Cannot wait to see this defensive line

[5049]

Yeah, I'm still resisting the urge to smack talk, but it is damn hard. This is the best I've felt going into a season since 1999. '98 was something of a dream season, but it was a let down at the end, and on paper it looked like we back-doored into the SEC West title. Then you look at the roster for what we had coming back in '99 and you just knew we were going to be Bad Ass. I've got that same vibe this year. And this team has such a chip on their shoulder wanting to prove Dan is a moron. It's a perfect storm.

1998-1999 is very similar, actually. Not exact, but similar. What were we in the regular season, 8-3? Which would be 9-3 with the schedules today, and what we should have been last year without the egg stupidity. 2013-2014 was similar, but not quite as talented overall as we are now, and we were in 1999. We made a 2 game jump after 1998, a 4 game jump after 2013. Take the average, and we make a 3 game jump to 11-1....well, let's hope that 1 isn't in Tuscaloosa.

Speaking of which - 1999, 2014 and 2018 all have the same thing in common - the road runs through that God forsaken town where MSU dreams go to die

2000 was probably our most talented year in recent history, but that year had expectations, which leads the team to play a totally different way, and we did not handle it well. Personally, I think this year is sort of a mix together of 1999 and 2000, plus an elite quarterback. Sky's the limit

[BrunswickDawg]

1998-1999 is very similar, actually. Not exact, but similar. What were we in the regular season, 8-3? Which would be 9-3 with the schedules today, and what we should have been last year without the egg stupidity. 2013-2014 was similar, but not quite as talented overall as we are now, and we were in 1999. We made a 2 game jump after 1998, a 4 game jump after 2013. Take the average, and we make a 3 game jump to 11-1....well, let's hope that 1 isn't in Tuscaloosa.

Speaking of which - 1999, 2014 and 2018 all have the same thing in common - the road runs through that God forsaken town where MSU dreams go to die

2000 was probably our most talented year in recent history, but that year had expectations, which leads the team to play a totally different way, and we did not handle it well. Personally, I think this year is sort of a mix together of 1999 and 2000, plus an elite quarterback. Sky's the limit

'98 we were 8-3 regular season - hammered early by OSU in Stillwater, hammered by LSU in Red Stick, then a WTF loss at Kentucky with us coming off a bye after LSU. Actually, all 3 were WTF losses - OSU ended 5-6, LSU 4-7, and KY 7-5. At least last year our 3 losses were to very good teams (I refuse to count the Egg in this discussion). If we come into T-Town 9-0 next year we will have run a gaunlet - @KY, UF, AU, @LSU, A&M, then rested up with LA Tech. Bama will be coming off a Saturday Night in Baton Rouge. All the pieces are there, and it could be a #1 v #2 match up - again. I think we take 'em.

[Todd4State]

'98 we were 8-3 regular season - hammered early by OSU in Stillwater, hammered by LSU in Red Stick, then a WTF loss at Kentucky with us coming off a bye after LSU. Actually, all 3 were WTF losses - OSU ended 5-6, LSU 4-7, and KY 7-5. At least last year our 3 losses were to very good teams (I refuse to count the Egg in this discussion). If we come into T-Town 9-0 next year we will have run a gaunlet - @KY, UF, AU, @LSU, A&M, then rested up with LA Tech. Bama will be coming off a Saturday Night in Baton Rouge. All the pieces are there, and it could be a #1 v #2 match up - again. I think we take 'em.

Kentucky was pretty good that year and that was a road game for us. I'm pretty sure they went to a bowl. LSU we didn't look ready at all. OSU was the game where Wyatt played really poorly and was essentially benched for Madkin permanently other than relief roles.

1998 was a loaded team- I wasn't too surprised that we won the West that year other I was surprised at HOW we did it. As much as I like Jackie, his biggest problem is he didn't have us prepared for every game- which was very frustrating.

I didn't see 1999 coming honestly. I thought we would take a step back because we lost JJ, Dennis McKinley, Prentiss, Cooper, most of our o-line including Randy Thomas and Eric Allen, and the JUCO guys on defense were basically unknowns going into the year that exceeded every reasonable expectation. 1998 the offense was better than 1999 if we're being honest- but the 1999 defense was much better than the 1998 defense which was pretty good in it's own right.

We'll see what 2018 brings but I will say I can't remember a MSU team bringing this much back while obviously addressing major question marks- Getsy is a HUGE upgrade at WR coach over Gonzalez in not just recruiting. He's pretty much a WR guru and even if Whop and Heath aren't ready I have no doubts based on what I have read about him that he will get Todd and Couch up to speed and very much improved over what we have seen from them so far. I think the biggest problem holding us back was Dan- Joe is going to be an upgrade and be much more aggressive as a play caller. It could make the difference in a couple of games.

I have definitely seen some parallels potentially between 1998-1999 and 2018-2019. We'll see if they hold true or not- the 1998-1999 teams were the best I have ever seen at MSU in back to back years.