Picked last in the SEC WEST by 247

[BrunswickDawg]

8-4 would be a good year. Schedule is tough.

LSU at home. Being early and at 11am gives us a shot- but will be a tough one.
SC on the road will be a tough one with them having a vet QB
Auburn on the road will be tough
A&M on the road will be tough
UPig on the road will be tough
Mississippi for the Egg is always tough

I'll take 8-4 right now. Our SEC road schedule is really tough. Could go 0-4 there (but I dont think we will)

It's tough - but manageable. It's not like we aren't used to it, and we've won at all of those places on the road in recent years except SC. And Rattler is as unpredictable as anyone I've ever seen. Do you get the guy who was benched by Oklahoma or the guy who torched Tennessee last year? who knows?

[R2Dawg]

Rarely have we been dominant defensively. Certainly have not been under arnett. We've been good though.

OK, so no lets debate what dominate means. In 50 years of my watching, MSU has been bad on D only a handful of times. Even Croom fielded good Ds. By dominant I don't mean #1 in NCAA or SEC - top half of SEC. OK now we argue about which catagories.

Compared to all other parts of Bulldog teams, the one constant you can count on is a very, very good SEC D which means a top 15-20 D in the nation. I call that Dominant.

Which team has had a bad D since 1980? a few late Felker 80s teams, maybe one Sherril team, Mullen maybe 1 or two, All others were good to great to a few best in nation. Can't say that about any other MSU group ever.

Again any serious expert who questions a competitive D and good D out of MSU ain't been watching for 50 years.

[TrapGame]

8-4 would be a good year. Schedule is tough.

LSU at home. Being early and at 11am gives us a shot- but will be a tough one.
SC on the road will be a tough one with them having a vet QB
Auburn on the road will be tough
A&M on the road will be tough
UPig on the road will be tough
Mississippi for the Egg is always tough

I'll take 8-4 right now. Our SEC road schedule is really tough. Could go 0-4 there (but I dont think we will)

We are 100% on the same page here. Spencer Rattler will be the only reason SC beats us. But I think A&M will implode over the dick measuring between Jimbo and Petrino. That place ain't big enough for the both of them.

[confucius say]

8-4 would be a good year. Schedule is tough.

LSU at home. Being early and at 11am gives us a shot- but will be a tough one.
SC on the road will be a tough one with them having a vet QB
Auburn on the road will be tough
A&M on the road will be tough
UPig on the road will be tough
Mississippi for the Egg is always tough

I'll take 8-4 right now. Our SEC road schedule is really tough. Could go 0-4 there (but I dont think we will)

8-4 would be tremendous.

[confucius say]

OK, so no lets debate what dominate means. In 50 years of my watching, MSU has been bad on D only a handful of times. Even Croom fielded good Ds. By dominant I don't mean #1 in NCAA or SEC - top half of SEC. OK now we argue about which catagories.

Compared to all other parts of Bulldog teams, the one constant you can count on is a very, very good SEC D which means a top 15-20 D in the nation. I call that Dominant.

Which team has had a bad D since 1980? a few late Felker 80s teams, maybe one Sherril team, Mullen maybe 1 or two, All others were good to great to a few best in nation. Can't say that about any other MSU group ever.

Again any serious expert who questions a competitive D and good D out of MSU ain't been watching for 50 years.

I agree with your last sentence. We are competitive and good on defense all the time. The only dominant years I've seen are 99 and 2018.

[Captain Falcon]

We are 100% on the same page here. Spencer Rattler will be the only reason SC beats us. But I think A&M will implode over the dick measuring between Jimbo and Petrino. That place ain't big enough for the both of them.

I am not ready to buy the South Carolina hype just yet. They are getting a ton of buzz because of two games. Rattler was really inconsistent other than one very good WR they lost a ton otherwise. They were pretty bad defensively last year and I am not seeing where they did a ton to address it.

We could lose that game if we play poorly but I think we are going to be the better team. My concern would be that is their first big home game and it feels like it has SEC Network 6:30 kickoff written all over it, so could be a crazy atmosphere in that stadium.

[oildawg]

Good point. We?re normally stout on D. That Peter Sirmon defense was horrible but fortunately a rarity for us. Still bothers me that Arkansas didn?t punt the whole game

[TrapGame]

I am not ready to buy the South Carolina hype just yet. They are getting a ton of buzz because of two games. Rattler was really inconsistent other than one very good WR they lost a ton otherwise. They were pretty bad defensively last year and I am not seeing where they did a ton to address it.

We could lose that game if we play poorly but I think we are going to be the better team. My concern would be that is their first big home game and it feels like it has SEC Network 6:30 kickoff written all over it, so could be a crazy atmosphere in that stadium.

