Phil Steele's offensive rankings brings some sobering info
Steele ranks State on offense this way:
QB-4
RB-13
WR-9
OL-13
QB- with the talent at QB in the SEC this year, I have no problems with a #4 ranking heading into the season. Hurts, Allen, Stidham, Fitz, Eason should all have good seasons. Then you look as LSU, SC, Kentucky, Mizzou all return solid QB's as well. Florida finally has a full stable of QB talent. Best QB talent the SEC has had at once that I can remember
RB- He has us at 13 due to looking at the whole group- and while that may be a little low- its hard to put us in the top 10. State RB's return 777 yards- 11th most in the SEC. Bama, Georgia, Auburn, LSU, A&M, and Mizzou are loaded at RB. Those teams return a minimum of 1600 yards at TB. State fans obviously feel good about our RB situation-especially after starting a munchkin at TB before Williams- but when you look at the entire SEC, its loaded at RB.
WR- 9th. Thanks Phil- I'll take it. Gray and Mixon should have good seasons. Need a bounce-back season from Myles. Our TE group should play a big part in the success of our passing game this year. Depth at WR is a huge concern- staying injury-free at WR is paramount for this season's success
OL- 13th. I dont think our OL will be this bad- but there is lots of concern. We dont return many starts- somewhere around 40 or the high 30's total. Our Center will not have played one college play as a Center. Another starter will not have played one college play in college and will be green. There is no depth at OT or C.
On the bright side- Rankin played well the 2nd half of 2016, Calhoun is a good OG. Jenkins has alot to learn at Center- but he is a good OL player. Williams was improving before his injury last year. We do have OG-depth in case someone goes down there. This group probably struggles the 1st half of 2017 because of the tough early schedule and then comes on the 2nd half of the season.
There is certain reason for optimism in 2017 and this certainly could be a 7 win team in 2017. However- its not hard to see the concerns for 2017.
Didn't go back far enough ..
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dawgowar
"One decent Option" has been our DNA since I have been a Dawg.
You have to go way back to '67, '68 to find Sammy Milner and David Smith receiving and 'All SEC QB' Tommy Pharr. Y'all young'ens have 'no clue' just HOW really bad MSU football was 'before Jackie & Dan. Anyone complaining about ANY winning season needs to go read about the '60's. It's real sobering
To emphasize how bad State, and its offense in particular, was in 1967, in LSU's 55-0 win over State, the Tigers' 55 points in that one game was more than State scored all season, 49.
1968 was a wide open, colorful season. The conference season started with the defending SEC Champion (Tennessee) tying the eventual SEC champion (Georgia) 17-17 on a two point conversion after time had expired, and the conference season ended with the AP first team All-SEC quarterback's team tying the following season's AP first team All-SEC quarterback's team 17-17** . Tommy Pharr of winless Mississippi State was named AP first team All-SEC in 1968. The Bulldogs posted an 0-8-2 mark. The Bullies failed to win a game, yet their quarterback was first team All-SEC. And, deservedly so. Pharr had a tremendous season in '68.
**Archie was a Soph; MSU LOST a home game to LaTech and QB Terry Bradshaw. MSU tied OM 17-17 and students partied like it was a Sugar Bowl win. It WAS that bad.