Week 0 & Week 1 Thread

[NoWammies]

Lol it’s week 0 so it’s understandable. We’re all just working out the kinks.

[Bulldogs4]

Thankfully for Ole Miss you are playing WF, who is decent but should be a comfortable win.

GT looks vastly improved from recent years and may be a tough out for a lot of folks this year. 

[Dawg83]

FSU got pushed around by GT’s OL. Also, I think we can definitively say the experiment of all these schools trying to turn DJU into a star QB is forever a lost cause.

[NoWammies]

First two games we’ve had a top ten upset and a FCS school mounting a 17 point 4th quarter comeback against a FBS school. Welcome back college football. 

[NoWammies]

Ole Miss will be without Juice for a couple weeks because he got cut and needed stitches. Luckily I’m talking about Juice Kiffin. Juice Wells on the other hand by all reports is 100% and been looking outstanding so far. These 7 days need to hurry up!!!

[Dawg83]

Week Zero delivered, particularly the first three games. Ready for Thursday so we get college football for five days in a row.

[NoWammies]

Other than y’all’s own game, which game are y’all most looking forward to watching? I’m sure the three obvious choices are Clemson/Georgia, USC/LSU and Notre Dame/Texas A&M? Of the three I’m actually going to say surprisingly Notre Dame/Texas A&M. Gives us an opportunity to see if Notre Dame is a for real top ten team and to see if Mike Elko can get a signature first big win with the Aggies that’ll set them up nicely as the season goes on. They got a good draw of the schedule with only 3 remaining top 25 teams left(Missouri, LSU and Texas) on their schedule and all being at home.
 

Also other than someone on your team, what player are you most interested in seeing this week? I’m split between Nico Iamaleava and Garrett Nussmeier. Will get to see if Iamaleava can live up to the hype Tennessee fans have been raving about. Should have nice numbers against Chattanooga. His big test will be week 2 against NC State. With Nussmeier, right out the gate we’ll see if he can build off an impressive bowl outing against Wisconsin. Unless USC improved defensively he should be out to put up decent numbers again. 

[pancho]

Miami @ Florida

[Bulldogs4]

ND-A&M looks to be an intriguing game. I like ND to win this game. Elko was a good hire for A&M but playing a top notch opponent in game one is going to be very difficult. I think A&M will show gradual improvement this season but it will not be a burst on to the scene big win this weekend. 
 

MIA @ FL should be a good rivalry game renewal. FL could certainly quiet the nabobs with a win. I have never cared for MIA so don’t really care here. For State & Ole Miss, a loss by FL would most likely be preferred here. As my Dad would have said “I want both of them to lose.”

 

I like Georgia and LSU to hold serve against quality opponents. 
 

The rest of the SEC teams should win comfortably. In the old days, USM would have been a scary game for UK but that is no longer the case. Can Vandy find a way to upend Virginia Tech? That would be a nice surprise. Colorado State upsetting Texas would be epic and make the Austin college the laughing stock of the SEC and the nation. Alas, we can only hope there…

[Dawg83]

4 hours ago, NoWammies said:

Other than y’all’s own game, which game are y’all most looking forward to watching? I’m sure the three obvious choices are Clemson/Georgia, USC/LSU and Notre Dame/Texas A&M? Of the three I’m actually going to say surprisingly Notre Dame/Texas A&M. Gives us an opportunity to see if Notre Dame is a for real top ten team and to see if Mike Elko can get a signature first big win with the Aggies that’ll set them up nicely as the season goes on. They got a good draw of the schedule with only 3 remaining top 25 teams left(Missouri, LSU and Texas) on their schedule and all being at home.
 

Also other than someone on your team, what player are you most interested in seeing this week? I’m split between Nico Iamaleava and Garrett Nussmeier. Will get to see if Iamaleava can live up to the hype Tennessee fans have been raving about. Should have nice numbers against Chattanooga. His big test will be week 2 against NC State. With Nussmeier, right out the gate we’ll see if he can build off an impressive bowl outing against Wisconsin. Unless USC improved defensively he should be out to put up decent numbers again. 

I agree on A&M-ND being THE game of Week 1. Both are fascinating for me this year. Not just A&M with a new HC, but ND hired away LSU’s offensive coordinator and brought in Riley Leonard from Duke at QB, who I’m a big fan of.

 

Underrated game for Week 1 is that Penn State at West Virginia game. I think it will be far more interesting than the UGA-Clemson game happening at the same time. I’m also ever so slightly curious to see if a good Fresno State team can make it interesting at a retooling Michigan.

 

Player I’m most interested to see….. honestly…. It’s Will Rogers at Washington. Is he better than he looked in 2022 and 2023, or were State fans right about his limitations?

[Bulldogs4]

Arnett totally neutered Rogers last year and then the injury did him in. I think he has a great year at Washington plus Jedd Fisch is a tremendous HC. He will maximize Rogers’ talent and put him in the best position to succeed. 
The only BUT I see there is if their OL is weak and his receiving corps is below average. 
And of course he has to stay healthy throughout the year, but that is a given. 

Fisch impressed me with his AZ team last year. We were fortunate win that game at DWS. 
Outside State and the SEC, Washington will be the one team I will try to watch as much as possible. 

[NoWammies]

An under the radar game that could be interesting is #1 in FCS South Dakota St taking on #17 Oklahoma St. 

