CFB Offseason Thread

[maroontide06]

The media picked State dead last in the West with (1) first place vote.  What a flippin' joke LOL!

[MSTSatchmo]

4 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

The media picked State dead last in the West with (1) first place vote.  What a flippin' joke LOL!

Wait……what!?  Who picked State 1st!? 

[maroontide06]

1 minute ago, MSTSatchmo said:

Wait……what!?  Who picked State 1st!? 

Who knows.  What's even crazier is Vanderbilt has like (8) first place votes.

[Dawg83]

13 minutes ago, MSTSatchmo said:

Wait……what!?  Who picked State 1st!? 

It probably rhymes with Peeve Flobertson.

 

That’s not even the best part, Vandy got 8 votes to win the East and 5 to win the SEC.

[Dawg83]

I totally expected State to be picked last.

 

I do not see them finishing last. Been wrong before, but it is a 9 win team from last year that returns a ton of experience.

 

I would have the West as follows:

 

Bama

LSU

 

(Big Gap)

 

State

A&M

Auburn

Ole Miss

Arkansas

 

3-7 are very interchangeable though. I think you’re gonna have a big jumbled mess of 6 to 8 win teams.

[MSTSatchmo]

1 hour ago, Dawg83 said:

 

I would have the West as follows:

 

Bama

LSU

 

(Big Gap)

 

State

A&M

Auburn

Ole Miss

Arkansas

 

3-7 are very interchangeable though. I think you’re gonna have a big jumbled mess of 6 to 8 win teams.

That sounds about right.  I would guess one team out of those last 5 will have a better than expected year.  I haven’t looked that close, but it could be based on who may have a slightly easier SEC schedule.  

[Dawg83]

2 hours ago, MSTSatchmo said:

That sounds about right.  I would guess one team out of those last 5 will have a better than expected year.  I haven’t looked that close, but it could be based on who may have a slightly easier SEC schedule.  

I’m assuming they’ll all beat up on each other some. But here are the crossover games for each team in that range:

 

State - Kentucky, at South Carolina

OM - Vandy, at Georgia

A&M - SC, at Tennessee

Arkansas - Mizzou, at Florida

Auburn - Georgia, at Vandy

 

OM and Auburn are clearly hurt by having to play Georgia, something similar can be said for A&M going to Knoxville.

 

State and Arkansas could feasibly go 2-0 against the East, but I don’t like State’s overall home and away splits and I don’t like Arkansas’s roster that much, outside of two guys.

 

On the All-SEC front, Tulu Griffin only being the third team return guy and Jett Johnson not being listed at all among the best 9 linebackers in the league is a total joke. Tulu might be the best return guy in the country and Jett led the SEC in tackles last year.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

As I have said we are getting rated low because Arnett is a first time HC. The fact he has been on the staff for three years IMO softens the transition somewhat. Our DC was already on the staff. Barbay seems to be a versatile OC who plays to the strengths of his talent. All that said , there are about 6 conference games that can fairly viewed as toss up games. 
And I think we can be competitive with Bama and LSU as well. Obviously still underdogs but football can be funny game sometimes and you never know what might happen. 
 

 

 

 

[Dawg83]

State has been competitive with LSU almost every year since 2014. 2018 was a Joe Moorhead offensive disaster and 2019 was the year LSU had the best team ever, otherwise it’s been a bunch of competitive games where State has won a few. People forget that they led the game in Baton Rouge for three quarters last year until it unraveled late. I do think LSU is likely better than State but it is a very compelling matchup in Starkville.

 

I am firmly in “believe it when I see it“ mode with State versus Bama. Only two of the games since 2008 have even been close. And it has been a train wreck since Mullen’s last year when he probably should’ve beaten them.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

That is an accurate assessment. I just think we are due for a better performance against Bama this year. No particular reason just have that feeling. Now whether that translates into a close loss or win remains to be seen. Agree with you that in 2017, we should have beaten them. 
 

LSU, yes we should have beaten them last year and since 2014 it has been a competitive series with the exception of 2019 which was an anomaly of a year by LSU. 

[Dawg83]

12 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

That is an accurate assessment. I just think we are due for a better performance against Bama this year. No particular reason just have that feeling. Now whether that translates into a close loss or win remains to be seen. Agree with you that in 2017, we should have beaten them. 
 

LSU, yes we should have beaten them last year and since 2014 it has been a competitive series with the exception of 2019 which was an anomaly of a year by LSU. 

Mullen had the perfect game plan against them in ‘17 for three and a half quarters. Then he got really conservative on offense and Todd Grantham did what Todd Grantham does and got overly aggressive on D. There’s a 3rd and 15 all out blitz that I still shake my head at.

[Bulldogs4]

That has to be the worst play call in the history of State football. I was screaming fake the blitz and drop 8. You just can’t keep doing the same thing. 
 

And then the 4th and short at the 45 yard line was screaming GO FOR IT. 
Sometimes you just have to go for it. And that was one of those opportunities. 

