, and it feels awesome. I only regret that I was not there to see it in person, cannot imagine how awesome it must have felt to see that ending and rush the field at the end. I thought State played an outstanding first half of defense that was aided by ASU really overthinking it with their game plan. ASU simplified it and ran it down State’s throat the whole second half. The injury to Will Whitson definitely affected State, hopefully he is not out long term. But they couldn’t get stops in the second half. That said…. Holding ASU to a field goal at the goal line obviously proved to be massive. The offense, if we are being honest, did absolutely nothing for 90% of the game. But they hit three big plays and that was all they needed. The play in crunch time was spectacular. Great throw by Shapen, and Thompson has really shined for State in the first two games at WR. The OL is still not particularly good and they must establish a more consistent running game. But the big plays threat, historically, has been VERY rare for State offenses. The fact that this team has the home run hitting potential doesn’t count for nothing, as tonight showed. The fact that you spin your wheels on offense on most of the game and win via three big plays shows just how important it is in college football to have that big play potential. And now, holy smokes, State is staring down a 4-0 start with Tennessee coming to town in 3 weeks. That is awesome. I’m still not sure if this team can get to 6 wins and make a bowl game. But they are clearly much improved over last year and really showed positive things tonight. That was a special night for State. I would say it’s the most memorable win for State football since the 2021 Auburn comeback game or 2020 LSU.

Last year’s game was one of the biggest line of scrimmage mismatches I’ve ever seen. 346 rushing yards for ASU, 24 for State. We will see just how improved State is on both lines. I feel a little better about the DL, but this OL really worries me. Also still not totally sold on State’s corners being able to cover Tyson. They did a good job against USM, but defending a probable first round draft pick is a big step up from defending Sun Belt receivers.

Arizona State’s head coach.

Been a weird week between the Dillingham comments and the videos surfacing of them practicing with cowbells and their QB saying it reminded him of high school games. I’m not sure if bulletin board material is a big thing anymore, and I still believe ASU wins the game. But the way they’ve talked this week, you better win or you are going to hear about it.

Big early season games for both State and OM this week, could give fairly big indicators on what we can expect this season: State is a 6.5 point home underdog to Arizona State. State folks have kinda been circling this one as the most important game on the schedule for a while. ASU will be a borderline Top 10 team coming in, although they had an up and down opener against Northern Arizona. First game under the new LED lights for State, and also breaking out all black uniforms. State is doing everything in their power to promote this as a big game, hopefully that means a good crowd. I want to believe in State here, because a win could mean really big things for fan morale, which truthfully has not been good since before Leach’s death. Find a way to win this one and you SHOULD start 4-0 with another big home game against Tennessee in Week 5. And I do believe State is better than they were last year, and ASU is perhaps not as good. That said…. It has been a really long time since State has even been competitive against a good team, much less beaten them. My prediction before the season was that this State team would win 3 or 4 games with a number of close losses, and unfortunately I kinda see this being the first of those. I think the point spread is about right on this one and I wouldn’t bet on the game…. But I have ASU winning. State plays hard and keeps it close for a while, but ASU’s superior experience in “winning time” situations makes the difference in the 4th quarter. ASU 34, State 24 (but closer than that score indicates). Ole Miss -10.5 at Kentucky…. A rematch of what I believe was the most inexplicable result in college football last season, maybe a close second behind Vandy over Bama. I have some concerns about OM taking a young QB on the road to a place that can be tough to play and also against a good defensive coach. But at the same time, I have no faith in Kentucky’s offense whatsoever. I think it’s a bad matchup for UK given that OM’s defensive weakness is probably the secondary, and UK’s QB is (amazingly) Zach Calzada who famously cannot complete the forward pass (except that one time against Bama that defied all logic). I think this may be an ugly game, but I have OM winning it. I think Kiffin will have revenge on his mind after his team pretty much overlooked UK last year. OM wins and covers, 27-13. Other big games to monitor: Michigan at Oklahoma (-5.5) - this is a huge game for Venables to stay off the hot seat. I like OU’s roster a good bit this year, just think they have a really tough schedule. First big game of the Bryce Underwood era at Michigan. True toss up that comes down to the wire but I think I’m going to take the Sooners at home. Vandy at Virginia Tech (-1.5) - We will find out if Vandy has still got it, this was the first big win for them last year that kickstarted a fun season. I am going with Diego again, Vandy takes it on the road. Kansas at Mizzou (-6.5) - sneaky fun rivalry game that doesn’t get played very often anymore. I am taking Kansas in a road upset here. Really like Lance Leipold and think he’s due another big win like this. We will see what other games emerge as interesting.

Arizona State beat their FCS opening opponent but wasn’t overly impressive in the process. Granted, State didn’t play very well either for about 60% of the game yesterday. I do believe State made enough improvements on defense where it’s unlikely you see a situation like last year where ASU could have run for a million yards if they really wanted to. They ended up with 346 yards on 6 YPC. I don’t think a repeat of that happens. However, Leavitt their QB is in a much different place now than he was in the game last year. He didn’t even have to pass much at all in that game and didn’t look great when he did, but he went on to have a very good passing year. So, it’s definitely not going to be as simple as stop the run and you win. Pass D will have to show up too, and granted I thought the secondary played quite well in yesterday’s game, better than i expected. Talent level will obviously be a step up next week, ASU has a WR that is a projected 1st round pick. The other issue with ASU is they have a very experienced defense that brings back a ton from last year. Shapen will have to be sharp. State’s offense didn’t do anything in last year’s game until the score was 30-3.

Florida State is kicking Bama’s teeth in. Wow.

That game was exactly what I expected. I still don’t think State is very good, but they’re not as bad as last year. Penalties kept this game from being something like 45-10. I suspect that area will improve as season goes on. But the schedule still is what it is. I don’t love State’s chances against Arizona State but maybe playing at home will bring out a good performance.

I actually think he’s a solid OC, they liked him at Oregon too when he was there. So he will probably resurface again as a Big 10 coordinator somewhere once Akron inevitably fires him. But the guy is a train wreck at head coach, the proof is in the pudding now.

Nebraska beat Cincy in a game that went down to the wire. Off the radar game but Wyoming 10, Akron 0 sounds like a miserable experience… only bring it up as a reminder that Joe Moorhead as an FBS head coach flat out sucks

Want to say Robinson had a knee injury that set his career back majorly.

OMG that guy is still in college? He was a State commit for about 5 minutes too. He goes through schools as often as most people go through socks.

Time heals all wounds is the only thing I would say about that. Nobody had a nastier divorce than Rich Rod and West Virginia circa 2007… and look who got back together this year! All that to say, if Lebby gets it going then the Mullen discussion is moot.

Because if you get that schedule in a down year you might go 0-12 and set your program back for years.