Week 8 Thread

[DrownInEtown]

3 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

I think often about the fact that in 2023, Fritz was at Tulane, Sumrall was at Troy, and Cignetti was at JMU. All three left for jobs that at the team would have been considered lesser jobs than State. And State hired an unproven OC to be its head coach.

People were saying Fritz was too old, he probably has 5-6 more years left in him. I would consider 8 years a pretty long stint in the SEC. Should’ve thrown at the bank at him
 

Cignetti wouldn’t have the gonads to be in the SEC. 11-2 in your 1st year will never happen at a low-tier SEC job, and he knows it

 

Sumrall would’ve been a great pickup. Psycho defensive guy from the South would fit perfectly in Starkville

 

Jamey Chadwell randomly went 4-8 last year, but has the ball rolling again this year at 6-1, he’s another big what-if

[Bulldogs4]

You can play the What If scenario until you are blue in the face. People have microwave expectations today and Lebby has and will continue to face criticism. That is the nature of coaching. Win and all is good. Lose and the pendulum swings the opposite way. 
Just looking at State objectively. He has measurably improved the team from the beginning of 2024. Our first 22 are good. Depth is still an issue and in the SEC is a must because of injuries. Regarding the QB position, I was under the impression that we had a transfer from Florida State (did he leave unexpectedly or did I miss something there?). 
If any of those other guys were our coach and had suffered the same injuries, then I suspect our record would be the same as it is right now (or possibly worse). 
 

So let’s see how this season finishes out before we starting cutting off our nose to spite our own face. Obviously recruiting and getting the right pieces in transfer portal along with the keeping our key players will be of the upmost importance. 
 

I certainly share the same frustration that you guys feel as well. Regardless of what the score maybe, I am interested to see how we perform at Texas Saturday. 

[pancho]

kromenhawk is the backup to Parson at USF

[Dawg83]

2 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

You can play the What If scenario until you are blue in the face. People have microwave expectations today and Lebby has and will continue to face criticism. That is the nature of coaching. Win and all is good. Lose and the pendulum swings the opposite way. 
Just looking at State objectively. He has measurably improved the team from the beginning of 2024. Our first 22 are good. Depth is still an issue and in the SEC is a must because of injuries. Regarding the QB position, I was under the impression that we had a transfer from Florida State (did he leave unexpectedly or did I miss something there?). 
If any of those other guys were our coach and had suffered the same injuries, then I suspect our record would be the same as it is right now (or possibly worse). 
 

So let’s see how this season finishes out before we starting cutting off our nose to spite our own face. Obviously recruiting and getting the right pieces in transfer portal along with the keeping our key players will be of the upmost importance. 
 

I certainly share the same frustration that you guys feel as well. Regardless of what the score maybe, I am interested to see how we perform at Texas Saturday. 

Fairly or unfairly, Lebby’s biggest problem is that other programs that were previously in a similar station to State have risen from the ashes quickly.

 

Cignetti is a unicorn, or so I thought, but now I’m seeing Kentucky and UCLA in the Top 10 with Year 1 coaches too. Heck, UCLA lost its starting QB weeks ago and just kept winning anyway. It’s not the previous era of slow roster building anymore. There is a lot of evidence of multiple programs being able to turn the ship around fairly quickly.

 

It’s hard to watch State this season and not come away from it thinking that Kamario was covering up a ton of problems that have yet to be fixed three years in. State is a terrible line of scrimmage team for the third year in a row. And recruiting doesn’t seem to suggest that’s being fixed anytime soon.

 

State has had some tough injury luck this season, no question. But so have other teams. At a certain point, and we’re more than 2.5 seasons into this operation, your record just ultimately says what you are. 11-21 and 3-18 say a lot of not good things. And heck, you can throw out his first season where the roster was in shambles, and his SEC record the last two years is still only 3-10.

 

I get what you’re saying about letting the whole season play out. And heck, maybe they find a way to rally the troops, beat Vandy and Auburn, and finish 7-5. But if you made me call it right now, the only game the rest of the season that I think any State fan can have much confidence in is Tennessee Tech.

[Bulldogs4]

You make some valid points but Stoops had recruited well at KY and left a pretty good roster for Stein (so he came into a good situation) similar to Sherrill in ‘91 and Mullen in ‘2009. 
Don’t know much UCLA and Indy seem to hit the jackpot with Cignetti. Give credit where credit is due. 
2024 State team does not beat Minnesota or SCAR.

Improvement has been uneven with last year and now this year starting fast and then fading. 
Though we will see how these last five games go. 
Certainly a player of Kamario’s caliber elevates everyone and unfortunately for us we don’t have a way to replace him adequately. That is squarely on Lebby. 
It is definitely on him to improve the depth of the roster going into 2027. I think we all understand that this process was going to be painful and slow. And at the end of the day you are judged by wins/losses. And that will eventually be his fate one way or another. 

[DrownInEtown]

I believe in Lebby. I think we’ll 100% be in the 24 team playoff next year if Kamario stays healthy. Was just pondering at some other names that came out of that 2024 carousel
 

Twitter and Facebook is already calling for Lebbys head. He’s certainly improved from each year, and I expect us to be better next year also. But the reality is State currently doesn’t have the resources to be able have depth. So what do these people expect when our key players go down? It is difficult to recruit here meanwhile Lebbys hit on a couple guys in the portal, and have increased their value substantially (Brenan Thompson for ex). He’s doing what he can, just dealt an extremely unfortunate hand at an already difficult job. Most State fans need a reality check on how limited their program is in the current era. 
 

Kamario going down has taken an effect on whole team’s confidence. That’s not out of the ordinary for a team’s overall performance to drop after losing their Star Qb. But I saw what we were when healthy, and that was a really good football team. And guess what, even if Kamario doesn’t play this year, we’re gonna get another go at it next year with him again. So don’t torch the whole thing right now and screw up a very good playoff opportunity next year. If next year plays out the same way, then I guess I could see why people are losing patience. But it’s still too early for that talk

Edited 1 hour ago by DrownInEtown

[Dawg83]

Elephant in the room on Kamario…. Him getting hurt is kinda not a unique thing? He’s had some issues going back to high school.

 

I love the player, but you kinda have to go into next year fully understanding there’s a good chance he might not make it through a whole season.