[Dawg83]

12 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

That has to be the worst play call in the history of State football. I was screaming fake the blitz and drop 8. You just can’t keep doing the same thing. 
 

And then the 4th and short at the 45 yard line was screaming GO FOR IT. 
Sometimes you just have to go for it. And that was one of those opportunities. 

There was also a 4th down a couple of drives earlier where the whole world knew that Hurts was about to scramble and State didn’t account for it. Hurts did his thing and Bama scored like the next play.

 

Grantham was overall a success at State, especially coming after Peter Sirmon, but I can definitely see why it didn’t ultimately work at Florida. Like you alluded to, eventually coaches just figured him out.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Dawg83

[Dawg83]

Just saw a stat that State is expected to start 19 seniors and 3 juniors this year. I don’t recall ever seeing a projected starting lineup that old. Not all of those guys are returning starters, but a good many are,

 

Ironic that they’ll have maybe the oldest team in the country while also having one of the youngest head coaches in the country. You’d think an older team means a good chance for success this year. May also mean one heck of a rebuild in 2024, but we’ll cross that bridge in a year.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Dawg83

[maroontide06]

How many of those seniors can elect to come back if they haven't used their covid year and don't get drafted?  You may not lose them all after all.

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, maroontide06 said:

How many of those seniors can elect to come back if they haven't used their covid year and don't get drafted?  You may not lose them all after all.

I don’t know the situation for everybody but I do know that State has several sixth year seniors on defense that will not be back. Specifically Crumedy, Watson, and Johnson, (the three best defensive players). There are at least three sixth year seniors on the OL too.

 

A lot of the seniors on offense do have an extra year after this one if they want it, just not sure who will plan on staying. Rogers, Marks, Griffin, Walley immediately come to mind from that group.

So yeah a lot of these guys aren’t just seniors, they’re like 23 or 24. Crumedy is married and has a kid. lol.

 

[Bulldogs4]

I know the NIL skews recruiting or potentially can do so but this could work to our advantage. Coaches can honestly tell kids because we have a lot of Sr’s, you will have a shot to play early on. And playing time is still important to kids. 
 

 

[maroontide06]

With all of this conference shuffle and realignment today with the Big 12 and B1G, it appears the PAC-4 is dead in the water.  I wonder where the remaining 4 will go?  (This is taking into account that Arizona State and Utah get the Big 12 to a 16 member conference.)

[Dawg83]

There were talks earlier in the week that the Big 10 might take Stanford and Cal. I think both would be very fortunate if it plays out that way. There has been some speculation that Stanford might go independent.

 

I’m afraid Oregon State and Washington State may be out of luck. They seriously might end up in the Mountain West.

 

I don’t love that the PAC 12 failed like it has. College football is better when the West Coast is interesting. Sadly it hasn’t really been for a while.
 

We are trending toward the SEC and Big 10 being the only conferences that are remotely relevant in football, but hats off to the Big 12, they have had a strong and efficient response since losing Texas and Oklahoma.

 

The most interesting domino to fall for me is Florida State. I’m not sure how they are going to do it or what the destination may be, but they seem bound and determined to get the heck out of the ACC.

[maroontide06]

7 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

There were talks earlier in the week that the Big 10 might take Stanford and Cal. I think both would be very fortunate if it plays out that way. There has been some speculation that Stanford might go independent.

 

I’m afraid Oregon State and Washington State may be out of luck. They seriously might end up in the Mountain West.

 

I don’t love that the PAC 12 failed like it has. College football is better when the West Coast is interesting. Sadly it hasn’t really been for a while.
 

We are trending toward the SEC and Big 10 being the only conferences that are remotely relevant in football, but hats off to the Big 12, they have had a strong and efficient response since losing Texas and Oklahoma.

 

The most interesting domino to fall for me is Florida State. I’m not sure how they are going to do it or what the destination may be, but they seem bound and determined to get the heck out of the ACC.

Will the SEC have to expand again by default?

[s1nglewing]

3 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

Will the SEC have to expand again by default?

FSU and another TBD is my bet

[maroontide06]

48 minutes ago, s1nglewing said:

FSU and another TBD is my bet

If that’s the case even though I absolutely hate it, they might as well snag up Miami as well.

[maroontide06]

Here’s something else to ponder on:  Mississippi State added Washington State to their football schedule for a home and home series in 2030 and 2031 in order to meet the Power 5 requirement.  You obviously don’t change that, but if Washington State ends up going to the Mountain West, does that matchup get grandfathered in to meet the requirement?

[Dawg83]

22 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

Here’s something else to ponder on:  Mississippi State added Washington State to their football schedule for a home and home series in 2030 and 2031 in order to meet the Power 5 requirement.  You obviously don’t change that, but if Washington State ends up going to the Mountain West, does that matchup get grandfathered in to meet the requirement?

I kinda expect that requirement to go away if/when the SEC goes to 9 conference games.

[maroontide06]

Well here’s the new website:

https://pac-4.com/