[s1nglewing]

1 hour ago, NoWammies said:

An under the radar game that could be interesting is #1 in FCS South Dakota St taking on #17 Oklahoma St. 

That'll be a game worth watching. 

[Bulldogs4]

Another game that could be interesting is North Dakota State @ Colorado. NDS has been a powerhouse FCS team for years. If CO loses this game, does the pressure on Deion ratchet up? 
NDS will certainly not be intimidated and are very capable of winning this game. 

[MSUBulldog]

Some of my thoughts on the initial 4 games of the 2024 season are as follows. I like the odds for Miss St. in week 2. The Sundevils of ASU went 3-9 in the PAC-10 last season and is with only a 2nd year head coach themselves in Kenny Dillingham. We knocked off #11 Arizona last season with essentially poor offensive coaching and Arizona blew ASU's doors in last season. Also, the starting QB1 for the Bulldogs Blake Shapin is the Big-12 championship game MVP and has over 5,000 career passing yards and roughly 40 TD's while the starting QB for ASU Sam Leaveitt is a sophomore transfer from Michigan St. who threw for a whopping less than 140 yards with 2 TD's and 2 interceptions through 4 games last season as a freshman for the Spartans. Miss St. will be rolling into Tempe with a pair of highly touted 3-star, senior signal callers at both QB1 Shapin and center Ethan Minor offensively which will speed things along for Lebby's offense which will be one of hyper paced requiring the State OL to have few pre-snap penalties while forcing the defense to adjust on the fly. There's no way that ASU places winning this game on the shoulders of their QB, and they'll be looking to run early on in the season at home which is another metric I like with the deepest component of MSU's team being their linebacker core and it's for these reasons among others that I think MSU sneaks up on a Sun Devil in week-2 of the campaign respectfully. If we can manage to go 3-0 vs Eastern KY, ASU and Toledo then Vegas and the team will be juiced and Davis Wade sitting stacked nearly 60,000 plus deep in cowbells to welcome UF to town. Hail St! Class of 2010.

Edited August 26, 2024 by MSUBulldog

[Dawg83]

Well after an extremely tight lipped camp, Lebby kinda dropped some significant news in his presser today. Jeff Pittman is no longer with the team, Corey Ellington and Kelly Akharaiyi both will be out for at least Week 1.

 

The Pittman news is most interesting to me because State’s RB depth is perhaps not great. I expect it to be RB by committee but Pittman was expected to be part of that committee. I presume Lee, Booth, and Daniels are the three primary backs now, but it also seems like the true freshman Gayten from Brookhaven will be playing this year kinda out of necessity now.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Dawg83

[MSUBulldog]

23 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

Well after an extremely tight lipped camp, Lebby kinda dropped some significant news in his presser today. Jeff Pittman is no longer with the team, Corey Ellington and Kelly Akharaiyi both will be out for at least Week 1.

 

The Pittman news is most interesting to me because State’s RB depth is perhaps not great. I expect it to be RB by committee but Pittman was expected to be part of that committee. I presume Lee, Booth, and Daniels are the three primary backs now, but it also seems like the true freshman Gayten from Brookhaven will be playing this year kinda out of necessity now.

As long as Akharaiyi and Ellington are back by the time we head to Tempe then as a pass first offense, I think we'll be ok RB wise for at least the initial 3 games of the season to be in contention to be 3-0 when UF rolls into Starkville. 

[Dawg83]

42 minutes ago, MSUBulldog said:

As long as Akharaiyi and Ellington are back by the time we head to Tempe then as a pass first offense, I think we'll be ok RB wise for at least the initial 3 games of the season to be in contention to be 3-0 when UF rolls into Starkville. 

Ellington is rumored to be out a while, I think Kelly A is expected back sooner. Hopefully with Kelly it’s just a precautionary thing where they don’t want to take a risk in an FCS game.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Dawg83

[NoWammies]

I’d be very surprised if we see Jordan Watkins or Juice Wells play week one for precautionary reasons. Prob won’t week two either. 

[MSUAlum2010]

Formerly MSUBulldog here. One nuance regarding the transfer of Blake Shapen from Baylor to Miss St. that hasn't been widely discussed is the chain reaction which ensued in the transfer portal of Toledo's QB1 in Dequan Finn who transferred to Baylor to replace Shapen. Toledo who Miss St. plays game-3 of the season is with a far less experienced QB1 now in Tucker Gleason who is backed up at Toledo by 4 freshman and a sophomore QB. This places MSU with a decisive QB1 advantage over the course of their initial three contest leading up to the SEC home opener vs Florida in Starkville, MS. 

Edited August 27, 2024 by MSUAlum2010

[Dawg83]

I still think Kentucky -28 vs USM is way too high. I know it’s a different USM and a different UK now but we aren’t that far removed from USM winning outright in Lexington in 2016 (and I believe the Hattiesburg game the following year was close).

[Raiders 10]

Virgnia Tech vs Vandy could be a sneaky game in Nashville 

[pancho]

yea. i got a buddy who lives there and he asked us to come up and go tot he game.  NAh, I'll stay here

[MSUAlum2010]

A little discussed side story to the start of the college football season is that the head coach of A&M will be coaching against his old QB from Duke when A&M host ND after Mike Elko left Duke for the A&M job and Riley Leonard bolted Durham to be the QB1 in Notre Dame Indiana.  

[pancho]

I doubt the ND players have ever experienced anything like Kyle Field.