Dawg83

Second game in a row where State opens the game playing excellent basketball, builds a double digit lead, and then falls apart to lose in a blowout. This team still has a lot of problems.

Kind of a weird game. State started off great and was up 12 early in the first half…. Only to lose by 24. Certainly feels like State is Kentucky’s annual get right game at this point. And now we get to play the other Jans kryptonite on Tuesday with Bama coming to The Hump. Big home win for Ole Miss against Mizzou today.

What a weird dynamic too with Miami getting the national title game in their home stadium. My guess is the Hoosiers probably win by double digits. I think Miami is too mistake prone and Indiana punishes mistakes better than anyone right now. Miami’s mistakes very nearly got them beat against OM in a game they felt in firm control of for at least half of it.

I think the portal has changed things and it’s just not the same world it was 4-5 years ago. I’m not sure what more the Big 10 can do to prove they’ve overtaken the SEC for the time being. Probably about to have the third straight Big 10 national champ in a row with three different teams. And the SEC hasn’t made it to the finals in any of those years. Indiana would be one of the least talented teams in the SEC on paper and I’m not sure there’s an SEC team that would play them within single digits.

I think Michigan under Whittingham will be less than what they were under Harbaugh but more than what they were under Moore. Penn State is another that I think could take a step back. I like Matt Campbell but I feel like his best case scenario is matching what Franklin did.

I’m all in on Cignetti and it kills me that State could’ve had him two years ago and I’m not sure they really kicked the tires. Indiana is here to stay for the foreseeable future. They’re not going to go undefeated every year but they’ll be in the playoff mix at worst as long as Cignetti is operating at full strength.

We have never seen anything in our lifetimes like the rise that Indiana has had under Cignetti. They went 9-27 the three years before he got there and this dude is just destroying everyone immediately. 26-2 and probably about to win the whole thing with a perfect record at a place that was a total afterthought until about 15 months ago.

Impossible to know yet due to the coaching change, If they were going into Year 7 of Kiffin after the six seasons of track record he had, I’d say absolutely it’s sustainable. We don’t really know what Golding is yet in the long run. OM certainly looked competent under him in the Playoff, but it wasn’t truly his own team with his own staff. New OC next year, new DC, with today’s news about Chambliss it’s looking like maybe a new QB too. It was kinda like an interim coach leading a team through a bowl game, except it was super high stakes bowl games and the interim kept the job when it was over. i think we’ll have to wait and see on this one. The one thing OM and Indiana had in common was Kiffin and Cignetti are elite head coaches. Well Lane took his yoga mat to Red Stick and now the Golding era truly begins in earnest where it’s all on him to sustain and build the roster how he wants it to look. Anyone can have their best guesses in either direction, but the sample size on Golding is far to small too know anything for sure at this early stage.

Great game. Miami had a chance to be up by 2-3 scores and let OM hang around. But the Canes responded very well both times OM retook the lead. Objectively a great college football game. I am not sure Chambliss shouldn’t just declare for the draft. His stock may never be higher than it is right now, and this year’s QB class otherwise isn’t just amazing.

Miami only up 4 at half when they’ve totally dominated time of possession and been the more physical team. The door certainly still open for OM to come back in this one, but they will have to turn the tables a bit. It’s very much been a Miami style game through one half. Play slow and grind it out.

Doubt anyone saw this coming a few weeks ago… but Saturday night at Rupp Arena will be 2-0 State vs 0-2 Kentucky.

You’re playing with a little bit of house money the next two games against Kentucky and Bama. Find a way to steal one and I think the bubble talk can start to get serious at least for a little while. Don’t mistake it, I don’t think Texas and Oklahoma are world beaters. Texas is probably a bottom 5 team in the league and OU is probably a bubble team at best. But still, a huge improvement for State over what they were showing the first month of the season.

That was a really impressive performance by State. Oklahoma is a Top 20 offensive team in the country per KenPom and State just smothered them. Tonight, in my opinion, was the kind of team Jans thought he had assembled in the portal last offseason. It took them a little while to gel and it may cost them a tourney bid at the end of the year,, but they are absolutely playing well at the moment.

Is Chambliss for sure eligible next year? I kinda assume he will be because it seems like all you have to do is say pretty please and the NCAA will give you a waiver. But wasn’t sure if that was settled yet.

A little disingenuous to pretend the vast majority of those weren’t non-contributors essentially being processed. I like Tony Mitchell decently, Lewis and Burnside are young-ish guys who hadn’t shown anything but were highly recruited in HS. If your biggest departures so far are three backups from a 5-8 team, you made it out ok. I was speaking on key returners, mostly. If they are able to keep Evans then they will have kept pretty much all of their expected returning starters. Different from last year when they lost several key guys to other programs (Coleman, Craver, Pollock, etc.)

Seems like both State and OM are having good portal retention so far, and off to good starts with additions. State has really beefed up its corner room.

Mullen once upon a time kicked LSU and Texas A&M’s teeth in with a former wishbone guy that played one year of QB in high school…. So if you told me that he figured out something with a former 5 star in the Mountain West, yeah I buy it.

Hey, wouldn’t put it past Mullen at all to figure out something with Arnold.

I feel like the team got better when they told Shawn Jones to stop shooting so much. lol.

Yes big win for State. Road games have been a struggle under Jans in SEC play historically so this was a big one to kick off league play with. Still a lot of work to do to get back into the bubble conversation, and they need to follow this up with a win against Oklahoma in The Hump on Wednesday. But the team has clearly started to play better in recent weeks.

Sounds like State is maybe dodging a major bullet on Taylor and it’s not as bad as it looked live. It sounds maybe like a high ankle sprain which is no joke but shouldn’t jeopardize next season or anything. You pretty much nailed it on the game though… State got pushed around on both sides by Wake Forest. Cannot happen. And if Lebby doesn’t get it fixed in this portal cycle, you’re probably looking at a coaching change in 10-11 months. 1-8 after a 4-0 start…. Last four losses all by at least two touchdowns. Pretty brutal end to the season for State. They looked improved in September and October and then kinda reverted to their 2024 selves in the last 4 games.

I remember when they played in the Outback Bowl 5 years ago and it was considered a major accomplishment for both teams at the time.

Early semifinal betting lines: Indiana -4 Miami -3 I think of the 4 remaining teams, Miami is who I feel least confident in winning it all. The other three have dynamic as heck offenses. Ole Miss has the worst defense of the four but perhaps the best offense.

The last two remaining SEC teams with games still to play are: Ole Miss Mississippi State Equally relevant games, clearly…… Glad my school is doing its part for the league just like Ole Miss***

Hat tip to Golding for having his team ready to play and able to overcome some mistakes made in the first 60% of the game. Kudos especially to the Ole Miss DL, they got gashed on that first TD drive and I thought they may be in for a long night, but they honestly were great against the run otherwise. Chambliss is a legend at this point. What an incredible performance. Also that kicker is 100% getting randomly selected to pee in a cup on Monday. Miami is a very interesting matchup. They’ve played incredible defense so far in the playoff. They’ve also had some offensive struggles and their QB and head coach have had their share of famously unreliable moments. If OM can stop the run and make Beck beat them, they probably win. Miami should get stops but it’s hard to expect them to just totally shut down this OM offense. If you made me call it tonight, we are headed toward an Ole Miss vs Indiana championship game which would be surreal on both sides of the equation.