I like this game. It has the makings of an actual SEC game where one team just doesn't dominate the other. I like our chances b/c Spencer is THE ONLY REASON SC wins this game. He's all they have.

[Commercecomet24]

This says it all about the media!

[R2Dawg]

I agree with your last sentence. We are competitive and good on defense all the time. The only dominant years I've seen are 99 and 2018.

Like I said all about how you define dominiant. Dominant was meant it was not only good against the field but the very best of our team - year in year out. Our dominant group is the D.

If you define dominant as #1 D in nation like 99 and 18 well hardly anyone is dominant each year, even Bama don't have a dominant D as much as some think.

[R2Dawg]

I am not ready to buy the South Carolina hype just yet. They are getting a ton of buzz because of two games. Rattler was really inconsistent other than one very good WR they lost a ton otherwise. They were pretty bad defensively last year and I am not seeing where they did a ton to address it.

We could lose that game if we play poorly but I think we are going to be the better team. My concern would be that is their first big home game and it feels like it has SEC Network 6:30 kickoff written all over it, so could be a crazy atmosphere in that stadium.

Agree, USC had a couple of big games last year but meh rest of time. We could lose on road but we can win too and it wouldn't be a big surprise.

[confucius say]

I'll be surprised if we beat usce or auburn or Aggie on the road. Need to get one of those and beat Arkie on the road. That's our path to 8-4 along with 4 noncon and OM and KY at home.

[Cowbell]

We were noticeably a step faster on defense during the spring game. Looked like we had "SEC speed" that I haven't seen out of the spring game since 2018. Maybe it's maroon colored glasses.

I think the same thing. Our defense will be the best it has been since 2018

[Todd4State]

We are 100% on the same page here. Spencer Rattler will be the only reason SC beats us. But I think A&M will implode over the dick measuring between Jimbo and Petrino. That place ain't big enough for the both of them.

I'm fully expecting Tennessee game Spencer Rattler to show up against us and look like Mahomes.

I think A&M are on the down swing and Auburn has a new coach and new system. Freeze historically has been about 6-6 in year one.

[BeardoMSU]

Freeze historically has been about 6-6 in year one.

Have a feeling Zach is going to have a bit more fire here than Danny Boy, too.

[Tater]

We get Arizona at home.
We get LSU at home.
We get South Carolina in between @ Georgia and @ Tennessee.
We get Alabama at home.
We get Arkansas after we're on a bye and they play at Alabama.
We get Auburn when Freeze is a first year coach and they'll probably have 3-4 losses already.
We get Kentucky at home in between Tennessee and Alabama.
We get A&M in November when they'll be good and collapsed.
We get the Egg Bowl at home.

I can make the case that this schedule sets up beautifully for us to make a run. It's sad to say, but in my head I was already thinking last year that this would have been Leach's masterstroke year. 4th year QB, loaded talent on offense and defense, schedule sets up beautifully, it was all there. Arnett has a chance for something special this year.

[R2Dawg]

We get Arizona at home.
We get LSU at home.
We get South Carolina in between @ Georgia and @ Tennessee.
We get Alabama at home.
We get Arkansas after we're on a bye and they play at Alabama.
We get Auburn when Freeze is a first year coach and they'll probably have 3-4 losses already.
We get Kentucky at home in between Tennessee and Alabama.
We get A&M in November when they'll be good and collapsed.
We get the Egg Bowl at home.

I can make the case that this schedule sets up beautifully for us to make a run. It's sad to say, but in my head I was already thinking last year that this would have been Leach's masterstroke year. 4th year QB, loaded talent on offense and defense, schedule sets up beautifully, it was all there. Arnett has a chance for something special this year.

When you lay that out, it certainly shows the possibility of a special year. Lot has to happen but I can see it possible.

BTW, this would be a good year to do it since last one before expansion which will be much more difficult going forward.

[R2Dawg]

Have a feeling Zach is going to have a bit more fire here than Danny Boy, too.

No doubt about that.

One thing I love about CZA is his approach and attitude. I think he has the right mix of calm and fire that the team seems to feed off. Brock looks like a typical D coord too after a similar mold. They will get most out of these Dawgs.

[confucius say]

When you lay that out, it certainly shows the possibility of a special year. Lot has to happen but I can see it possible.

BTW, this would be a good year to do it since last one before expansion which will be much more difficult going forward.

I don't think our schedule will be harder moving forward IF we stay at 8 games, which we absolutely should.
Last year we played Bama, UGA, and LSU without drawing vandy or Mizzou. That will likely never happen again with an 8 game schedule and no divisions.

[Coach34]

Sankey all but said this morning 9 games was happening and they are even looking at a 10 game SEC schedule